What Makes a Paladin? An Essay on Paladin Identity

[Jpec07]

Foreword

...the writers help shape the player fantasy...

This is a quote from Duelle in response to Sapphidia’s intellectual critique, Four Ways to Die - why the Tank Meta feels “off”. I’ve latched onto this quote in particular, because I feel it really does a good job of setting up why what I’m about to say is so damn important as to write a big long essay that takes weeks to plan. Sapphidia herself (himself?) also makes some interesting points that I’ll be referencing throughout about player fantasy, and my language will likely be heavily influenced by that. I’ll be summing up with a TLDR at the end and cross-posting to Tumblr, blog, and (possibly even) Reddit as I see fit. Feel free to skip/ignore/heckle as you see fit.

The State of Paladins (11/2015)
So Paladins are disgruntled right now. There was a lot of cry about balance issues when the first groups clearing Alexander: Savage were doing so almost entirely without Paladins (due to the fact that Paladins, numerically, are lacking). Now that the rest of the raid group has gotten better gear, they’re able to make up the difference, and Paladins are finally clearing the raid. And especially since the 3.1 patch, some of our abilities were buffed (which is good, because we need a little bit of that)

But there is some lingering displeasure from the end of 2.x, when our rotation consisted of Rage of Halone and nothing else. Even with two more combos and a few new utility moves added to our mix, Paladins still don’t feel very compelling to play. It’s approachable, but overly simple, and ultimately mundane. I’ve detailed this in another thread, so I won’t go into it here, but the conclusion that I reached there is that Paladins are boring because they lack identity

Now, I know that in Japanese, Paladins are called “Knights,” and some have claimed that this would account for some of the weird idiosyncrasies that we see in the class. But I don’t buy into that. Even if you look to the romanticized Arthurian legend, the Knights there bear more identity and a richer story than what we can see for Knights/Paladins in FFXIV. But I'll get into this more later.

For now, the point of this post is that Paladins/Knights have no solid, well-defined identity, and this is affecting every aspect of their existence. I would like to point this out to the developers, and maybe give them some possible guidance for how it could be improved, and what our identity could/should be.

What Are We?
In the simplest terms, Paladins are defined, time and again by Yoshi P and SE as the tanks who take the least damage. But that...isn't a very good identity. Dark Knights are the anti-magic tank, and have a very clear theme for the class centering around a psychological dance with your character's id (to put it simply). Warriors are also very clear in terms of what they are, as the tank that deals damage to heal damage. They have superior DPS output capabilities, and are built around harnessing their Inner Beast, surviving by reveling in the carnage of their own making. But by contrast, Knights/Paladins...are just the tank with a shield. We're fancy gladiators (because let's be honest, Gladiators have a better identity than Paladins at this point). And I think a very large part of this is that, FFXI aside, Square Enix has never really had a sword-and-shield character to fill the role of the damage soaker. So they don't know what to do with Knights/Paladins, and so we suffer for it.

This even plays out when you look at Paladin/Knight lore, and the "story" we get for our questline (I'll be giving the cliff notes below for those who haven't played it, but it is lacking in any real conflict or compelling storytelling, especially when compared to what story we experienced leading up to it).

This is entirely inadequate. I would argue further that this is the reason why, even with buffs and new abilities, Paladins feel stale, directionless, and generic, and that if this were corrected, Paladins might start being as genuinely enjoyable and compelling as Warriors and Dark Knights.

Examining Paladins and Knights
So first, I think it is very important to visit upon other Paladins and Knights from other pieces of literature and figure out what it is that makes them compelling, and why we'd want to care about them. I'll just touch briefly on a few here.

Warcraft: Here, Paladins are an extension of the original Cleric class. The Clerics, who were extremely devout and dedicated to the Light (and all things righteous and good) donned armor in order to better combat the clear evil they saw, and protect the realm at large. The compelling stories demonstrate incorruptible beacons of justice and rightness, and situations where they are pitted against their own convictions. They are lawful goods, and they are set at odds with their lawful goodness in incredibly interesting and compelling ways. We can look to stories of Paladins like Alexandros Mograine (the Ashbringer), Bolvar Fordragon (whose convictions held in the face of intense corrupting force), or even Arthas Menethil (who, in his quest to do the Right Thing wound up on a very Wrong path). Each and every one of these, and more, are clear examples of Paladins whose convictions drove their narrative.

