What if Paladins got a "Dragon Kick" ability?

[VargasVermillion]

Most of the party utility that PLD seemingly offers is useless: blind is useless, shield bash is useless, pacification is useless. Only thing it has is stoneskin (which isn't even one of their skills) and strength down, Cover is ok but would benefit more if it could protect against magic damage as well.

As for what abilities could be added I'll wait and see what they get in Heavensward first.

[Ultimatecalibur]

The Int down part would be advantageous in magic damage heavy fights where Rage of Halone's debuff doesn't do anything, but it would likely be unused unless the action that applied it had other uses.

[Rbstr]

Most of the party utility that PLD seemingly offers is useless: blind is useless, shield bash is useless, pacification is useless. Only thing it has is stoneskin (which isn't even one of their skills) and strength down, Cover is ok but would benefit more if it could protect against magic damage as well.

I agree that Paly could use some more utility, but you can't call can their utility useless, it's far from it. A repeatable GCD stun is very powerful. No one else can chain stun and it's been critical to strategy in many fights. They're the only tank with silence. And, while the pacify doesn't do much (IMO it should reduce autoattack damage), Swipe is atleast a DPS increase.

It's only really deficient in a world where it gains nothing from Heavensward or DRK replicates all of the currently unique aspects. But I don't think it will. It will probably be built to synergize well with either tank, like we've heard from Astrologian.

[Zaft]

A repeatable GCD stun is very powerful. No one else can chain stun and it's been critical to strategy in many fights.

I'm curious what fights you're talking about. Leviathan is the only one I can think of where people chainstun, and that's really only in PUGs. Any group with competent DPS will burn the mob before it gets out of its first stun.

I'm not saying it's worthless of course, but it's far from useful. STR down is really all they have going for them, and that's minor compared to WAR's flat 10% down.

[SirTaint]

Snip.

The shield is their special ability. 35% perma blockrate is very nice and is the reason a lot of groups use Swordoath PLDs as MTs in FCoB.

HG is the best Defensive CD and can cheese major boss attacks allowing healers to DPS or regen mana.

The chain stunning was very useful for initial Levi farms, it was also useful for Ifrit and in most dungeons. (nothing coil tier that I can think of)

The silence was useful in T1,T2,T9 along with lessor fights/dungeons.

DRK will need something potent to compete with PLD for progression content. Otherwise I could see it being PLD/DRK or PLD/WAR then once we are over geared WAR/DRK.

[Zaft]

snip

I have to disagree.

First, tank damage intake is not a problem in this game, and I don't see that changing in Alexander. It's why tanks wear STR accessories instead of VIT; the damage output gained is far more important than the increased damage intake. Second, while the things you listed are nice, none of them are unique to PLD. WAR can holmgang in place of HG and just have the healer drop a Bene on him at the end. Multiple classes can stun. Multiple classes can silence.

Second, what makes WAR a permanent fixture in raids is slashing resistance down (which can be replaced by a NIN) and raid damage down by 10% (which CANNOT be replaced, yet). Until another class brings the utility that WAR brings, WAR will not be replaced. On the other hand, PLD can easily be replaced. Their only real raid utility, STR down, effects only auto-attacks and a choice few abilities (since the large majority of attacks are magic based).

So honestly, if DRK gets any sort of raid utility (magic down, int down, etc), I can easily see PLD being placed aside in serious progression groups. What I'm hoping will happen is PLD will obtain better utility in the expansion, and DRK will gain INT down so that MNKs aren't a necessity for cutting edge raiding.

[VargasVermillion]

When I said useless I meant in most cases. Specific mechanics are an exception, for example storms eye and storms path are always useful for either tank.
PLD utility is very situational, especially stuns and silence as only a handful of enemies in raids are actually affected by them. They are useful when they are needed but they have to be intended to do so on specific encounters, especially the stuns.

[Domira]

Most of the party utility that PLD seemingly offers is useless: blind is useless, shield bash is useless, pacification is useless. Only thing it has is stoneskin (which isn't even one of their skills) and strength down, Cover is ok but would benefit more if it could protect against magic damage as well.

As for what abilities could be added I'll wait and see what they get in Heavensward first.

YEP!

Its sad how most of PLD utility is absolutely useless in a raid environment.