I'm a Paladin...Now what?

[Mehweweh]

My current plan is to try to hit 50 on a job before my subscription time is up (11 days), and try to switch to DRK. I just love the idea of being an awesome knight who fights for justice and to protect others, as cheesy as it sounds.

[JeniLinsky]

What makes you think Paladins aren't awesome knights who fight for justice and to protect others?

All Dark Knight has is "Ooooh! Spoooooooky!" Paladins have Justice and the Might of Rightousness! We keep our oaths, and stand between the darkness and the smallfolk. The light of holiness burns our enemies, and we become invulnerable to damage at will (subject to cooldown). The heaviest armor, the stoutest shields, the mightiest blades are ours. If you want to practice might for right be a Paladin!

(All that said, tanking takes a particular mindset. You have to not mind that you take a boatload of damage, and dish out very little. As a Paladin, you're not there to rack up the big numbers on DPS; you're there to soak damage, and keep the mobs from hitting the li'l squishies running around the dungeon in their underwear. If you can't take pride in taking the most damage, and keeping the damage off the squishies, yeah; it might be time to go be a squishie. As for which tank to be... personal choice. I love Paladin, and will play it until they take the servers down).

[Mehweweh]

Sorry, I worded my post wrong. I was describing Paladins, not Dark Knight. Dark Knight is the type who does more of the dirty work while still trying to do what's right. And I've always been a player who has a hard time defending himself from enemies, so being a tank just seems right.

[VTanner]

Maybe I should switch to a DPS job? I like to be creative when fighting enemies.

Try going Warrior and see how you like it. I played PLD for over as year and have to say it's probably the most boring job out there some how. No big AOE, next to no damage output, survival rate is easy outside of endgame content. Once I switched to Warrior full time as my FC static had a PLD I couldn't believe the difference and actually having to think about cool down rotation as you have practically nothing, its all about soaking damage and dealing it out to get HP back and is great fun to grab loads of monsters and go to town on them. Dark Knight plays in a similar role but Palladin... I guess it's great for learning dungeons but it's not the most fun to play.

[Martin_Arcainess]

Depends on your playing style as each to ther own, if you like a more complex class then WAR or DRK but if you prefer to a simple class like PLD then I stick to it. You just got to think what do I enjoy doing more? I myself like to be that Tank that can take a hit and still survive and PLD dose that well if not the best of the Tank class's and that is why it has low damage out put but it dose relie on healers beining able to heal it something that a WAR and DRK can do.

But after HW came, PLD is a lot more survivable thanks to the fact it can cast protect which will have the full effect as a any Healers protect and same with it's Stone Skin, only difference is 1 sec cast time. The at LV52 PLD get's even more OP lol with a skill that will always block the next physical attack with it's shield.

In short there is a lot more to PLD then meets the eye. If you play it right you can be a very solid built tank.

[Vandril]

My current plan is to try to hit 50 on a job before my subscription time is up (11 days), and try to switch to DRK.

Not to burst your bubble, but you won't be unlocking DRK the moment you hit 50. To access Ishgard, and thus unlock DRK, you'll need to hit 50 and then complete every main story quest from patches 2.0-2.55. The main story quests at 50 alone will probably take you longer than the 11 days you have left on your subscription, let alone the actual leveling you need to accomplish before reaching that point. Expect to be well into your next month's subscription before you can unlock DRK.

Don't let that ruin your mood, though. And don't go into it all with the mindset that it's all one big grind before you can enjoy your reward (Ishgard, DRK, etc.). Instead, just enjoy your time playing through the MSQ up to and at level 50. The new content isn't going anywhere, so there's no rush. Just take your time and have fun.

In any case, I just now noticed that you're on my World, Diabolos. My character name is Ter'vin Valash, as can be seen to the left of my post. I'm typically online daily, in the afternoon/evening hours in EST/EDT. Don't hesitate to hit me up if you need anything (I can craft and whatnot, or general advice).

[Mehweweh]

Depends on your playing style as each to ther own, if you like a more complex class then WAR or DRK but if you prefer to a simple class like PLD then I stick to it. You just got to think what do I enjoy doing more? I myself like to be that Tank that can take a hit and still survive and PLD dose that well if not the best of the Tank class's and that is why it has low damage out put but it dose relie on healers beining able to heal it something that a WAR and DRK can do.

So does Paladin just not get enough credit then, or is it actually just simple and boring?

[Mehweweh]

Not to burst your bubble, but you won't be unlocking DRK the moment you hit 50. To access Ishgard, and thus unlock DRK, you'll need to hit 50 and then complete every main story quest from patches 2.0-2.55. The main story quests at 50 alone will probably take you longer than the 11 days you have left on your subscription, let alone the actual leveling you need to accomplish before reaching that point. Expect to be well into your next month's subscription before you can unlock DRK.

My character name is Ter'vin Valash, as can be seen to the left of my post. I'm typically online daily, in the afternoon/evening hours in EST/EDT. Don't hesitate to hit me up if you need anything (I can craft and whatnot, or general advice).

Thanks Ter'vin. I guess I don't have much longer to play this game since I start college soon, and I'm pretty sure I won't have enough time to balance playing the game, having a social life, and doing my work.

[Martin_Arcainess]

So does Paladin just not get enough credit then, or is it actually just simple and boring?

I don't think it get enough credit, but as I said depends on your playing style, if you like complex class then sure go WAR/DRK but in no way is PLD below in terms of tanking compaired to WAR/DRK. Back in 2.X before WAR had a major buff everyone used PLD because it was so much better as a MT. Even today, a MT PLD and a OT WAR/DRK is a good way to go agasint primals like Ravana but boss fights like Alexander where most of it's Attacks are magic based I'd say DRK MT.

[Vandril]

Thanks Ter'vin. I guess I don't have much longer to play this game since I start college soon, and I'm pretty sure I won't have enough time to balance playing the game, having a social life, and doing my work.

By your wording, I take it you've not gone to college for a semester, yet, correct? I'm a full-time student, myself. It's quite possible to balance all of those three things. College (in the USA, anyway) really isn't as hard and time consuming as a lot of people like to make it out to be until post-graduate education. I actually spent more time per week on classes years ago during high school than I do now in college. Granted, I imagine that it depends on what school you go to as well. The "better" (read: more expensive) schools will likely have a much more difficult curriculum.

Good on you for being willing to put aside the little things you enjoy for the things that will benefit you, though. Going into something new that way is a good idea. Once you get into college and grow comfortable with it, you can always decide to pick up those things you left behind if you find that time allows.