Final Fantasy (older games): I will admit that my knowledge here is a bit limited - additional commentary about FFXIV Knights/Paladins would be appreciated. I am also choosing to forego mention of Cecil, since his story lends itself more to the Dark Knight trope than the Knight/Paladin trope. In my memory, the clearest examples of the Knight/Paladin trope is the pair of Beatrix and Steiner from FFIX. Both of them are definitely in the Lawful category, and their main characteristic is their devotion to Alexandria, and to the royal family (Princess Garnet/Dagger, and Queen Brahne). And this devotion sets them at odds with each other and with themselves. They both have to wrestle with the consequences of their actions, and what their choices mean for themselves, the people around them, each other, and the world at large. Both characters are shown in this manner, and both characters exhibit growth and change that makes them incredibly endearing, as they both stay true to themselves, despite their conflict, and wind up coming out on the right side.

Arthurian Legend: The Knights here, and their legendary quest for the Holy Grail, are probably the closest thing to an inspiration for the Paladin quest chain as we can see. Arthur himself has a sort of “rags to riches” quality about him that inspires, with magical and divine elements intermingling to fantastic effect. But while we have knights like Sir Galahad the Pure, who received special blessing and dispensation in life and combat for his pure heart, the more compelling elements of the story are the drama that occurs between Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot, as well as the interplay of divine, magical (Lady of the Lake, Merlin, etc.), and other fantasy elements that seek to complicate and overthrow Arthur’s divinely appointed rule. Even if the watery tart threw him the sword, there is so much more to the story that makes it fascinating (it’s been years, and just pouring through resource sites and wikipedia articles makes me want to pick it up again—I wish I could say the same for the FFXIV PLD story).

Don Quixote de la Mancha: It is perhaps comical to look to Don Quixote as an example of a Knight whose story is worth repeating, or from whom inspiration could be drawn for the Paladin/Knight job. And yet, despite his eccentricity, Don Quixote de la Mancha was an incredibly steadfast and noble knight, even if it was all in his head. I’ll not get too involved in the story, but Don Quixote started as no knight at all. And as an old man, in his library, he read his books and fictions about knights of eld, who swore oaths of fealty and service to fair maidens, and who followed a strict code of chivalry which drove them to be the most virtuous persons in the land. And so reading that, Don Quixote de la Mancha was born; the old man donned rusted armor, mounted his horse, and rode about the countryside seeking to find adventure and uphold that code of chivalry as he was able (even though true chivalry had been dead for some decades). And at the end, Don Quixote fought valiantly against a foe that he perceived as a threat that no one else saw, and on his convictions thrust his lance at a wicked giant (only to be severely injured in the process). Even if fallacious, and even if he was not particularly potent as a combatant, his convictions and his honor drove him to action beyond other men.

Steve Rogers (Captain America): I’m going from the MCU here - I’m sure the rest of the Marvel universe has plenty more shining examples of his Lawful Goodness. Let me know if there are better examples that you can think of and I’ll include them! Steve Rogers started out as the little guy with a sense of justice that was far greater than anyone around him. He got into fights over seemingly insignificant matters, and even in those, only ever shielded himself so as not to harm those he fought. I believe it was even said at one point that he got the bullies to pick on him so that they’d leave other people alone. He was one who would sacrifice his body to soak a grenade blast and save his platoon. He was one to act intelligently, rather than rely on pure strength. And then he was given power, and none of his convictions changed. He chose mercy over vengeance. He squared off against evil and won. And again. And again. His convictions and personality were challenged, and he came out stronger.

Since the OP discussed the origin of the modern concept of Knights and Paladins here is a bit of knowledge for everyone.

Knights in History.

Knights in Europe mainly come about during the Dark Ages and the chaos that ensued after the withdraw and eventual fall of the Western Roman Empire. During this time wars between small feudal fiefdoms, kingdoms, etc. were common place and so pretty much every king, lord or whoever had an army. The elite among the army were the mounted cavalry.

At this time owning and keeping a horse, particularly one that is suitable for warfare, was very costly and so only those of means, i.e. nobles, could really afford warhorses and so through this combination of circumstances, knights as we know them today come about, warriors of nobility (political, not necessarily virtue) atop mighty steeds charging into battle with shield and lance (really just longspears for use in mounted combat).

