The Paladin Paradigm - A Shift for Better Balance

[Mojo]

nerf PLD plz

[Tsukino_Kaji]

nerf PLD plz

Agreed, it's already over powered.
SE please stop listening to comlainer PLDs complaining, it's ruining the game balance.

[Billnye]

For starters, this isn't a "complaining pld complaining". I don't even have paladin leveled. Anyone with any amount of awareness of how game design and development works, can see that by making a job unfavorable is harmful to the integrity of balance.

Now, to have cover be a job trait would be a little too much. The fact that it can get dispelled helps balance the power of the ability. Having it be a trait also eliminates the skill factor of the ability. One needs to know when and more importantly who to cover and reactivate cover on. The more interactions with a job ability makes the skill factor more important.

This is just a basic idea of how to balance. There is a fine line between Balance and Overpower. SE did a great job of starting to balance damage dealer jobs with the inclusion of Abyssea. Remember when it was only "cool" to be a Ranger? How about Black Mage? Or Sam? With Abyssea, any damage dealing job (to an extent) can operate efficiently and effectively.

The point of this thread is try to get people (and hopefully devs) to change their thought pattern of how to adjust jobs. It just happens that I used Paladin's situation because it's the easiest to explain/most complained about. Instead of trying to "one up" other jobs to be better, why not make it so more jobs and players can work together to make things better (synergy, not the craft)?

[Illianna]

The only problem I see with this, is that no enmity is transferred upon usage of this ability. Truthfully, if rather than an extended duration, they just cut down the recast time and made any damage dealt by whoever was covered count towards the paladin's enmity instead of their own, I could see this being alot more feasable. As it stands, You're taking the damage whoever you're covering would be taking, but they're still generating hate, and you're losing it (by taking damage).

[gryyphyn]

Tier 2 2 hour, quested, for all jobs, requires 75+. For Paladin:

Night Protector of the Realm [:00 :15/2:00:00]
Ethereal shield, single target, enhances cover, damage mitigation, does not require position directly in front of target.
Effect: Redirects 100% damage taken by target to the Paladin.
Redirects hate gain by target to the Paladin.
All hate gained while the ability is in use is changed to non-volatile.
Physical and magical damage taken reduced to 25% while active.
Resets Sentinel and Cover timer to max (taking in to account merited abilities).
Does not stack with Sentinel, Rampart or Reprisal. Is overwritten by Rampart or Reprisal.

Additional effect: Follow
Monster focus moves the shield effect to the new mob target until focus is on the Paladin. Once focus moves to the Paladin the effect wears immediately.

This effect does not block AoE spells to the party except the current focus/target. Damage dealt by AoE attacks effect all party members normally.

Animation: A translucent, ethereal shield the size of the target fades in to being in front of the target and follows the mob focus blocking and redirecting damage to the Paladin.

Paladins are the example to all of chivalry. It is our job to ensure that nobody else dies by any means necessary. Cover, as it stands, isn't very useful for four reasons: party members who would be covered have a tendency to move; it offers no damage mitigation; you lose hate instead of maintaining or gaining so the focus doesn't change once the ability wears; and players think they have to be standing inside a mob's hit box to DD. We get the title Paragon of Paladin Excellence without being able to illustrate it.

The other reason I suggest this is it's balanced but gives us another 2 hour but is optional.

And another request to two of the above responses: we're not complaining or whining or wtf ever. Paladin is horribly nerfed by a failtastic MP pool, rapid hate decay and the lack of a JSA provoke, all of which we need to do the job we're supposed to.

As for Paladin DD: Excalibur 85 is time intensive but not impossible. I swear by Altana I'll have mine as soon as I can.