What happens when.....

[Disc]

VI. From what I understand based off the skills that Paladin has been given, I think that eventually we will be called upon to ease healer stress through our utilities and abilities (Stoneskin, Divine Veil, Protect, Clemency.) I believe that if we are designed in such a way that allows us to overcome our weaknesses, we will be able to help them easily and I, for one, am eagerly awaiting that day. In order to do this, however, not only do I now have to compete against other tanks and dps in aggro generation and damage output, I also have to be able to match healer cast times in order to use the skills that I've been given. That's the dilemma of a "support/utility tank." It is with this information in mind that I now transition to the most important part of this thread.

To your issues with hate, no. You should not be losing hate in ShOath unless you're under geared or doing something wrong. However, it is an issue in SwOath. PLD is the only tank who cannot push for maximum DPS out of tank stance, which became an extremely visible weakness in early A1S/A3S where DRK could drop Grit and pull way ahead of PLD in enmity while using their offensive abilities. PLD uses tank stance when other tanks don't and/or uses RoH for enmity instead of the superior Royal Authority, the devs did not see fit to make Clemency/Divine Veil strong enough to make up for these weaknesses. The effectiveness of Thrill of Battle in current content was also likely an oversight that has lead to WAR being a competent contender for MT in physical instances where PLDs abilities will not properly scale until enemies start doing significantly more damage.

This has all been made worse by the devs attempting to gate content behind DPS checks requiring higher gear levels which has lead to a stronger emphasis on offensively superior compositions.

As mentioned earlier the Paladin has been given more responsibility and less ability when it concerns all content. I believe that in order for Paladin to reach its actual maximum potential, the job needs to be re-worked extensively.

Minor adjustments like increasing the enmity modifier on RoH or reducing the cast time on Clemency would do wonders for PLD. You will be sorely disappointed on patch day if you're expecting 2.0 WAR levels of change.

[Shining_Tiger_Excalibur]

To your issues with hate, no. You should not be losing hate in ShOath unless you're under geared or doing something wrong. However, it is an issue in SwOath. PLD is the only tank who cannot push for maximum DPS out of tank stance, which became an extremely visible weakness in early A1S/A3S where DRK could drop Grit and pull way ahead of PLD in enmity while using their offensive abilities. PLD uses tank stance when other tanks don't and/or uses RoH for enmity instead of the superior Royal Authority, the devs did not see fit to make Clemency/Divine Veil strong enough to make up for these weaknesses. The effectiveness of Thrill of Battle in current content was also likely an oversight that has lead to WAR being a competent contender for MT in physical instances where PLDs abilities will not properly scale until enemies start doing significantly more damage.
This has all been made worse by the devs attempting to gate content behind DPS checks requiring higher gear levels which has lead to a stronger emphasis on offensively superior compositions.
Minor adjustments like increasing the enmity modifier on RoH or reducing the cast time on Clemency would do wonders for PLD. You will be sorely disappointed on patch day if you're expecting 2.0 WAR levels of change.

I agree with all of your points and in addition concerning the potential of Warrior 2.1 style buffs coming to Paladins, this thread will (I believe) offer a good opinion on how Square-Enix can set Paladins up for future content if we are to be the "support/utility" tank.

[Awful]

Minor adjustments like increasing the enmity modifier on RoH or reducing the cast time on Clemency would do wonders for PLD. You will be sorely disappointed on patch day if you're expecting 2.0 WAR levels of change.

As a person who used to main pld back in 2.0 I can only agree with this 100% it'll be minor tweaks wars back in 2.0 were so terrible that changes had to be made or they'd lose that class forever. Paladin won't ever lose it's spot as it is still a capable MT.