The shining armor part came later with advances in metallurgy, smithing and armor making, but of course again a suit of plate was extremely expensive and so relegated pretty much to nobility.

The image of knights at tourney (tournaments) in colorful regalia, jousting against each other came about later during the Medieval period after things had calmed down a bit and the wealthy and powerful went back to doing what they do best, spending lots of money putting on big and fancy shows and parties to entertain themselves and giving themselves awards, fancy titles and pats on the back.

Paladins in History and Legend.

Paladins originate with the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne and the name was used to refer to members of his inner group of nobles and officials. The name comes from the evolution of the Latin word palatinus and the association of the aforementioned individuals with the Palatine hill, where the emperor’s palace was.

The association of the term Paladin with knights comes from the tales and legends surrounding Charlemagne’s retainer Roland and the cadre of twelve knights that he was head of.

The stories of Charlemagne and the Paladins echo very closely to the tales laid out in Arthurian legend, with the Paladin going on pilgrimages and crusades with Charlemagne to recover holy artifacts and to uphold the kingdom of God on Earth by fighting against the Saracens. There is even a “last battle” in which the knights are betrayed and later fall in battle.

Also much like Arthur and his knights, the Paladins were popular figures in literature during the Italian Renaissance, but unfortunately never saw a more modern revival in popularity.

Arthurian Legend Random Factoids and Such Stuff.

The tales and legends of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are probably the greatest influence on the modern image of the gallant knight. We are all, at least hopefully, fairly familiar with the stories and characters, so instead of retelling them I will instead just list some random factoids and tidbits on the influence of the legends on stuff in modern pop-culture.

• Camelot is well known as being the capitol of King Arthur’s kingdom, but the entire realm that Arthur ruled was known as Logres, sometimes spelled Logris.
• Galahad is Lancelot’s son and while not directly said, it is heavily implied that Percival is Gawain’s son.
• The Sword in the Stone is not Excalibur, but is a different sword altogether. Arthur retrieves Excalibur after the sword that he drew from the stone breaks in battle.
• Excalibur came along with a magical sheath that was enchanted to prevent the wearer from losing too much blood from their wounds/being wounded too grievously in battle. This sheath was stolen by Morgan le Fey while Arthur slept and tossed into a lake.
• Arthur was essentially born of rape. His father Uther Pendragon fell in love with the Duke of Cornwall’s wife Ygraine (also spelled Igraine) and used Merlin’s magic to disguise himself as the Duke so that he could have sex with Ygraine. This is how Arthur was conceived.
• For more dirty laundry, Arthur had sex (accidentally) with his half-sister Morgan le Fey when she came to him disguised as Guinivere. From this Mordred was born, who is eventually the knight that betrays him at the last battle where Arthur is killed.
• The Paladin healing ability of Lay on Hands in Dungeons and Dragons is a direct reference to Galahad healing the wounded King Pelles, in which he lays his hands over the wound and it is miraculously healed. As Final Fantasy was heavily influenced by Dungeons and Dragons (as were many other Western fantasy video games), this is where the concept of Paladin/Knight healing comes from.

What’s the Common Thread?
So what do these characters have in common? What is their raison d'être? In each case, we can see a person of great conviction struggling in a world where that conviction pits them against themselves. We see compelling stories where they could have faltered, could have swayed to the left or to the right, but they did not. We see stories where the Paladin or Knight had every reason to give up or to lose hope, where they faced fantastic villains and overwhelming odds, and where they did not waver. And even despite fierce battles and offenses that should have wrought their wrath, they maintained their conviction and their justice.

The Paladin is driven by their convictions, through and through, to whatever end they find. And in that end, however great or horrible, they are justified, because they stuck to those convictions.

Paladins/Knights in FFXIV
Paladins/Knights in FFXIV, as the player is told, are an offshoot of the Sultansworn organization. We are "Free Paladins" or "Free Knights" - we're trained in Sultansworn abilities, but are under no obligation to much of anything or anyone. But let's take a look at the story.

Warning: here be Gladiator and Paladin story spoilers for 2.0 and 3.0. Though really, there isn't much to spoil.

