Pally Is Almost Perfect

[cheolsu]

With the 3.2 changes, paladin is almost perfect. I can now proc my own Divine Veil. Clemency is faster. I don't run out of TP so fast.

There's just two more problems. Please fix to make perfect.

1. It's lame that I can't cast Cover on somebody in a different Alliance, like in void ark. They have to actually be in my party for it to work. In a Full Group I can cover the other tank when things get bad, but with Alliances I can never cover the other tank.

2. Tempered Will cool down is way too long. Any time I could use it and feel badass, I can't use it the next two times. For example, to stop the knockback on last boss in Neverreap. Who cares when I can't stop the next two knockbacks! >.<

[Fynlar]

3) Why is PLD the only tank that has to burn GCD to switch stances? Isn't it already bad enough that

4) they have to wait til 40 for their tank stance?

[Lambdafish]

I don't run out of TP so fast.

Improved but not fixed, our TP will still hit the floor (now slightly slower) with no way to stop or fix it without halting DPS. We either need a TP restore, or an MP move that deals damage for the TP problem to be fixed, no amount of cost adjustments will fix it.

[cheolsu]

Improved but not fixed, our TP will still hit the floor (now slightly slower) with no way to stop or fix it without halting DPS. We either need a TP restore, or an MP move that deals damage for the TP problem to be fixed, no amount of cost adjustments will fix it.

I'm okay with running out of TP eventually, because it adds some variety. I mean, if we never run out of TP, then it doesn't really matter that we have TP. There are plenty of things to do with MP as TP recovers.

You can Flash, cast Clemency, and cast Stoneskin.

[Lambdafish]

You can Flash, cast Clemency, and cast Stoneskin.

All of which are useless if you have hate and have healers, if its anything like 3.1, I was standing still and auto-attacking because I had no reason to use my MP. I never said we should never run out of TP, I said:

an MP move that deals damage

So that we can keep consistent DPS and manage our TP.

[AylmerOfFamfrit]

I like the adjustments for Pld. I want cover to reach further.

[Valkyrie-Amber]

I have to say I'm generally rather happy with 3.2 pld cause before 3.2 it was super lacking now its better because many people begged for these changes including I

as for tp it lasts alittle longer now than it did prior to 3.2 so should be fine most part.

[Februs]

Perfect? I think not...

Clemency was a decent change. I guess it makes it a little easier to use, though it doesn't make much of a difference, considering it was only ever used in fixed places during scripted fights anyway. It still can't be surecasted, so that really hasn't changed.

Divine Veil was also a good fix, in that it now works the way it should have worked from the start.

Pld Dps ... is still bullsh*t and chips. We got a potency buff, only to have our overall Dps nerfed by the Tank-wide Nerf. Gee, SE. Thanks a bunch for making our Dps go absolutely nowhere (actually might be a tad lower). All in all, though, I can live with this. Pld dps was always low (for some, garbage, arbitrary reason), so it's nothing new, and the Dps checks aren't as stupid this time around.

Tp ... Still sucks. I mean, wow. It takes me 4 minutes to flat-line my Tp bar instead of 3. What an awesome fix! Thanks SE! You have no idea how much that extra minute means to me! /sarcasm.

I'm not saying that Pld's should never run out of Tp (like one particular Tank we all know well), but it is stupid that Pld's have no way to manage their Tp expenditure. Before anyone points this out (because I've seen this argument before), No. Clemency does not count as Tp management. It is only ever used in fixed times during fights. You can not spam cast it to make up your Tp, and each cast of Clemency is a huge Dps loss (which is the complete opposite of the goal of managing your Tp). Further, given that we can already murder our Tp bars (albeit slower) now, their Tp reductions are only a temporary fix. when skill speeds start to increase, we could very well be back down to the same spot where we were before the patch. Then we'll have to start this whole mess all over again.

Cover was completely ignored.

Tempered Will was completely ignored. The main problem with these two being that Pld is the ONLY tank job that has moves that they don't, and often can't, use. That's just plain stupid.

Oath swapping basically did not change. It doesn't cancel our combo anymore. Great. It still takes a turn of the GCD, meaning that the best time to use it is at the start of a combo (typically when FoF comes back around off of CD). Meaning the optimal way of using SwO is: Sword Oath > Fight or Flight > Fast blade ... notice that this usage does not interrupt our combo anyway? That's cuz' it doesn't. The optimal way of using Sword Oath never did. So this change is just window dressing.

Shield Oath was a decent change. It helps secure an aggro lead, and makes tank swapping easier. Though, this is hardly unique to Pld, because every tank had their enmity increased. So ... nothing special here. Moving on.

Sword Oath was ignored ... again. I'm not sure there's a number in existence for how many times a change has been requested to SwO. Everything from potency buffs to effect changes have been submitted to SE. What did we get? Nothing. It's exactly the same, and the best advantage of having it active is not having your dps reduced by the dmg reduction of shield oath... which you can also get just by dropping shield oath (which did not cancel combos, ever, and could be used more freely from the start). Is this absolutely horrible? No. It functions just fine, but it was certainly a missed opportunity for SE to do something meaningful to the Pld job.

All in all, Pld's changes were fine, I guess, but they are tremendously lack luster. The job plays exactly the same as it did before. Most of the serious, long standing, issues that have plagued it are still around in one form or another. The only one that I can say is a solid, undoubtedly good, change was the increase of Pld aggro on savage blade, as it rewards players for maximizing their Dps instead of just spamming RoH/Flash. All in all, though, the change is mostly just there. There were so many different things that they could have done to give Pld a serious overhaul, address all of it's issues, and give it a solid identity, but, as usual, they took the shortest and simplest path to "fixing" it. It functions now, sure, but the changes are nothing special and definitely not perfect.

[IndigoHawk]

I am kind of amazed how many paladin abilities were modified without fixing much. I agree paladin is a bit better now but overall the changes were uninspired.

I do not understand why divine veil can't apply its weak shield immediately instead of requiring a two second cast that's often wasted because I'm just triggering veil. It's better but not good.

Other problems persist: no way to manage TP, an awkward combo that makes applying multiple dots take forever and is weirdly combined with mana regeneration, annoying to use stun, weak AoE, lack of utility, and other awkward abilities like Cover and Tempered Will that are to hard to use or have CDs that are too long for what they do.

I get the feeling no one has vision for paladin, so they had someone tweak some things and call it good. 3.2 is an improvement but not nearly perfect.

[GeekMatt]

Clemency's fantastic as-is now, can be used in a multitude of places in practical ways that actually saves lives. Cases like VA, when boss casts Black Lung I immediately look at who's in his path because they're going to die. Also works to heal self as needed.

I used Cover in my Sephirot SM the other day when neither tank expected adds and they nearly burned down my healer. It can also be useful in A5(M1), DV, Vault, TEX and a number of other places in a way that's more scripted, but would love added range, outside of party usage, and magic Mitigation.

Sword Oath would be fantastic oGCD, but our damage should never be great. The overall tank nerf is irrelevant to us in this conversation because we don't need good DPS, we needed comparable-to-other-tanks DPS just so we remain viable in that department, not so we excel, and that DPS gap between tanks has shrunk.

TP was my only real frustration but it has been way better, no complaints yet. Veil is awesome. Tempered Will could definitely use a shorter CD, it's not powerful enough to justify its duration. If there's a reason that is can't be made shorter (fear of PLD being OP on future mechanics like in Titan) then it should be given an additional effect so that it can benefit us more regularly