More Gauge Options for Paladin Please

[migu6066]

Currently Paladin’s gauge can only be used for defensive reasons but sometimes you have no reason to use a defensive action so your gauge just sits at 100. It would nice to have an offensive option for Paladin’s gauge to shake things up a bit.

[Carighan]

They could add a new 50 gauge costing oGCD attack, Edge of Light or so. Maybe with an AoE variant called Flood of Light?
Then maybe change Holy Sheltron so it gives a shield effect, The Brightest Day or something. And if that gets fully used up, you get a proc, Lightside, that gives one use of Edge of Light for free?

[Rithy255]

They could add a new 50 gauge costing oGCD attack, Edge of Light or so. Maybe with an AoE variant called Flood of Light?
Then maybe change Holy Sheltron so it gives a shield effect, The Brightest Day or something. And if that gets fully used up, you get a proc, Lightside, that gives one use of Edge of Light for free?

Isn't that just TBN with extra steps?

I think PLD was a job designed without gauge in mind, Holy sheltron & intervention are just basically a 2 charged skill that share a cooldown and cover is there to be... cover sometimes useful mostly just there.

[Carighan]

Isn't that just TBN with extra steps?

Yes I was poking fun at the idea. Apologies for not adding an '/s' or so.

But yeah OP, there's a good reason that most resources or CDs don't have an alternative offense-based use. And also why it's sometimes a bit problematic even on DRK. FFXIV is entirely a damage-based optimization game, with both healing and tanking being intentionally near-trivial in difficulty. This means the moment a damage-use for a gauge, a CD, a resource, whatever, exists, it'll be used for that 99% of the time and nobody wants to use it any other way.

For example, you'll notice that like how Paladins cannot spend their gauge on offensive skills, Gunbreakers cannot spend their HoC cooldown on offense instead of HoC instead. And none of the tanks has an alternative 3 minute CD button that's +damage instead of +mitigation. That's quite intentional. To not have that, I mean.

[Valence]

Perhaps Holy Sheltron could be like in pvp and detonate when it's not popped by enemy hits. Problem being immediately that everybody would want to run PLD as OT exclusively if it gets additional damage options outside of tanking. That's a bit of the reverse problem HW DRK used to have with Dark Dance, or that WAR still has with the spikes on Vengeance that push(ed) people to MT with those.

[Atreus]

Perhaps Holy Sheltron could be like in pvp and detonate when it's not popped by enemy hits. Problem being immediately that everybody would want to run PLD as OT exclusively if it gets additional damage options outside of tanking. That's a bit of the reverse problem HW DRK used to have with Dark Dance, or that WAR still has with the spikes on Vengeance that push(ed) people to MT with those.

Can't say I agree, I already hate that conditional mechanic in PvP and don't want it replicated in PvE. That being said, at least the PvE version would have ways to protect the shield (other mitigation) to guarantee the detonation.

[Carighan]

I think if one wants more options to use the gauge - fair enough - then they have to all be defensive in nature. Otherwise you'll always run into the DPS-always-wins issue that for example also makes Crit and Det the best melds for tanks despite Tenacity existing, that kind of stuff. FFXIV just not built, at present, to value survival or healing AT ALL. Hence any option where you can pick between "I deal more damage" and "I take less damage", having to spend that option on the latter will feel bad. It's never the "correct" choice if you got it.

Hence, the best way is to avoid that choice: Gauge is spent on defense, period. Of course this brings me to an interesting proposal: What if, while you are >20-ish gauge, Clemency was an oGCD and ate 20 gauge?

[GraceHorizon]

OGCD Clemency costing gauge? It would be OP and I love it, even as someone who rarely plays Paladin.

Drifting off topic, but to be honest, OGCD Clemency costing MP would also be very strong; Paladin doesn’t have trouble with MP management and could afford to spend on an occasional heal without sacrificing damage spells at all. The only thing that makes Clemency bad right now is that it’s GCD, which (as damage always wins over defense if you have to choose between them) is highly disfavored.

[Carighan]

Oh yeah I was thinking it'd cost gauge on top of the mana. Like it always costs 1000 mana, and also 20 gauge if possible (so it's not voluntary, you gotta be somewhat smart if you need sheltron soon!) but then is an oGCD instead of a casted GCD.

[Valence]

Can't say I agree, I already hate that conditional mechanic in PvP and don't want it replicated in PvE. That being said, at least the PvE version would have ways to protect the shield (other mitigation) to guarantee the detonation.

I don't feel strongly about it either way. Just saying that agency with a choice between an offensive use and a defensive use (or a support use) is a pretty common mechanic found in a lot of pvp sets, and in multiple older pve sets, although for the latter it's mostly left in SCH those days (aetherflow options). But it wouldn't work as such in current pve.