Job Recommendation: Paladin Tanking and Area of Effect

[Raim]

A lot of people have been debating the lack of AoE damage output of Paladins for raid content with adds and roulettes which typically have lots of add packs. This puts them typically at a distinct advantage in dungeon content and the benefits they gain from their bonus mitigation are small outside of their window to use Hollowed Ground. There has been a lot of debate as to whether Paladin should even have access to any better AoE damaging skills as their focus has traditionally been set on single target management. I feel as though Paladin doesn't excel enough in that manner to warrant neglecting their AoE capabilities.

So how do we maintain that semblance of defensive stalwart knights utilizing holy magic while also giving them modest AoE efficiency? I don't believe the answer lies in stance dancing or providing huge damage boons to skills. To me the change would be simple, see the next post for the consideration.

[Raim]

Recommendation:
-Take the damage reflecting capability of the Vengeance skill that Warriors have and apply it passively to Shield Oath at a lower potency. This would allow Paladins to remain in their defensive stance during trash pulls as their role suggests, but allow them to modestly contribute to group damage like the other two tank jobs.
-Holy spikes radiating from the Paladin (there does not need to be an animation for this) would be perfectly acceptable for the lore of the job and explain why enemies would be struck by their radiance in close combat.
-This also continues the trend of the Paladin being a good introductory tank class for new players by making the benefit passive.

[Gokuhan]

You talk about damage, but I would like to see heir AoE enmity generation bumped up a little. When pulling larger trash packs in roulette it feels to me like DRK and MRD pull down a lot more hate that PLD.

[Kazrah]

You talk about damage, but I would like to see heir AoE enmity generation bumped up a little. When pulling larger trash packs in roulette it feels to me like DRK and MRD pull down a lot more hate that PLD.

That's actually the reason why paladin seems to generate less AoE threat. Last time I checked (which was maybe 2.x), a warrior's Overpower generated about four times as much threat as a paladin Flash simply because of the damage multiplying the effect of that extra enmity component.

[Kazrah]

So I like the concept, but there's three major flaws I'm seeing.

1.) As far as damage goes, this would only make sense against trash pulls and only if the paladin was the main tank, which means that once you reach endgame content, this trick pretty much becomes pointless since there's not as much trash or AoE pulls in content where warriors and dark knights are still preferred over paladins.
2.) Although this would be a leveling thing, paladins would still have to wait until they get Shield Oath at level 40, where most of the more painful tribulations of paladin leveling have passed.
3.) One of the main reasons why gladiator/paladin is considered the introductory tank class/job is because it teaches players that tanking well actually requires work and that damage as a tank is not (and should not be) a priority. These lessons would both be diminished by a passive retributive damage component no matter how small it may be, and the only reason why warriors get it is because a.) it's a limited effect on a lengthy cooldown, and b.) damage as a tank is more in-line with the theme of warriors rather than the paladin theme.

I do agree that paladins need more AoE damage ability, but there could be better approaches to it for the sake of leveling. They could change Sword Oath so it deals extra damage and deal a portion of all damage dealt as AoE damage (because they REALLY need to do something about Sword Oath), or they could move Circle of Scorn to an earlier level, or they could add in a new AoE skill (wtb Saint Cross). Better yet, they could add a low-potency damage component to Flash, which would provide that additional AoE at a much earlier level while still providing a slightly better experience for new tanks.

[AsteriaStarfall]

Better yet, they could add a low-potency damage component to Flash, which would provide that additional AoE at a much earlier level while still providing a slightly better experience for new tanks.

Pretty much this right here. That is where paladin lacks when it comes to AoE threat capabilities. Flash does zero damage while warrior and dark knight both get an aoe damage+threat ability by lvl 30. Even at end game paladins only have 1 aoe ability that does damage and that has a long CD on it compared to DRK and WAR that can spam theirs.

[Kitfox]

Flash needs a damage component, I can't for the life of me understand why it doesn't have it. Just a simple 100 potency, like Unleash, would fix it and make PLD SO much more enjoyable to play. Every time I'm forced to Flash it just makes me feel bad, because it's zero damage, even more so when it's an AoE burst moment and you're forced to use a few times in a row. Just feels so useless. PLD is so visibly behind in AoE damage that it deserves a fix. Plz.

...I like swords and want to play PLD without feeling like a dead weight. ; ;

[RLofOBFL]

I'm a 235 PLD with the animus & I have to say PLD aoe aggro isn't too terrible. It could use a little something to alleviate the boring plain-ness of flash.

No damage, negligible debuff & low aggro generation. I usually need 1-3 flashes for one pull unless dps are decked out & focusing different targets while popping every buff known to man.

If I pull say three mobs at a time:

As DRK I could be abyssal draining & restoring 500 hp per mob while chipping away at the enemy hp! & blood price means unlimited mp!

As WAR 150 hp per mob per Overpower! Don't even get me started on Maim Berserk Bloodbath double Steel Cyclone! & Vengeance countering every blow!

As PLD I can blind the mobs repeatedly until they end up resisting it! Wow so fun!!!

[Alistaire]

Just. Add. Damage. to. the. Flash. Trait. (not the spell itself so WAR etc don't get it.)

Problem solved.

[Jetstream_Fox]

I'd actually rather see Circle of Scorn get changed into a spam skill. It already has 100 potency, the same as Unleash. Granted yes, they'd have to tweak the class unlocks, however with this idea I'm speaking purely in a aesthetically sense. The skill looks a lot better then a small flash of light and even the name makes more sense to be the skill that PLD uses to grab hate.