- Redirecting attacks (a unique source of AoE damage, or one that GLD/PLD most excels in due to its greater control over its RNG mitigation sources).
- Tank/DPS stances as... neither, and both. E.g. Sword Oath can have particular uses in parrying and suppressing, while Shield Oath can still dish out a mean ton of additional shield-based damage, offering alternate suppression and cover in the OT position.
- Can 'daze' (a new, no-DR effect) following a block/parry of x% of the original damage (see below), reducing their resistance to your next attack within, say, 1 second.
- Direct CD synergy, including on the cooling rates themselves. Certain skills, procs, or effects may advanced certain CD timers. This should be used in order to create tactical thought between immediate and long-term choices, not just to embonus uptime.
- Whatever looks like an AoE, is to some regard an AoE. (PLD would probably have the least power in this concept, making up for it only with greater Attack Redirection, but can nonetheless line up mobs into a single RoH, alternate right and left cleaves with FB and SB, cut between enemies with RA, or even, say, cumulatively spread debuffs in its 450-degree spin starting from 270-degrees.) [That last bit standing as an example of too extreme of geometric effects.]
- Channeled mitigation skills - Shield full out there, meant more for taking many smaller attacks than being an obligatory save from tank-busters. Has its own recharge rate to reach full effect again. Offers certain tanks, at certain times, a playstyle slightly divorced from the GCD-locked gameplay of the rest of the game.
- Flex systems, perhaps through AP absorbed creating bonus AP over the next X duration, or even bonus attack speed. In this way, a channeled mitigation skill, if deemed core to the job's identity and used skillfully, doesn't necessarily upset your rotations or damage dealing. You feel like a tank, who will prioritize like a tank, but not like a "turtle" who has to sacrifice any other real gameplay for those especially tank-ish options when used.
- Accuracy, rather than damage itself, now carries the +/- 5% maximum deviation. Accuracy now determines damage, tapering off exponentially with missing accuracy. The soft-cap for accuracy has decreased. Its hard cap has faintly increased. (Real implications below)
- RNG mitigation systems are no longer static scalars, nor mutually exclusive. They now remove a combination of flat and percentile damage based on the tank's attack power, their accuracy, and enemy accuracy. Blocks remove flat damage based on attack power and shield type. Parries reduce enemy accuracy based on the tank's attack power relative to the attack's would-be damage (technically, a flat amount [AP] creates a flat reduction, through exponential percentage mitigation [lost accuracy]). Evasion offsets enemy accuracy, reducing [truly] percentage damage taken [relative to enemy accuracy]. This means that none are individually likely to be too strong or weak and all may be much more reliable now that they now longer give all or none of their mitigation.
- As a result, certain skills that would decrease enemy damage through stat reduction, %damage reduction, or blinding now have additional synergy (rather than occasional reverse-synergy) with dependent and alternative skills. Rage of Halone not only weakens the original blow, but allows an additional percentage (albeit the same flat amount) to be reduced by the following parry or block, while Flash or DA-DP would increase the relative effects of evasion or parries.
- Certain 'suppressive' weaponskills, like Rage of Halone or Delirium have had the systems they affect adjusted slightly such that these weaponskills now also have some offensive merit. Put simply, some mobs are better able to now defend themselves, but those defenses can be weakened by such weaponskills because of the above changes. For instance, enemies may be more able to block or parry; Rage of Halone, by reducing enemy strength, reduces the AP by which they could affect yours and your allies attacks with either, while also reducing the health they'd generate with AP-based self healing abilities.
Some spitball skill revision ideas as directly applicable to PLD:
- Royal Authority itself now generates some attack speed, stacking up to three times, but each stack fading individually. RA's own damage decreases per stack. (Essentially, this opens up a couple new rotational possibilities in combination with the fillers below, allowing for more tactical gameplay that might wait until a stack is about to fall off, readying a burst of speed, and then secure the next two stacks. Whether RA is spammed or used individually, its damage over time remains the same. Its only true internal re-balancing is higher enmity output from more frequent Savage Blade uses.)
- Shield Swipe no longer requires a block, but only functions off-GCD following block, and cannot do so again for 15 seconds. This cooldown shows over the ability, even while still available only as a weaponskill. This allows for filler in the OT rotation, and gives the GLD/PLD more readied access to Pacification. Shelltron remains a damage-augmenter at worst.
- Your Oaths are now charged abilities that generate an additional effect and its duration over their charge time of 1/2 to 2 GCDs. Sword Oath generates attack speed, Shield Oath generates additional defense and builds 'blocked' resource.
- The base effect of Sword Oath has been changed to grant Crusade. Each attack you use without a combo bonus generates stacks of Crusade. Crusade allows you, at stack cost based on combo position and steps skipped, to skip parts of a given combo, or duplicate your last attack, without losing the combo bonus. Damage (direct) or duration (DoT) of Crusade-affected skills face some reduced damage. Used optimally, the value of Sword Oath in single-target should be around 14%. In a cleave situation, it may be far superior. Though the simple idea of a stack system is already used by Warrior, that in itself is far from a redundancy. What Crusade allows should be a yet unique form of accelerated gameplay.
- Shield Oath now also allows you to store blocked damage as a resource, empowering and allowing you to cleave with your shield skills. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.