3.2 drk vs pld dps

[Brian_]

Well right. Clemency takes two GCDs to cast and does zero damage, while also preventing you from autoattacking. It follows naturally that the players who have maximized their DPS aren't going to use it, because it can represent a substantial DPS loss.

But damage output isn't everything.

It's true that progression groups will probably want to pump out as much damage as they can get, to avoid hard enrages. But groups who are dying to mechanics, or to DPS/healers taking avoidable damage can really be helped out by a Paladin throwing an extra Cure 1.5 out. Once a fight is on farm? Clemency loses its value. But while a group is still learning the fight, the extra spot heal can be really handy.

No, not really. Healers have their own rotation. They have to quickly assess and budget their healing in response to a fight's damage intake. What they do is not really any different than what tanks do with their CD planning. You know what damage is coming. You know what tools you have to deal with it. The rest is about structuring an overall rotation to cover an entire fight while leaving enough of a margin of error.

So random spot healing does not really help because it's generally not needed. And, if it is needed, it's a sign you have bigger problems.

In general, after 3.2, this is accurate. However, if it's a PUG learning party, you could get a WAR who seriously outgears someone. I've seen it a couple times. Fell Cleavus is real.

I out DPS plenty of bad players. That has nothing to do with the classes themselves. That was the original statement. "They're not going to top WAR in Deliverance, but neither can some DPS classes."

Highlighting the important bit, because that's ultimately what it boils down to. We can argue about the hypothetical situational uses of various abilities until we're blue in the face and our fingers are bloody nubs, but it boils down to using whatever job you're most comfortable with. This tier has done a pretty good job of ensuring that, so long as you don't duplicate jobs, and so long as people know what they're doing, you're going to be able to succeed with almost any comp out there.

I don't know how you can interpret something so wrong. This tier is not easy enough that most groups can bring sub-optimal comps and still expect to clear at a reasonable pace. That much is evidenced by how low the clear rates still are. And, as is, PLD vs. DRK is still a discussion you need to have because they both have their strengths and weaknesses in the content. The gap between the two and the general difficulty of the content isn't at the point where your raid needs 4 more weeks of gear to carry a PLD through content but it still exists.

What I said was you bring a PLD if you need their strengths. Those strengths are better physical mitigation, Sheltron, HG and DV. Not clemency. Not cover. Nothing has really changed. It's just that now, both due to PLD DPS buffs and a shift in the focus of content, groups are not punished as hard for poor DPS.