When you level a Gladiator to 30, you're actually given a very wide cast of characters who participate in a decidedly epic bit of storytelling with an excellent conclusion. The final battle has a very satisfying ending, because these well-written characters who have very good history and chemistry resolve a conflict that you've been folding yourself into, and burnt bridges are rebuilt. And then you go from that wonderful finale to talk to Jenlyns. Which is where the disappointment begins.

Now, prior to that point, if you leveled the story in Ul'dah, you'd been introduced to the Sultansworn already, as the rather incompetent secret service agency. Papashan and the Sultansworn who are out near the station looking for the Sultana--who has eluded them to go pray at the Sultantree (we don't know why she eluded them, really, but she's facing some crisis and needed to pray). This crisis is revealed to be the loss of her crown, which is a symbolic icon representing her claim to power. And who lost that crown? The Sultansworn. They were supposed to protect the thing, but a bunch of common thieves slipped by them to steal it. And then we have a duty that is one of the shiningest moments for the Sultansworn, where Papashan leads a charge to save their comrade, reclaim the crown, and arrest/kill the thieves (who had more nefarious goals, but I digress). But the Sultansworn are presented as a less-than-fully-competent fraternity of Paladins/Knights who look out for each other. And that's the high point. Fifteen levels after this interaction (with main scenario developments and an excellent story conclusion from the Gladitors' Guild to help you forget that it happened), you're sent to Jenlyns.

Jenlyns very briefly tells you about Paladins/Knights and the Sultansworn, and says that, much to his chagrin, they're opening the long-guarded techniques to so-called "Free Paladins" or "Free Knights." He laments that the Sultansworn organization has become corrupt by the Monetarists, and the only bit of flavor we get about what a Paladin/Knight is supposed to be about is when we promise to be do-gooders, and when Jenlyns talks about a Paladin protecting him from a very dangerous situation when he was young.

Jenlyns then sends us out to get a soul stone by...fighting dead spirits? And then Solkzagyl shows up and tells us we're doing it wrong, and Jenlyns calls him a traitor when we show up again, saying something about a sword. And then Jenlyns calls YOU a traitor because of bad intel, and when you beat him up (and then save his life), he realizes he's just a pawn. You do some more fighting, deal with the assassins' guild north of Little Ala Mhigo, and then go to Coerthas in pursuit of Solkzagyl and Jenlyns, because the Sultansworn and the vague threat from the Monetarists want to end them because they're tired of him trying to prove what they're not exactly trying to hide.

And that's not the Syndicate, mind you: the Monetarists.

We aren't given any more information than that about them, and that they are responsible for taking the Sword of ImpotenceImportance. They are said to be the corrupting force behind the Sultansworn's fall from grace, and are said to have hired Bad People (TM) to come after Jenlyns, Solkzagyl, and us. We never see them. We never even really see evidence of any of this.

Anyway, after we beat up their cronies (who are summoning Voidsent for only gods know why), we go back to Ul'dah and have a hip-hip-hurrah because now we know Hallowed Ground and isn't it grand?

Then in Heavensward, we hear from Jenlyns that he wants us to go to Ishgard to follow Solkzagyl. Because Solkzagyl is following the Monetarists in pursuit of the Sword of ImpotenceImportance, and for some reason this group from Ul'dah is camping out in the recently-frozen north. Ishgard points us to the Western Highlands and Falcon's Nest. Here we meet Constaint, and thus begin our Merry Adventures with him.

Solkzagyl has died, he tells us, and it was those dastardly Monetarists who did it, because he was still hunting for the Sword of ImpotenceImportance. So we go hunting for the sword with Constaint, because if we can find it, it will somehow make Solkzagyl's sacrifice worthwhile. Because he supposedly sacrificed himself for a sword that he was quite possibly the only person to care about.

We fight Monetarist cronies around the Highlands at locations where Solkzagyl supposedly went. And at each location, we beat them up, and Constaint finds a different piece of the relic gear from 2.0--all of which are specifically tailored and fitted to match only exactly him. And he is confused by all of this, and through it all, a hooded Roegadyn is following us around.

At the end, Constaint has his full set, but he realizes that something is really wrong, because the Sword of ImpotenceImportance is nowhere to be found. He confronts the man who purportedly buried Solkzagyl, and then the hooded Roegadyn shows up and reveals himself to be the one, the only Solkzagyl!

