Paladin Change(s)

[SpookyGhost]

Sword Oath
Increased potency has changed from 50 to 75.
Weapon delay will now affect damage output.

Seems alright, imo, though makes any ShO uptime even worse. Kinda curious what "Weapon delay will now affect damage output" means exactly...

[Reynhart]

Kinda curious what "Weapon delay will now affect damage output" means exactly...

I've searched for auto-attack calculation and found this reddit thread (Not really new).

Judging from this, it seems like Sword AA potency are always somehow around 70, but SwO additionnal attack deals much lower than normal AA.
If this is still true, maybe it means SwO will basically double our AA damage.

In the end, I'm still confused that all they do to improve PLD is increasing its damage output.

[KinnisonArc]

Maybe "Weapon Delay" is referring to the "Delay" stats on the weapon will affect SwO auto attack. Like for example, fewer delay value means more damage, similar to skill/spell speed affecting DOTs.

[Lyth]

Just a guess, but I think the plan is to have longer weapon delays be offset by increased auto attack damage, so that variations in delay don't influence damage output. Otherwise, you might run into needlessly complicated situations in which your weapon choice depends on the amount of SwO uptime you have in a fight. I seem to remember there being a similar issue with the Dreadwyrm Blade and the Excalibur Zeta in late ARR. Of late, they've been controlling for this by simply keeping delay as a constant.

The SwO change is essentially free dps. I think it's a pretty good deal.

[YokeM]

Auto attack potency is calculated based on the delay of your weapon.
At a delay of 3.0 seconds your auto attack would have exactly 100 potency.
As most paladin weapons have a delay of 2.08 to 2.24 they where at ~70 potency.
This is just a guess but the "Weapon delay will now affect damage output" COULD
mean that sword oath will now deal 75p / 3.00 * weapon delay.

If this was to be the case, it means that there will hardly be any difference
noticeable. Which would quite upset me, as I a had read somewhere, that they
are finally thinking about bringing PLD and DRK to comparable DPS levels with WAR.

[Tint]

If this was to be the case, it means that there will hardly be any difference
noticeable. Which would quite upset me, as I a had read somewhere, that they
are finally thinking about bringing PLD and DRK to comparable DPS levels with WAR.

they never said they want to increase the dps of the other tanks. they basically said that WAR is too op, and they don't want to nerf them but want to bring the other tanks to the same lvl. buuut the dps is not the main reason WAR is so op. and DRK already is on a compareable dps lvl with WAR (DRK has highest dps in tank stance and second highest in dps stance). PLD still has the shield and i don't think that he should make the same damage as the other tanks who don't have a shield.
i think dps wise the tanks are almost perfectly balanced. only thing i can agree with is that PLD needs an aoe attack wich makes damage.

[YokeM]

Maybe I misread something then (or had some sort of wishful thinking).

[AegisKiddo]

In the end, I'm still confused that all they do to improve PLD is increasing its damage output.

The problem we face with PLD at present, was the emphasis on DPS that came with HW and how it become the new meta, over ARR favored defensive meta. Whilst raiding, any OT PLD will run into a numeral problems of untold proportions, such as, why does one of their highest dps combos(Royal Authority) enforce enmity, whilst WAR/DRK have the "privilege" of having a dps combo that does not?

Why does clemency get interrupted by a boss auto attack? Why can't pld/dark duo be a thing without a ninja? A ninja in this scenario, will want to commit harakiri, at the levels of stress he will be under, at keeping the slashing debuff at 100% uptime and the amount of dps he will be losing by keeping it up at 100% uptime in his rotation. Thats just a handful of things that comes to mind. Why does SE think increasing PLD's potency in every major patch is the way to go?

[Reynhart]

why does one of their highest dps combos(Royal Authority) enforce enmity, whilst WAR/DRK have the "privilege" of having a dps combo that does not?

Once enmity is secured (Fairly easy with CoS and Shield Swipe), a PLD in ShO will have no issue keeping enmity without doing any RoH combo. This is exactly a case of not touching the potency but still greatly improving PLD's damage output on the field.

Why does clemency get interrupted by a boss auto attack?

Because it follows the same rules as any spell. Clemency is more easy to use as an OT, I think it was supposed to reduce the "PLD = MT" idea.

A ninja in this scenario, will want to commit harakiri, at the levels of stress he will be under, at keeping the slashing debuff at 100% uptime and the amount of dps he will be losing by keeping it up at 100% uptime in his rotation.

I think this is an issue with Ninja. The slashing debuff should be part of their optimal rotation.
They should have a combo "Spinning Edge > Dancing Edge > Shadow Fang", like DRG and Chaos Thrust.

Why does SE think increasing PLD's potency in every major patch is the way to go?

This...I don't know. Besides, if they go that way to make PLD+DRK as an equivalent pairing than PLD+WAR or DRK+WAR, they'll eventually have to give DRK or PLD higher personal DPS than WAR to compensate for the lack of Eye...pretty bad idea.

[Kitfox]

They didn't change Flash. orz