Quote Originally Posted by Reynhart View Post
No, I'm saying that Shield and Sword Oath are bland because they doesn't change anything besides their basic effect. Back in 2.x, it was even worse. Since both Oath are "fire and forget" skills, the gameplay difference between Gladiator and Paladin was minimal. When compared to MRD and WAR, you could clearly see what the OP called the "lack of Identity".
Again, I'm not talking about stronger or weaker skills.


Sorry, but no. Maim and Eye will fall if you don't reapply them, Blood of the Dragon will fall if you don't manage it properly. Darkside is a stance, and it will never fall by itself.
And it's absolutely offensive.


Maybe it's because what we do have is either what the other tank have or so situational that you could probably forgot you have them. Pray tell me how I can get the most out of Awareness...or Protect...or Cure...or Raise...
Strongly agree. Somewhat agree. Somewhat agree.

1. While I agree that the stances and job identity as a whole on PLD is often a bit lackluster (the oGCDs are noticable, but Cover rarely has any good use at this point, Hallowed Ground is par for the course), but even while PLD pays slightly more than DRK and typically quite a bit more than WAR for a short stance-dance, it's not like its outright discouraged by the math behind the job, nor is it without its own idiosyncrasy/ies. It's what it causes you to do and think about, not the complexity in the one ability itself.

2. Mana drain, so technically, leave it alone in combat and yes, it will fall off by itself. A long BotD with lesser, more frequent gains is probably the best analogy you're going to get for it.

3. Awareness I use regularly and Protect (often have more free time to do that as OT than the healers) enough to remember its binding w/o looking. Cure... not since Stone Vigil. Raise... only in Diadem if we leave combat and some corpse has gotten separated from its party.

To OP: Don't worry, virtually none of the jobs make sense. There's been little to no effort put into doing so. Only a few of the Heavensward job quest lines were even decent. Lore is largely an after-thought, with very few attempts to connect job themes with their mechanics. Sadly, you may be asking too much of this game if you'd like that to change for the better. It's probably a lost cause to ask for a consolidated lore-based direction by which to get identity. If anything, I'd look at particular times you felt like you were doing something unique as a PLD (maybe the first WP speedruns, Omega wep Ex, TW vs. divebombs, etc.) and what felt good or cool about those, then what the situations that you knew you were a PLD by that feeling of being shot in the foot it gave you and consider what caused it. Look then at the skills they have now, how they could be modified to grant / deal with each. You're not going to find your answer in unique yet well-established lore or any encapsulating theme here. I mean... how long now have we been complaining that Bards aren't Bards, our DRGs aren't really DRGs, and our Pugilists+an_AoE+oGCD+a_new_Fist weren't Monks...