As it turns out, we've been leading ourselves on a wild goose chase around the Highlands so Constaint could power up and become a Paladin/Knight! Solkzagyl was never dead, and he had the sword the entire goddamn time. So then Jenlyns, Solkzagyl, Constaint, and yourself start having some kind of Soulstone dick-measuring contest. Jenlyns loses to Solkzagyl who loses to Constaint who winds up tied with you. Because you're both equally pious or something? And evidently there can never be a tie ever (because we simply have to know who has the bigger dick), and so you beat the shit out of Constaint. And then Solkzagyl, for absolutely no reason at all. And once you beat him up and prove your dick is the biggest, Solkzagyl gives you the Sword of ImpotenceImportance so you can make it glow (because he couldn't--color me surprised). The sword glows, everyone is happy, and then...you give it back, and everyone goes home.

Where is the compelling narrative? Where are the deep, interesting characters that inspire you to care about them? Where is the internal conflict that forces them or us to struggle with or conviction, and strengthen our resolve? Why are the Monetarists bad, and how are the Sultansworn corrupt? Why are we fighting each other when there is no actual conflict? WHO CARES ABOUT THAT GODDAMN SWORD?!??!?!!

The fact of the matter is that we are given none of that. We are not shown how the Sultansworn are corrupt. We are not shown why the Monetarists are bad. We are not shown what makes a Paladin/Knight a Paladin/Knight. We are not given characters to care about. We don't have a compelling narrative, and we don't have any reason to fight each other at the end or to care about the sword that Solkzagyl didn't die to find. The Paladin/Knight story feels like an afterthought, and like it is utterly lacking direction.

Not only does SE not show us what a Paladin ought to be, but there isn't even a proper story being told. In a game in the Final Fantasy series, where even a few lines of dialogue from background characters can endear themselves to the audience for generations, the Paladin/Knight storyline in FFXIV is an embarrassment.

It may be that something got lost in the translation here, and that the story makes a lot more sense and is a lot more compelling in an Eastern culture that has the cultural knowledge and context of an honor code. But without that context, the story falls flat, and so the class feels empty. I don't know if this is the case or not, but I would greatly appreciate critical commentary from any Japanese players who are familiar with the Paladin/Knight storyline.

What is even more frustrating about the PLD storyline is that we just had an entire expansion that was leading up to the Knights of the Round Primal. There are so many other ways that they could have tied the PLD story to the events in Ishgard that would have made it relevant, compelling, and engaging--which are all attributes that are lacking.

The Mechanical Paladin/Knight
So if our story doesn't tell us who or what we are or are supposed to be, mayhap we should look to our abilities.

At the base of its mechanics, PLD is a very simple class. We rely on TP to power a flurry of attacks. We maintain a DoT, and we have one combo for enmity and a debuff, and another for maximum DPS. We have a couple of shield attacks that mostly revolve around throwing it or bashing our enemies to pacify/stun them for. From a mitigation perspective, most of it comes from single-button-press cooldowns that apply defensive buffs to our characters. We also have access to three (four) spells, which are also mitigation methods (Cure, Clemency, and Stoneskin - I'm not including Raise here because it has no combat efficacy).

From a raid perspective, the mitigation we bring comes from Divine Veil, Cover, and any instance we might get to cast one of our spells on another player. But these are all awkward and hard to accomplish while we're fulfilling our primary role. Our spells take too long to cast and so are often interrupted. Divine Veil does not affect ourselves, and Cover only works for physical attacks.

The only mechanic that is truly unique to PLD is our blocking mechanic (which is shared by an caster who wields a shield 1-30 as well, but I digress). Paladins and Gladiators can block a percentage of incoming physical damage. When facing off against a flurry of physical attacks (usually from trash mobs, or the odd boss with an incredibly fast autoattack speed), this mechanic comes in extremely handy, because it reduces incoming damage. But the biggest complaint is that because it is a dice-roll, it is unreliable. Shields have a block rate and a block percentage, but neither will ever be 100%. And there is very little that Paladins do to affect their block rates or percentages.

