One Knight's advice

[Dracoth]

Although quite a wall of text, you do bring up very valid points. I've always been a DD oriented PLD (Hauby +1 at 60; didn't even get Surcoat until 75; forced my LS to use PLD/NINs by "accidentally" showing up that way to end game events; etc).

A couple of points, though:

Raising the hate cap will not significantly change the facts - it will just delay how long it takes for us to start bouncing again. Removal of hate caps will give us a vastly superior edge, not unlike simply raising the cap for us. I like the idea, though.

If cover DID something besides simply occasionally changing the target of a hit, then I'd have used it far more often. Usually, I did it as a joke on the main tank, simply to get him to react and try something else (I did this a lot when I was the only PLD/NIN over the more long standing PLD/WARs I was "competing" with). If cover gave us the chance of absorbing the damage and curing ourselves, THEN I'd probably try to use it a whole lot more often. Or, better yet, cured the person we were covering but gave us the enmity for the cure.

Aegis.... I've had a love/hate relationship with Aegis. I couldn't stand Dynamis before. The time commitment was too huge and the lag was too much for my simple system (back when I tried it). Although I love the idea of consolidating MDT gear into a single item, I agree - MDT isn't that hard to come by now.

[Bilonn]

If cover DID something besides simply occasionally changing the target of a hit, then I'd have used it far more often.

This is a major problem of mine. Cover is built wrong entirely. How it currently works is to "cover the one in danger", this should be changed to "cover whoever is in danger". What's the difference?

I'm sick of positioning myself, hitting my macro, selecting my target that I've moved in front of, having the ability to come on.... And then that person moving... The ability is lost until the recast is cleared again.

It should be changed from "/ja Cover <t>" to "/ja Cover". I don't need to put a target in place. I'm going to cover who is in danger. I will select that target by Moving to Cover them.. I'll pop the ability and get in front of my target. If that target gets healed and the healer is now being targeted and is in trouble, I'll move to cover the healer--the ability stays on and covers whoever is behind me.

Don't let it target a party member--let it be an ability to cover who you are in front of. This will:

A: Speed up activation time--so that we're covering the endangered person faster
B: Allow the Paladin to fix the other people's screwups (where they move because 'you are in their way')
C: Utilize the ability to it's fullest by covering everyone that needs it while it's active.

Make cover do what it should do...