PLD feels underwhelming lately

[Umbeliel]

Is this real life? "shield block on demand" is a ridiculously huge asset. A well played warrior can out perform any PLD in any fight with predictable spikes, aka all challenging content in the game. I should probably note that I don't believe this to be a bad thing given how the classes are currently designed, but I just wanted to point out you are massively downplaying something that makes WAR incredibly powerful.

The point isn't that it's somehow completely useless, the point is that it's not good enough. It's not equal. That 20% for six seconds is the same 20% a paladin has -anyway-, and in most cases is completely sufficient. Shield Block/Parry itself is just icing on the cake. Filed under "Things that can save you if something went awry, but not inherently necessary." It comes out to be comparable to Shield Block in term of effectiveness, but the 20% "on demand" is more directly comparable to the permanent 20% reduction that Paladins always have simply by being in stance (Which, no, even with 2.1 buffs Defiance does not match perfectly and even then, most of the benefit is only available via heals- which you should always have anyway, but the inequality is in usefulness and versatility. A paladin survives and clears content by simply not taking a whole lot of damage. A warrior clears content because...... At least they don't die.) Inner Beast, with that in mind, is serving the exact same purpose it always did even pre 2.1 when it was just a self heal, except we don't lose the bonus heals and the net damage nullified in high level content is increased, but the overall utility is lower. It is and always has been compensation for lack of what a paladin does automatically anyway.

Also just to establish, that first bit isn't true at all. Ultimately the old status quo is maintained- a bad paladin will do better than a bad warrior. A good warrior can maybe outperform a good paladin. A perfect paladin will outperform a perfect warrior.