Thread: So, what do PALADINS get in 2.1?

Personally the only thing id like to see implemented right away is, CoS to generate enmity and id be fine with that only change.

Just to throw some ideas out...
Id also like Shield Swipe and Bulwark return to be valuable for endgame content, sure i could use it during Coil and Titan, but it really wouldn't matter if i did or didn't as rampart, sentinel, foresight, and shield oath take the bulk of the damage mitigation skill sets. So adding/adjusting stats wouldn't be an improvement or fix. Rather id like entire mechanic to be changed to make better use of the shield.

IE: While Bulwark is active, player will be granted charges for every successful block up to 3 (or 5), and you can use Shield Swipe (now off the GCD) to use those charges.

^ This change also gives 2 distinct pathways for players to shields among the 3, while Kite shields are still the best of both worlds, The biggest community change is how the player wants to fill their shield slot. Do they want more Mitigation (tower shield) which will grant them less opportunities to build Bulwark Charge, Or does the player like all the charges built, making him want the Round Shield over mitigation found from the tower shield.


Another is adjusting combos used in an off-tanking stance. Typically a level50 PLD off-tank will get on Sword Oath so as not to fight for aggro against the PLD MT on Shield Oath or WAR MT on Defiance. We are also forced to use Fastblade>Riot Blade Combo, with a combo potency of 230+50 that does generate much less enmity than Shield Oath>FB>SB>RoH. But even then we are still not to use our main tank combos regardless. Id love so that enmity % bonus is only granted on Sword Oath, and removes the multiplier on SB>RoH, allowing the player to still produce enmity based on damage, and not based on combos, so we can use FB>SB>RoH without creeping up to MT in aggro, making us throttling the DPS down for no real reason.

Another change id like to see is Combat Raise for PLD, with how our mana works and how much MP we use for Flash, raise is already an expensive spell to use, and realistically we would only be able to use it once or twice depending on the player so i don't think there is an issue with spamming raise. Or an Emergency Raise that grants 1 raise at the expense of 1/2 your total HP, making you really be strategic as to when to use it or if its viable to use it at all.

On an overall note, I wonder if it'd be possible to add traits to jobs, at some point.
Basically when you are using your job, you get some extra stats, your 5 job abilities, AND some traits to improve the effect of your cross-class, and base class abilities.

I think a good balancing point would be 3 traits, at 30, 40, and 50.

So for example on PLD:
Have a lvl 30 trait that improves Foresight, making it add 20% magic defense as well.
Have a lvl 40 trait that improves Stoneskin, making it OGCD and instant cast. Easier to use, but still 10%, and still limited by mana... Bit of on-demand protection on bosses.
Have a lvl 50 trait that adds a significant enmity mod to Circle of Scorn. This is a TANK job, so why should our lvl 50 base class aoe have no hate mod?

For WAR:
Have a lvl 30 trait that improves Second Wind, making it heal for some amount based on attack power PLUS some % of your hp.
Have a lvl 40 trait that improves Convalescence, perhaps increasing the duration by 10 seconds.
Have a lvl 50 trait that improves Storm's Eye AND Storm's Path, giving them a small enmity mod... Which would justify using the combos more, and would reduce the need to give a blanket buff to Defiance's aggro.

Now some may say that adding traits than enhance certain cross-class abilities takes away from customization options and will lead to cookie-cutter builds and so forth.
Um... for most classes, there ARE several all but required cross-class abilities, and many others are somewhere between "meh" and "wtf" in comparison... such as Skull Sunder for Paladin...

If people are concerned about job identity, then lets add a new method of supporting the job identities. Paladin is the pro-active mitigation tank, well lets make Foresight work on magic, and lets let them shield themselves with Stoneskin if they have spare mana. A 600-670 point shield is not gamebreaking, but it is nice to have if you got nothing to spend mana on. And of course, the final ability in the base class of a TANK should logically have a hate mod... right?
And if you want Warrior to be the reactive self-healing tank, let them heal themselves more with 2nd Wind, and get more heals for longer with Conv... and again, last few attacks in a tank's base class SHOULD have a hate mod...