Why does Clemency get interrupted? And why does Sword/Shield Oath reset combo?

[Februs]

2.55->3.0 for dragoon because it all got fixed back in 2.4. Actually, Dragoon got a ton of tiny adjustments over the life of 2.0 - jump animation and cooldown used to be much, much longer.

I remember, but I still wouldn't say that Dragoons were by any means broken before the adjustments.

Positional requirements are still in place for maximum combo potency, not much really changed for Drg's who were already maximizing their Dps. The only immediate benefit Drg's universally saw from that was the ability to re-apply Heavy Lance without having to re-position in the event a Flank hit was impossible. Quite frankly, if you learned how to use Drg before the change, it just felt like a Quality of Life adjustment that lowered the skill bar for new or lazy players. Seasoned Drg's were happy with it, obviously, but they still positioned to maximize Dps, so it wasn't huge or anything.

The magic defense adjustment was definitely a good thing though. Even back before Final Coil, the Magic dmg from Turns like T9 was a nightmare for Drg's, so it was a very welcomed change... That being said, I still wouldn't say that it was a make or break issue for Drg's. Healers certainly hated having to take extra special care of them, but their abysmal Magic def didn't make them unplayable. I don't think anyone was booting Drg's out of Raids because of their Defense.

You're right though. By the time 3.0 rolled around there wasn't really anything left to change. Jump animations still get debated a little (since Drg's can still eat the paste if they're not careful with their jumps), but I don't think anyone's dropping the job over it.

[Culfinrandir]

Maybe it's to prevent skill/ability bloat and that, as the game gets 'harder' they can loosen up the current rules to enable the skills to remain relevant. They did something similar for the release of 3.0 where some skills got nerfed, buffed or otherwise changed to keep them all useful.

[Anubis_Nephthys]

You can achieve your goring blade desire by turning off shield oath instead of turning on sword oath.
But I usually just tank in sword oath. Being in shield for ~5 GCDs

[VanilleFang]

Weren't DRGs buffed a few patches before 3.0? And as far as I can remember SMN were the weakest DPS before 3.0. The complaint threads about how weak SMN was clogged the DPS forum for months. This has nothing to do with the thread though, so...

I think PLD buffs are almost guaranteed if the meta stays the way it is.

[abzoluut]

Because paladin wasnt developed to fluidly switch between stances.

Because you say so? WAR did not even have two stances. Every WAR just dropped defiance back then (at least the ones that wanted to max DPS). We basically gave SE the idea to give WAR a DPS stance.

Long before HW people asked why the oaths are so clunky. It even became more of an issue when suddenly WAR got what people asked for PLD. On top of that, the new tank gets introduced with the exact same clumsyness?

I to this day can not find a reason for this decision. Why do you not want tanks with two stances use it to the max? One of the reasons WAR is so much fun.

I hope they change it for both PLD and DRK.

[VanilleFang]

snip

I remember after one patch some MNKs started complaining that DRGs were doing too much damage. Lol. Everyone told them to stfu.

[Syzygian]

I can't speak for PLD cause they lose 2 whole GCDs for either stance but for DRK (and no DRK does not lose more from its stance dancing. We save a GCD and 1326 MP is very little for a DRK), Grit is treated more like an infinite Inner Beast that does no damage. When you consider the fact that Grit automatically reduces damage, and does not require healer intervention like Defiance (you don't take any less damage in Defiance) it kind of makes sense. I feel like DRK was designed with this in mind, using Grit as more of a cooldown than a stance. PLD does not have this design context however, so I have no clue what they were thinking there.

[Einheri]

Incoming spike damage pld switches to shield oath, damage is mitigated immediate increase in effective health and effective healing.

Incoming spike damage war switches to defiance, dies as increase in effective health is not immediate.

pld uses a skill to activate his mitigation. Warrior needs to use a skill to benefit from his.

[Giantbane]

Incoming spike damage pld switches to shield oath, damage is mitigated immediate increase in effective health and effective healing.

Incoming spike damage war switches to defiance, dies as increase in effective health is not immediate.

pld uses a skill to activate his mitigation. Warrior needs to use a skill to benefit from his.

But a war switching to defiance to take spike damage is probably going to be using Inner Beast to mitigate that attack. In which case they'll be restoring some of that missing HP on their own.

[Freyyy]

But a war switching to defiance to take spike damage is probably going to be using Inner Beast to mitigate that attack. In which case they'll be restoring some of that missing HP on their own.

WHILE mitigating 20% damage AND hitting with a 300 potency attack.