Why PLD needs solo buffs.

[Maeka]

I like 2.4's changes to Flash and Circle of Scorn, however....

None of that fixes all of the various problems with PLD in solo situations.

Problems:

1). PLDs take way too long to kill anything.
2). PLDs have some of the worst (maybe right behind MRD? not sure) survivability of all the classes despite them being tanks.
3). What can easily be solo'd by others is incredibly difficult to solo as a PLD.

Let's use a Lv30-40 FATE Miniboss (one that can be solo'd by many classes) for comparison. I am going to leave out chocobos, just the person, solo, no outside help with normal equipment, nothing special. I'm going to compare BLM, WHM, and PLD altogether:

(cont)

[Maeka]

1). WHM. The WHM will never die to the miniboss whatsoever. The only fear the WHM has, is running out of time and MP. It will take awhile to kill, but as long as they have their MP Regen skill (been awhile... Shroud of the Saints or something like that?), they don't really have any worries. Especially if they have Regen. These bosses usually take about 8-9 minutes to kill as a WHM.

2). BLM. The BLM is even better at this than the WHM! With Physick and Aetherial Ice, the BLM will never run out of MP and just by spamming Blizzard, he will do more damage than the WHM will and similarly never have any trouble whatsoever. His only fears mis-timing trying to keep some Fire damage going, but switching to ice when he needs self-heals and the occasional spell interruption. I've killed FATE Minibosses in 5 minutes or less as a BLM, solo with no chocobo.

(cont)

[Maeka]

3). PLD. The subject of this topic. The PLD has to race against the clock (because his damage is so pathetic, even with Sword Oath), his self-healing is nil (each Cure cures roughly one attack from the miniboss), and he has to spam 3-4 cures at a time every other Rage of Halone combo that he does. Trying to kill one within the 15min timer is incredibly hard; usually takes at least 12 minutes because of the dirt poor damage output the PLD has.


How to fix it:

I propose a new ability, Lv30, for GLA and PLD. Not sure what to call it, maybe "Crusader" or something. It would work like this:

Crusader
GLA PLD Lv30
*Increases Cure potency by 80%.
*Increases damage dealt by 50%.
*Increases damage taken by 20%.
*Effects are removed when joining a Light or Full Party.
*Cannot be used while in a Light or Full Party.

(cont)

[Maeka]

That would go a long way towards solving the various problems of Paladin solo. Currently, Paladin is one of the worst classes/jobs to do anything solo with whatsoever, and that's a shame. I was surprised when I leveled my White Mage, that we have something like Cleric Stance, but there's nothing similar for GLA/PLD except for Sword/Shield Oath... but Sword Oath only modifies Auto Attacks and nothing else.



I was also surprised at how easy and fast solo is with a WHM; I do more than twice the damage my PLD does, and there's no comparing the solo survivability; my WHM literally cannot die unless I pull 6+ enemies at once, or I try a major FATE boss or something like that.

(cont............again)

[Maeka]

While on my PLD, I'm squirming nervously in my seat anytime I have 3 enemies on me of equal level trying to hurry and kill one as fast as possible, because once I'm wounded, I have no way to recover beyond spamming Cures on myself (which throws my DPS into the dirt). Meanwhile, my WHM can throw Regen on and I can tank 2-3 mobs without casting a single Cure, with Cleric Stance up.

Please consider this issue, and please consider helping Paladins out with their solo game. We shouldn't be so strongly pushed to change our jobs just to do solo work. We should be able to enjoy our favorite job in solo, no matter what it is, and that should include Paladin.

(yeeeeeeeeesh, how are you supposed to post anything meaningful with 1000 character limit!?)

[SirTaint]

At 50 I feel like PLD is very good at solo content. Put on STR accessories plus sword oath and I can solo most anything. (That would be considered solo content).

[Donjo]

At 50 I feel like PLD is very good at solo content. Put on STR accessories plus sword oath and I can solo most anything. (That would be considered solo content).

Yup yup. All STR accessories + Sword Oath = killing things outside of dungeons as quickly as I do on a Monk. It's how I did all of my Alexandrite gathering completely alone and I not only did it quickly, I never once came close to dying.

[Mykll]

Yup yup. All STR accessories + Sword Oath = killing things outside of dungeons as quickly as I do on a Monk. It's how I did all of my Alexandrite gathering completely alone and I not only did it quickly, I never once came close to dying.

Yep, this. When doing the Alexandrites, or SB'ing gear, or need to do leves or anything really, I would rather load up my "dps" gear PLD or WAR and do that, rather than any other normal DPS Class/Job. Although sometimes ACN for Carbuncle is a plus. Healing Chocobo is a nice little boon regardless of job as well.

[Maduro]

You can bypass the character limit by editing your first post.

You could always take your soul crystal off when soloing, which is how they planned in originally if I recall. Classes are for soloing, jobs for group. If you remove the soul crystal you would have access to more cross class abilities like raging strikes and blood for blood which would increase your DPS. Couple those 2 abilities with bloodbath and your survivability should increase as well.

That being said, I agree that PLD sucks solo.

[Dioptase]

There is a thread on how good pld dps is with correct setup. The tank guide is by Xenosys that should answer your questions about how to pld