But then let's look at them thematically. Most of them, even our new Paladin-only skills from 50-60, feel like they belong in the Gladiator pool. They’re extremely basic swordplay maneuvers, with the only “spectacular” one being Circle of Scorn (I say spectacular because the animation involves stabbing the ground and then piercing your enemies with holy blades from the sky—and yet this is labeled as a GLD skill). So that leaves Hallowed Ground, Shield Oath, Sword Oath, Clemency, Tempered Will, and Divine Veil as items that can be used to draw inspiration for our class fantasy:

• Hallowed Ground - Our godmode spell. Hallowed Ground will make us immune to just about any attacks that come our way. The visual effects for it are incredibly subtle, but the effectiveness of the skill in combat is stunning. However, Hallowed Ground is also our “oh shit” button, that we ought to save for heavy tankbusters, or for when something has gone seriously wrong in the raid, and we want to try to save ourselves.
• Shield Oath/Sword Oath - These are effectively our stances. It’s not a toggle, since you don’t have to have one on, but not having one of your oaths on is a serious detriment to your ability to function in the world or in a raid setting. However, since you can only “swear” one oath at a time, and since the disparity between them is fairly substantial, these are seen as clumsy. In the current setup, Shield Oath feels too weak to encourage use (especially when there is no additional mitigation gain when compared to other tanks’ stances). In effect, these two feel like neutered forms of what other tanks get, and so are incredibly underwhelming, awkward, and dull.
• Clemency - A 1200 or 1200+600 potency heal with a 3-second cast time. Effectively, since it’s on the GCD, Clemency takes a little more than two GCDs away from your rotation to use, but it can have some incredible results. With enough Strength, a Paladin can critically heal someone from empty to nearly full in a single spell—if they can get it off. Clemency right now is in a really hard place because in order to use it, the caster needs to not be hit with any interruptions for a total of three seconds. When functioning in a tank role, this is an incredibly tall order, and when off-tanking, the two lost GCDs and lost combo make this ability almost not worth using.
• Tempered Will - In concept, this move is amazing. The Paladin’s will is so unshakeable that they themselves become unshakeable—incapable of being knocked back, rooted, or stunned. And for some mechanics, this makes Paladins incredibly useful. Or it would, if you could use it more than once per fight. As it stands, most fights can only fit one use of Tempered Will in, due to its long cooldown time (maybe two, if you can effectively use it at the beginning of a fight). It also does nothing to help Clemency or other cast-time spells or abilities, because it does not prevent interruption. Overall, because of its long cool down, situational effectiveness, and lack of synergy with other abilities, it is also barely worth using.
• Divine Veil - This is another move that is amazing in concept. The Paladin extends their will to their comrades, forming a shield of protection equivalent to 1/10 their own HP (so the bigger your HP pool, the bigger the shield you can give out). However, this move (which provides superior mitigation to Stoneskin II) requires a healer’s action to function. The Paladin needs to time it just right, or risk the shield falling off their party and the move being wasted - that, or they need to throw it at the last minute and beg their healers for a cure to spread the love. The ability also does not help the Paladin in any way—this is good for flavor, because self sacrifice is what a Paladin should be all about, but doesn’t really stand up when compared to the others. Combined with its long cool down time, Divine Veil is an ability that is a bit awkward to use as it relies on others, clumsy, and not very effective from a utility standpoint. It feels good to use, but it also doesn’t feel good when it gets missed by the healers.

So ultimately, what “Paladinny” or “Knightly” moves we have are weak, awkward, clumsy, and/or just plain dull. Everything else might as well belong to a Gladiator fighting in the rings in Ul’dah.

But What Does It Mean, Precious?
Simply, what I have been repeating in this entire thread. Paladins feel hollow and purposeless in the story, because Square Enix has no idea what a good Paladin story entails. They’re clueless as to what fantasy they ought to be spinning for us, and so the job has no vision. And this lack of vision reflects in Paladins’ performance in raids and high-end trials, which only marginally improves in 4-man content (where we only barely function in the tanking role compared to some other tanking jobs). Paladins are mundane and boring and purposeless, both in story and gameplay, because the developers don’t have a clear vision for the job. Fortunately, identifying the root of the problem helps us know where to look for a solution.

Fixing Paladins
So the first step here is for the game developers at Square Enix to figure out what a Paladin or Knight is supposed to be. Making Paladins the "defensive tank" isn't good enough, because that doesn't translate into a good character identity. It may even be worthwhile at this point to rename the job to "Knight" to match the Japanese name.

