What GLD/PLD lacks

It really lacks party protection and 'threat'. There's a reason we're at the botton of the list. So now looking into non-combative abilities:

Cover gets me killed frequently. The only reason i'd go to cover people is if someone needs to hard cast a raise or recover from a bad situation, and i find myself eating a flurry of damage that Bulwark cannot block. I don't care to roll PLD but the times i do to test something new, it's pretty lame.

My heals... well... i could have sworn they used to wake people on 2.1 release day. The class + job has a Mind hard cap of 201 and 196 and we can't raise it with melding and we don't have traits while DPS such as black mage and summoner do to my knowledge.

My defensive buffs are great and amazing and badass and only get used when i'm the last man standing. Sweet, right? So far the only abilities i can depend on is Awareness and Tempered Will (which could use a timer reduction).

The development and battle team did an amazing job at planning out this tank class in endgame dungons and even thought about limiting it's sources of damage, however it seems as though they were selectively testing some (just like pld and war in coil) classes as opposed to all the classes in the pvp planning stages.

While i don't care to propose a ton of new abilities with special names, i would like to propose adding/augmenting pld/gld to some abilities that are beneficial to the party and we could use more of:

Esuna
Manual off GCD use of Shield Swipe
Cover fix (so that i don't have my targets def rating)
3 sec silence
Turn Sentinel into an aura

The Paladin right now is an expendable role, functioning as pressure DPS and a general agitator/initiator.

Cover is fine as is. You're intercepting damage that could possibly kill a teammate who is usually a priority target (healer, SMN, BLM). When used properly it can completely shut down a blitz attempt of three melee using all cooldowns + Full Swing, while the covered player is allowed to freecast for its duration.

Cure is really only a desperation spell, being a cross-class ability and not in the Paladin's moveset. I don't see this changing.

Bulwark can trigger Shield Swipes which can pacify an enemy melee, but I agree that Rampart and Sentinel could be given nuances in the arena.

The single biggest change that could balance Paladin, phase Marauders out and bring Warriors back to parity is to allow enmity-increasing abilities to force target on the tank. This would also make Fending accessories viable over stacking STR/Striking pieces.

I wouldn't mind a forced target change with Provoke or something like they did in XI and some other games but the cover thing is really broken. In fact i find myself switching off of any target i see and onto the covered target if i catch them using cover to make sure the pld goes down. As far as shield swipe i think they need to change it as the only way to trigger it is to get attacked and no one attacks paladin or gladiator to activate it when needed. That would help immensely when DPS pile onto 1 target. I'll have to make a video showing death by cover to explain what i mean.

Cover is amazing. I rather run with a paladin over a marauder any day. Thats just my opinion. I have also seen PLDs do amazing damage. Sure no burst like a marauder but they are more utility then damage. Think after a marauder has after he pops all his cds...nothing where a paladin still has chain stuns and makes switching targets easy kills. Just my 2 cents

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Originally Posted by Djlovedrop

Cover is amazing. I rather run with a paladin over a marauder any day. Thats just my opinion. I have also seen PLDs do amazing damage. Sure no burst like a marauder but they are more utility then damage. Think after a marauder has after he pops all his cds...nothing where a paladin still has chain stuns and makes switching targets easy kills. Just my 2 cents

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This. Usually run BRD/Pally/BLM and our PLD would consistently put out the same damage as me or at least close to it. Plus sleep leading to purify then --> chain shield bash = beautiful

Pally > MRD all day errr'day

Paladin is great on Pressure play, and disabling the enemy team's healer, Cover is a good skill as well, I often play Mara/Pala in PVP, depends on my premade party composition. :)

paladin can be really good if u have good coordination.. they have stun without any kind of cd and 6 sec duration? u can stun 10 sec total each target then swap another target. Like if u play with black mage u can do instant pvp sleep healer -> healer purify(if not some1 will die) -> swiftcast sleep -> paladin stun nuke target -> blm can free nuke 4 - 10 sec and target will most likely die -> when 15 sec sleep is over paladin can do another 10 sec stun(then blm have another chance nuke 10sec) for the healer and in that time healer should die.

The pressure play is rather weak especially compared to abilities such as Fetter or Jumps or long ranged attacks concerning gld/pld vs healer, which is an issue with the weaker offensive side of the class. Healers easily kiting gld/pld isn't anything new and I'd have the same issue whenever I roll paladin (especially SCH) which leads me to believe that we're really there because duty finder demands it and the only role left for us is attacking a healer.

Having been burned down pretty fast with cover and without the cover glitch leaves something to be desired such as a properly established game play vs pigeon hole roles, and that's why it feels as though something is severely lacking.


*edit*

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Originally Posted by Sunako

paladin can be really good if u have good coordination.. they have stun without any kind of cd and 6 sec duration? u can stun 10 sec total each target then swap another target. Like if u play with black mage u can do instant pvp sleep healer -> healer purify(if not some1 will die) -> swiftcast sleep -> paladin stun nuke target -> blm can free nuke 4 - 10 sec and target will most likely die -> when 15 sec sleep is over paladin can do another 10 sec stun(then blm have another chance nuke 10sec) for the healer and in that time healer should die.

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One issue with stun is that it stops you for 6 seconds but i can only act within the 4~4.5secs and do 2 combo moves or 4 combo moves then wait to stun again. When i use glory slash+that other one+impulse x2/fast+savage that's a majority of my burst done right then and there. Most clothies would be down to about 60% or 45% depending on crits which moves me into stun #2 which is 3 secs but i have to either rush my stun or pace out attacks to stop casts if they don't run. If i am down to stun #3 i find that 95% of casters warp/sprint/pvp ability on that spot which causes me to babysit and under those conditions i only have the option to wait for 8 secs or move on to a nearby target which allows cancel room for the caster.

This is lack of independence, unlike other classes, is a linchpin that only works when there's coordination--something that rarely works in pug cue. It's the game play is the elephant in the room and gld/pld issues aren't glaringly obvious to the average player, but anyone who looks at icons or understands this easily kites/binds/heavies paladin all day. As long as i don't lag i find as a whm i can keep a paladin on my back for ages and heal my team easily.

Haha, yeah being kited sucks, however i love chasing after healers, I love to be able to pop Sprint when they stop running because they were thinking that I wont chase them, if they do stop, i pop sprint then pop an item restoring TP, or the PvP skill that restores TP, then stun them, it really annoys them alot haha, what I hate is being binded >.> that's what i hate more than sleep/kite/stun.

Your points are not very clear and I have a hard time understanding or relating.

Pressure from both tank roles is extremely high. So high in fact that if left unchecked they can bring players to critical health in a single stun with use of Full Swing.

Cover is still fine. You need to know when to use Hallowed Ground when you see people switch to you. Bubbling counters the switched focus and gives your healer time to react to the transferred damage. The Paladin dying is much preferable to your healer or a Summoner dying (both who can raise you immediately).

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Originally Posted by Epistane

Pally > MRD all day errr'day

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I agree. A well played Pally is more beneficial to a team than a MRD. Problem is MRD is easy and FOTM, so not many capable PLDs float around since the effort required to master them is greater.

You will pull your hairs less often playing a MRD than a PLD. At least if your other 3 teammates are total shit house you can still pull a win, PLD can't do that. However, against coordinated team aka BLM + PLD. Killing stuff is superbly easy, BLM Sleeps goes to casting PLD sits to wait for a Purify.