Paladins need to actually be Paladins.

[Synestra]

It would be pretty neat if Riot Blade would proc instacast half MP cost cure as an combo, atleast then there would be point to have it on hotbars. It would still heal that 220hp+(potency boost would be nice tho but i can live without it for the sake of balance)but if it was instant and only cost half of the normal MP it would be slightly more usefull than it is now.

[indira]

paladin is GLA +1 not paladin.

[Duelle]

I think the problem is that the JP developers misunderstand exactly what a Paladin is supposed to be.

The devs know the basic idea behind a tank-oriented knight. That aspect is really the only aspect that matters when you're looking at tank design, and our PLD meets that requirement to a T.

The FF paladin historically has weak white magic, so I wouldn't expect magic to have a significant role in gameplay. Not to mention it would heavily clash with the damage mitigation PLD has at its core.

I won't say that Paladin needs to have magic, but it at least needs to have religious overtones. Show me a church in the story. Give me a Job story where my GLA learns the power of faith.

You're confusing the FF paladin with the D&D and/or Warcraft paladins. The FF paladin is about protecting, not having faith. This is why the FFXIV PLD is defined by the Sultansworn, who in essence protect and serve.

There may have been light vs dark overtones in FFIV, but ナイト is pretty much just a knight that happens to have access to weak white magic.

Cecil's magic was decent as a backup. I mean, at least he had Cure II and Esuna, lol.

Which would be overpowered on anything that is not a healer in an MMORPG. MMORPGs and single-player console RPGs call for different approaches to design.

[infinitezero]

I'm not really sure what to say about this other than the class is balanced properly already and doesn't really need any sort of change. It serves it's purpose. Just because it's called 'Paladin' doesn't mean it's set of abilities need to fit in with the lore of any other Final Fantasy version of a paladin, let alone any other version of paladin from the lore of anything else.

It's just a name. If names always dictated function and purpose we wouldn't bake cookies and cook bacon, would we?

[Lafiele]

I'm getting the feeling that people are trying to make the current paladin class into a wow type paladin. But anyways, let's say if paladin was given a semi self sufficient heal of lets say 1/2 to 2/3 the level of a healer, then in balance, we would have to nerf or take away the defensive skills he has to compensate. So, instead of managing cds the tank will now have to constantly spam cure on himself (or it might be a HoT so less of a hassle) so in the end I don't see a huge difference. I mean they could get a party wide defensive buff I suppose (i.e. tank limit break) or something similar to succor? But again, these jobs are already better done on the healer. So for now, at this level cap, the skills available are pretty good on the paladin. Future levels could change this of course. One thing they could improve upon is finding a better use of shield swipe.

[Issachar]

Nah, I think they should homogenize the jobs even more :Kappa:

[Synra]

paladin is GLA +1 not paladin.

I believe the proper term these days is "GLA Zenith".

[ApolloGenX]

Paladins don't have to be religious... when I think of a Paladin, I think of justice, honor, and chivalry... I think of this guy/girl.

[Wadoka]

Religious or Secular, I've always thought of the Paladin as... a Defender.

"Upon this Rock even the Ever-spawing Hordes of the Void shall not prevail."

Skills like Hallowed Ground are perfect for the job.

Now... it would be nice to have one "Call the Spirit" (Kiai!) skill, which would be, say. a long-CD "Heal Self 100%" tool...

[Krr]

"Paladins" in FF games were traditionally heavy-armor melee autoattackers with some auxillary skills geared toward defending others in the party (usually, Cover or Provoke,) and sometimes a limited pool of white magic mostly included for out of combat utility. Sometimes the class's name was just translated to "knight" (FF1, FF5). In later games, where melee classes got special attacks, higher-level paladins could dish out some pretty lightshows that were basically flashy dressed-up sword techniques. Also, they were prettier and everyone wanted to kiss them.

This is actually pretty close to older DnD, where Paladins are just exceptionally strong fighters with a good CHA score, superhuman resistances to certain nasty effects, and access to unique magical weapons (usually a holy sword that is bonkers overpowered if a DM let you have it.)

So yeah. Not that one or the other is better, but I think they did a good job of nailing the Final Fantasy "Paladin" with the one here.