Fix The Identity
The tank archetypes seem to embody the three "good" aspects, with WAR being neutral good and DRK being chaotic good, then Paladins ought to fill the lawful good niche. There are plenty of ways to make a lawful good archetype compelling (as we have even seen from within SE's own intellectual property), and so it stands to reason that establishing a solid idea for what it means to be a Paladin would go a long way to helping the monotony of the job. And we need to be shown what that identity is.

Fix The Story
As has been said, our player fantasy is shaped in part by the writers. We may have preconceived notions of what a PLD is supposed to be when we start playing the game, but we are never shown what that means in the context of Hydaelyn and Eorzea. Square Enix needs to show us what we are and what we are supposed to be, and to build a story that throws that very identity into conflict, in order to emerge even stronger than before. It needs to be relevant, it needs to make us care about the story, characters, and Paladins in general, and it needs to most importantly clearly present what it means to be a Paladin.

Fix The Job
Once we have an established identity and a compelling story, the abilities for the Job will come naturally. They should flow as an extension of that story, and an embodiment of that identity. It's all well and good to have plenty of Gladiatorial abilities, because Knights need to be good fighters. But the pieces that make Paladins special need to come from our identity and our story. We have a functional basis, but what we lack is viable flavor and distinction. When we have a solid identity that SE keeps in mind for us and shows us through solid storytelling, then it will become clear what can and should be done to "fix" the job, to make it align to that identity and that fantasy.

In Conclusion (or TL;DR)
Paladins have a lot of potential, but that potential right now is marred by an embarrassingly poor story, which reflects a general lack of identity and direction for the job as recognized and defined by the developers. Once we have a proper identity and an established, well-told fantasy, the mechanical problems with the job will fix themselves. We are right now the "tank with a shield," but we have potential to be so much more than just that.

[Freyyy]

I pretty much agree with all you said about the identity, but that's all background and lore. Fixing the lore will never fix the job. I guarantee you. Most people just don't care about the lore. Fixing the lore also requires more work than fixing the job. I don't see them do anything like that. Just hope for the next job quests from future expansions to bring actual flavor to PLD's identity.

[Isius]

Nice read.

I personally couldn't remember the Paladin's story quest from 2.x from lvl30-50, and the HW job quest really felt unsatisfying. I never really felt like a Paladin or a Knight while doing them. But I still remember the Warrior/Dark Knight questline if I just did them. Yeah Paladin does lack identity, you are just a dude with a shield.

For Paladin's skills, I know this is just heavy wishing, but I wanted to see some skills based off Holy Knight from Final Fantasy Tactics, if not that then buffs/bless that buffs/protect allies. Quick Examples: aoe barriers that allies can stand in to take less dmg, or gives regen, or as a encouragement buff that increases allies dps. But idk in 3.0 it felt like all Pld got was more of the same type of skills, or stuff they should have had back in 2.x. Feels like a underdeveloped class honestly, skills, and it's identity as a class.

[BorisDaBlade]

Paladin lore and storyline in ffxiv? Skip, skip, skip, skip.........

[ArdorGrey]

If you think paladin's story was bad, level up literally any other class (well, except maybe smn/sch, blm, or bard, haven't gotten to those yet)

Paladins had one of the better, arguably the best job story in HW.

Warriors went from a compelling tale about struggling against the inner beast, to just a roebrofest.

Whm is just ZOMGZ TAINT!

Ninja had the best story from 30-50 imo, but from 50-60 you've just babysitting some obnoxious princess, who the story kinda implies is better than you the entire time. All of the HW stories are horrible, but pld was one of the only ones that didn't leave me rolling my eyes the entire time. Drk got good at the very end but was otherwise stupid too, I think people who hype drks story as "so good" are just giant edgelords.

tl;dr: Almost no one is happy with their jobs HW story. As good as the main HW story was it made the utter lacklusterness of these side tales supposedly core to our WoL's personal development sting all the more. And it would be prudent to say that maybe more people should be raising complaints about this on the forum so they do a better job next expansion.

But I think it also says a lot about the mentality of paladin players that paladins are now not only demanding class fixes, but that their class is the one that deserves a complete story overhaul as well.

