New idea for Pld sword oath I just thought up

So I've been thinking about this for a bit and wanted to toss this idea around to some people. We all know that Raubahn likes to occasionally carry around 2 swords and a shield with him...and it got me thinking. Why not carry that over to the actual paladin job itself? What I'm suggesting is that while in Sword Oath, the Paladin will carry an extra sword to capitalize on it's dps stance (it can be a copy of it's current sword in their main hand or a different weapon entirely) while still carrying their shield on their back.

I know what some of you may be thinking, though....what about abilities? Abilities like bulwark, shield bash, etc, wouldn't make any sense to still be usable since the paladin wouldn't currently be carrying a shield in hand. Which is why I suggest to alter the abilities itself entirely, like, instead of bulwark or sheltron being a defensive ability, the name and description changes to an offensive ability while in sword oath. You're basically not adding any new abilties to the hot bar itself, just changing what each one does when swapping between shield oath and sword oath. So, what're you guys' thoughts/opinions?

Inner Beast / Fell Cleave
Steel Cyclone / Decimate

Distinct skills, distinct effects. You'd need new skills if you wanted to drastically change name and effect. Conversely, Equilibrium is a skill that exists, which heals HP in Defiance and TP in Deliverance, so having effects like that might be good.

As far as dual-wielding swords as a Paladin? No? Not only from the dev standpoint (you'd need new animations for every skill they have so they make use of both swords) but also from a gameplay standpoint (it would be super weird for a Paladin to suddenly be using two swords), I don't really see it as a good idea. Putting the shield away sounds like a change they should make, for sure, but drawing a new sword? I dunno. Changing skills between Sword and Shield Oath? Absolutely.

Yeah, it was just a thought. I know implementing something like this in no way be an easy task, to say the very least. You'd absolutely need new animations for most of the skills that change, but not necessarily all of them (imo at least). It would be somewhat like adding an entirely new job BUT the basis for the job would still all be there. An example for one of the skills that would change would be shield bash. Instead of the skill being named "shield bash", while in sword oath the name would change to something like "blade bash" in which case the animation wouldn't change a whole lot, you'd just be swiping with the blade in the left hand by using the exact same motion you would as if you were using the shield, so not a whole lot would need to change there...at least for this particular ability.

Ultimately, it'd be up to the devs to decide how they'd wanna go about altering/adding animations but, at the very least, the basic requirements that they'd need are already there (stance changing being what I'm referring to).

How would it work from an equipment perspective? It seems like you would either need to add an entirely new equipment slot for the second sword (and then figure out how all the damage calculations would work based on each sword's stats) or handwave it by saying that a given "sword" as an item is really two swords all along. I know this is what they do for ROG/NIN daggers, but this wouldn't make sense for swords from a lore perspective. There are a lot of quests involving one specific sword that is of particular importance to the Sultansworn. The Curtana is a famous sword that there's supposed to be exactly one of (discounting the fact that each player can have one) and it doesn't make sense that people could spontaneously bust out another one.

I suppose one possible compromise would be to introduce another class of sword that can be dual-wielded (as in, it's two swords) and have the dual sword stance only be usable if you're using one of those. Then they could start having the endgame weapons all be that. (We're getting pretty "next expansion" by this point.)

I had a similar thought a while back when playing bravely default, knight learns a job trait called two-handed, where you get double damage when wielding with the main hand only.

I thought they could change sword oath so you put your shield away and hold your sword with both hands gaining a large damage boost in exchange for losing your ability to block and losing access to all shield based moves (shield bash/swipe, Shelton and bulwark).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cabalabob

I had a similar thought a while back when playing bravely default, knight learns a job trait called two-handed, where you get double damage when wielding with the main hand only.

---

They had a similar skill in FF Tactics. Samurai, I think, were the ones who learned it but you could carry it over to knight. When I found out about the job system in this game I hoped that it would work the same way. Sadly, I was disappointed. When I found out about the "gladiator" class, I also hoped we'd be able to actually take advantage of fast skill speed ... sadly, that did not happen either.

As much as they have done a two handed approach in the past, I don't see SE making such a radical change anytime in the future. That said, I am interested in seeing what changes they do make in the next patch. I really hope they're not a let down and actually do something to improve the Pld job ...

Don't forget in other FF titles they allowed dual-shield wielding... <giggle>

Gun Oath.

Paladin throws down sword and shield, pulls out gun.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SpookyGhost

Gun Oath.

Paladin throws down sword and shield, pulls out gun.

---

But MCH's do less damage than a sword oath PLD :( we want a damage increase!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cabalabob

But MCH's do less damage than a sword oath PLD :( we want a damage increase!

---

Give PLD a shotgun.

These last few comments....LOL.

For the equipment perspective, they could make the blade an aetherial blade that comes and goes as you swap between stances. An energy that's similar to what envelopes certain stages of our zoidac weapons only it's an actual physically held blade. This way, they won't have to create another weapon slot or break lore. If they did break lore....I don't think it would be the first time they've done so for this game? I recall a video Mr. Happy mad a while back where he briefly talked about how something in the lore was changed. Also, even if you DID pull out a 2nd Curtana, for another example...it doesn't exactly HAVE to be exactly the same. It could just be a weapon created through energy that's been partially materialized by the job stone. They could play around with how the weapon would look, if they wanted.

Like I said, it doesn't need to look exactly the same or BE the same if they're afraid of breaking their own lore. it doesn't even need to appear on your hilt while it's not currently drawn. As for dps, that's easily managed. Auto attacks already hit twice as is, so that's already a thing. Potency on attacks could increase by maybe 5...maybe 10 or so. Clemency restores TP instead of health while in sword oath. Skill speed could also potentially increase.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SpookyGhost

Give that bitch a cannon, bitches love cannons.

---

Fixed it for you :)

good PLD MT in sword oath 90% of the times, altering defensive skills while in sword oath is not good.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Reaver_Bharash

Fixed it for you :)

---

Not gonna lie I'd 100% play a pirate tank class that used a giant cannon and just blasted monsters directly in their face. Or groin, if you're a lala.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ValkyrieL

good PLD MT in sword oath 90% of the times, altering defensive skills while in sword oath is not good.

---

It's actually... very good...? It would make you actually have to decide whether or not you want to swap stances. 3.2 is supposed to be overhauling the tanking meta. I wouldn't be surprised if they make these sorts of changes to every tanking stance. Finding ways of making it less attractive to not be in tank stance while taking damage would make you roll tank stance most of the time and drop it during safe stretches when you want more dps and don't need as much mitigation. As it stands currently, the meta is stay out of tank stance the entire fight, only turning it on as a cooldown, essentially.

I honestly feel it should be the reverse. Default tanking should be done in tank stance, with not-tank-stance being used as an offensive cooldown. The current design of the game makes this absolutely silly, but 3.2 is their chance to flip that on its ear, especially with the way they're reworking stats and introducing multiple job adjustments.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ValkyrieL

good PLD MT in sword oath 90% of the times, altering defensive skills while in sword oath is not good.

---

Defensive skill like rampart, sentinel, etc, would remain unchanged, so if PLD's still wanna tank in sword oath, that would remain unchanged. The loss of bulwark and sheltron isn't really all THAT much of a loss. If it really IS, imo, you shouldn't be taking such a big hit in sword oath anyways, as that's usually risky and rather unnecessary (again, imo).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SpookyGhost

Gun Oath.

Paladin throws down sword and shield, pulls out gun.

---

OR strap a cannon to the shield!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Reaver_Bharash

Fixed it for you :)

---

Love the rubics cube quote!!!!