Are Paladins even worth it?

[Roxas_Andrade]

Well, IMO, Shield Swipe should be off the GCD.

The Pally has some issues while leveling up, cause he has no aoe attack or DoT, but as you get to Lv. 50, you've got it all.

All the Job skills of Pally should be in another order too. Shield Oath should be Lv. 30. Sword Oath at Lv. 35. Then Cover, Spirits and Hallowed Ground. Would be easier to level up like this. But then again, once you're Lv. 50, it doesn't matter. Pally Rocks. (But WAR is better)

[karateorangutang]

Honestly there are a hundred posts about which class is better out there. I've leveled both to 50 and ran both through dungeons and raids and honestly I don't see a giant difference between the two classes 99% of the time. The other 1% of the time its a party make-up thing or the content just lends itself better to one tank.

At the end of the day play the one that holds your interest better, because that's the one your gonna push to become the best.

For me that's PLD. If the raid or group doesn't want a PLD then there's a million out there that will.

[HeavensSword]

They should just swap when you get Shield Oath and Sword Oath so we no longer have to see all of the "how i tankz as paladon?" threads.

[zatoseyes]

I don't expect Paladin's to ever be useless. Even if they give Dark Knight the Halone debuff, Paladin's will still have a shield. That shield means a lot to mitigation, and really it's the defining aspect of the class in my opinion.

Now, they may not be useless, but they are a little dull to play. But they're also reliable. I like to pull out my shield when I want to be lazy. I pull out my Axe when I want to wreck some people and goof around. Really it comes down to play style and preference. When Dark Knights come out it'll be the same situation. You figure out if you want to:
- Chill while tanking
- Crush your enemies and see them driven before you.
- Manage your MP while you do cool poses with a big sword (bout all I know of Dark Knight so far. lol)

[SpookyGhost]

Well, IMO, Shield Swipe should be off the GCD.

I dunno why everyone wants this, your TP is going to get destroyed.

[Woggers]

I'm getting really tired of these type of threads. I don't know if they are being serious anymore or just trying to troll and start up a hate war?

BTW if you are current on your gear it is extremely easy to hold on to hate... I don't know what these new players are doing having so much trouble with tanking.

[Nyalia]

99% of the time, WAR vs PLD is a matter of personal preference. While some people (mostly WAR mains) make fun of PLDs for having a simple 1-2-3 rotation, that doesn't mean PLDs aren't good. Both tank classes have the same eHP. Both tank classes are perfectly valid for most content.

There is plenty of endgame content that actually prefers PLD because of the PLD 6-second stun. PLDs can also silence, which WARs cannot do. That is not to say that there isn't content that prefers WAR, who can do much more burst DPS while tanking when necessary and has better AoE aggro generation.

For (50+) dungeons, some people prefer WARs for their AoE threat superiority. Personally, I prefer PLDs for their invincibility move and stronger CDs (with longer CD timers). It allows me to do gigantic pulls (like the entire basement of Haukke HM all at once), and if the DPS is good enough, I can survive even with a bad healer. A WAR would be much more dependent on the healer. Also, I love being able to use Cover. Instead of trying to get aggro on something that really wants to eat the healer's face (or a DPS who focustargets when they should be AoEing), I can just throw in a cover and the mob will be dead before cover wears off. Also, being able to stoneskin myself after establishing solid aggro is really nice mitigation in endgame raid content, though many PLDs don't do that for some reason I don't get.

[TouchandFeel]

As others have said, they are both very viable and worth it, so much so that as a tank I highly suggest leveling and gearing both so you can play as either as needed.

Which one is better will depend on your own play style preference. WAR tanks offensively while a PLD is your more traditional defensively played tank (although I love playing PLD as offensively as I can).

Each one shines a bit more than the other in certain areas and certain situations, but for the most part they are quite balanced.

My only real issues with PLD are more along the lines of group/raid utility such as the lack of a "target takes more of X damage" debuff, Pacification and Blind being kind of worthless post 50 since everything is apparently immune to them, Cover being physical damage only and a lack of a full second combo with riot blade.

Also I know there is a huge stigma of PLD being simple and boring, which is true if played at its most base level, but if you work oath dancing into your PLD tanking strategy it definitely makes things more engaging.

[DSaint]

Paladins are just crap and shouldn't really be a class .

Yeah!
Paladin since my day 1 in this game and received 0 commendations so far.
Everytime I do a roullete, players just lol and vote kick me.
Titan refuses to attack me. He kills my whole party and sit there: "You can't do anything with your stick", he says. And take a nap.
In pvp, my enemies change class to any discipline of hand and still kill me with yours little hammers, then begin lol.
NPCs refuse to sell things to me.
I don't ride my chocobo anymore. My chocobo rides me.
There is no more loldrg, just lolpld.

Yeah! Shouldn't be a class... Sure...

/end sarcasm

[Feylie]