FINAL FANTASY XI Job Adjustments Manifesto: Paladin

[Rorrick]

We are aware that paladins are having a difficult time when damage dealers push the limits of their abilities in battle and we plan on making adjustments so that it’s easier for paladins to grab the focus of a target. However, since it would quickly become boring and lack any sense of challenge if party members were able to fight without fear of enmity as long as a paladin is present, it will be necessary to take into account the proper enmity balance between every role in party situations. Not only thieves, but magic and songs amongst other things are there to assist in taming enmity, so it would be beneficial to utilize those tools as well.

In regards to increasing the enmity for paladin’s cures, we are currently looking into it.

Since paladin would pretty much be able to do anything if we increase both its defense and attack, we will not be doing this. (A paladin’s weapon skill damage output isn’t low by any means.)

Do you understand that Paladins have a difficult time even being invited because most damage dealers are also capable of tanking?

There's no point to better enmity tools if we can't add anything to the battle. There's no need for Paladin's defense, and its potential offense doesn't offset its TP feed.

Atonement damage is capped at 750 (often lower because it's dependant on enmity which is constantly being lost), most other jobs can break 1000 fairly easily with non-Empyrean weaponskills. Inside Abyssea, Vorpal Blade is completely outclassed by nearly everything else available to other jobs. The only real options for Paladin come in the form of Caladbolg and Almace, and expecting every Paladin to have one or both of these is just unreasonable.

Enmity control is a secondary issue. The primary problem is that Paladin adds nothing to a party as endgame currently stands. If you're determined to keep Paladin a defense-only job, why not further enhance our durability instead of handcuffing us to subbing Ninja, to allow us more freedom in our support job choices?

Paladin has been stuck in the mire of mediocrity for years and years. If you don't want to move it towards a stronger offense, that's fine, but that means you must advance it in a defensive direction. Leaving it where it is and focusing on enmity generation will solve nothing.

[Darkwizardzin]

In regards to making Paladin a worthwhile job, capable of bringing any sort of usefulness to a party, we currently have no plans of allowing the job to be as good as the jobs that we like (such as NIN and SAM) in either tanking or dealing damage. We suggest that you invite a THF (since we can't figure that one out and someone needs an excuse to) in order to make up for this shortcoming.

...so in your eyes SE should buff plds attack and def so that it will be an unkillable god that puts all other jobs to shame? Job balance be damned let make pld overpowered so everyone will invite them!

[Nebo]

Not only thieves, but magic and songs amongst other things are there to assist in taming enmity, so it would be beneficial to utilize those tools as well.

Camate, would you please please please convey the feedback that the playerbase says this is not the case.

For THF to be useful or desired for Enmity control, the developement team would need to update the job in a way that would likely upset the balance they are so worried about protecting. It would have mean a THF could always keep enmity on your tank by using its various tools.

This would also mean that a PLD would have to be unable to do its job without a THF.

Collaborator, Accomplice and Trick Attack do not control enmity. Collaborator is a THF tanking tool, and Trick Attack is a DD tool. These are their only functional uses in today's FFXI.

THF can play with enmity...but putting the phrase "enmity control" and THF in the same sentence is a joke.

[Mightyg]

I don't understand how they think paladin weaponskill output is strong. Compared to white mage maybe. Still doesn't change the fact that most melee jobs can weaponskill almost twice as fast in many cases. I can't imagine Paladins parsing much higher than 50% of what a typical melee dd can do assuming they're both engaged for the same time. I certainly don't think Pld should have high damage potential, but things like not hitting for 0-20 on hnm and having an effective magical damage spell you can throw out aren't unreasonable or game breaking.

[Aeonk]

See how well SAM and MNK tank on Voidwatch NMs. PLDs rejoice that the future of endgame content doesn't lay in Abyssea. MNK/SAM/DNC tanking is dead on newer NMs, they get wrecked. Voidwatch NMs have ridiculous accuracy and spam AoE all day.

What this fellow said.

DD tanks are nowhere near optimal outside abyssea. Especially if they aren't packing empyreans. Asuran Fists is nothing special, and you're not tanking Hahava with it. Or even Kholomodumo.

[Nefertiri]

I always thought a trait for PLD that would work something like a "reverse Subtle Blow", where monsters that strike a PLD gain less TP than usual, would have been kinda cool.

[Aramaic]

Okay I usually just sit back and read these forums and try to not have my head explode from the poor understanding of the job by the box burned people and or smn burned PLD's that seem to camp this forum. To those PLD's that actually xp'ed the job and by xp'ed the job I mean leveled it without the aforementioned horribleness as well as syninc it to 75 back in the day.

First off its not SE's fault that you don't have a cure kit build or enmity build for all of your actions towards mobs. Instead of being angry because everyone doing an empy weapon caps hate faster than you. Please get off your ass and use the time you spend here bitching to get an Alamce. Not a WoE ODD doesn't exist weapon an actual Almace where ODD Crits reach 500-600 dmg per swing.

Have all abbysites don't care how long you think it will take you just get them all. Get all atma's needed for getting Savior. By getting these you will have all important Atma's need for the next step. Use appropriate Atma's for CDC build. Either RR,GH, Apoc or RR, Savior, Apoc hell even Omni, RR, Apoc-- I think you get the idea.

Once that is done use actual dex + str + atk gear swaps--- for the love of all things sacred stop ws in the same gear you tank in and than bitch it sucks. In fact stop never changing gear period. If your not blinking enough to give your whm a seizure your not playing the job right. I do have sets for when I don't want my shit pushed in by a HNM and I also have my capped haste tp set both are appropriate use when needed.

Lastly, stop asking for more ways to get enmity. It won't help unless PLD is allowed to surpass the hardcap aka. like with Burtgang passing - PDT cap or Aegis with -MDT cap. I could have 40 job abilities to give me enmity but with the gear PLD has already there is no need for more JA's for enmity. We have plenty at our ready if people would just learn to build their kits right instead of taking the fast lazy way out of begging SE for shit we don't need.

Sorry if this angers anyone but really I don't care, I am just tired of seeing horrible PLD's making legitimate hard working PLD's look like shit. That is all continue to whine now.

[Phen]

Just echoing nebo here, we have one thing in collaborator but thats very little if anything even spammed(especially if you cant tank said monster). Even if we trick attack a paladin the damage on TAWS is not going to generate less hate than the next nuke/ws from anyone else. Please tell us what other abilities Thf is getting for hate control that is has been the response in almost every enmity related response.

Also all paladins--- we know that feel bro---thief forums

p.s. give us something that works like the new ranger JA for enmity transfer over time

[Tsuneo]

It still amazes me that people think there is something wrong with PLD. PLD is fine the way it is, and if you were to boost it's defensive capability it would still be useless in Abyssea. What PLD needs is more endgame like Voidwatch. The fact has been said many times. Increase the need for a PLD and there will be no need to "fix" the job.

[Serj]

Like an Almace is *so* hard to get. If it's so hard for you get the NQ WoE version. Trust me a PLD with Ochain and Almace (both of which are easy as hell to get, I see them everywhere on my server) is far stronger than a MNK or NIN in terms of overall survivability and damage output. With Shield Mastery you're getting tons of TP from shield block procs and your weapon skills are doing 3-5k depending on gear/food/buffs. Even outside Abyssea, CDC still does a solid 2-3k which is higher than most WS in the game outside abyssea.

A pld will never do more damage than an exceptionally geared mnk or nin. Only content a PLD is useful on is higher tier VWNM, more so if they have Aegis/Ochain.