[Jim_Berry]

I'm at work, so I had to keep closing this post to help people. Now that I finished, I didn't realize how long it is lol...

While I would like to make my comment long, I can't since I'm at work. I'll keep it simple by saying that I don't understand why people want PLD changed. I guess I don't feel it since I'm not doing Alex Savage (which seem to be what folks are referencing it to). I mean, I tried tanking as PLD is A1S, but never got past Faust due to not killing Faust. However, content like Thordan EX and everything else works well with PLD.

In Thordan, when I know the two PLDs are about to use Bladedance, I begin to use Clemency on the other tank. This heals him and me, so it gives both of us that little bit on HP during the healer's Cure cast time to endure that auto-attack.

Maybe it's just me.

[Leidiriv]

I find this essay to be quite thought-provoking and well-written. I agree with many of the points presented here, especially those regarding the job's identity. I've done most of the GLA story and found it to be a lot of fun, but the gameplay was very off-putting, so I stopped the moment I hit 22. If the PLD story is as lackluster as you have described it to be, I am inclined to agree that fixing the story would allow for an easier translation to fixing the skills. I am also inclined to agree with the assessment that having PLD as the "defensive tank" is a lackluster class identity, which will ultimately translate to poor balance and/or gameplay, as all tanks must be able to survive the large hits, yet additional mitigation becomes superfluous beyond that. I've noticed that some of PLD's abilities, such as Cover, Clemency, and Divine Veil lend themselves to a support-oriented focus for PLD. Perhaps if they gave more synergy to PLD's kit, allowed them to use their support functions more often and with greater effect, and allowed those support functions to make the rest of the group stronger, the job's identity would spring forth as the "selfless tank" who aids others before aiding himself, inspiring them to greater heights of power, or something like that. Anywho, loved the essay!

[Freyyy]

Drk got good at the very end but was otherwise stupid too, I think people who hype drks story as "so good" are just giant edgelords.

DRK was good 30-50, especially the level 50 ending, but 50-60 is absolute shite.

And I see no problem in being a giant edgelord.

[Lyth]

PLD does have an identity. You're a bodyguard. You're sworn to protect corrupt officials, and we're sworn to bring them down.

Thematically, I think PLD is about supporting the vulnerable members of your party and intervening when they're in danger. Cover is probably the most iconic example of this, but some of the other support skills (Clemency, Stoneskin, Divine Veil) lend themselves to this as well. DRK and WAR, in contrast, tend more to disable their opponents to render them less effective at dealing or taking damage.

The problem lies in how we've interpreted PLD's identity as a community. If PLD is a "defensively-orientated tank", shouldn't PLD always be MT? If tanks are designed to be defensive by nature, then shouldn't the "defensive tank" be the best tank? But with three tank classes in the game, and probably more to come in the future, it simply isn't feasible for PLD to be the de facto MT in every encounter.

What happens when you build a tank job's identity around it being MT? There's no problem as long as this is the status quo, as it was from 2.0 up until Alexander Savage. But what happens when that changes, and (gasp!) two world firsts are done using a "non-standard" MT? You get an identity crisis, 5+ pages on the forums on how PLD is "broken", and an extended discussion on the "tank meta" and why "defensive-orientated" (read: PLD) tanks "can't compete" in today's dps-focused raids.

Here's the thing. Most people didn't sign up as a tank just to OT. So you have to learn to share. Each tank should have a full set of abilities that they can use as MT and OT.

Cover is a fantastic skill that allows you to extend the active tank's cooldown repertoire without requiring a swap. I'd like to see more tank abilities in this same vein about intervening during a tank buster to either counter-attack or help mitigate more damage. Support abilities like clemency and stoneskin need to complement rather than overlap with healer roles so that you can visibly see the benefit of your actions.

As far as actively tanking goes, I think that the change to Shield Swipe is a step in the right direction, although I'd like to see more oGCD based shield strikes.

[Hayward]

This was an awfully long post to say "I want PLD to have big numbers like WAR/DRK".

Amateur critics aside, I rather liked the Gladiator/Paladin storylines. The concept of a guardian who protects others is, unfortunately, a rare sight in a society over-saturated with macho tough-guy images. Any story that avoids that nonsense is a story worth experiencing.