The Problem with Paladin

[Phobos]

I tanked Ifrit a number of times yesterday and found it much easier with a PLD and with a handful of other playing using jobs, compared to when I was a GLA.

In my opinion, a PLD shouldn't have to prioritize MP recovery. That's the mages' job. The BRD should be using the MP regen song on healers so that THEY can do their job of keeping the tank alive. As a PLD, I used my MP only for healing myself when my HP got relatively low, and also for casting Stoneskin on myself. Doing this, the lowest I got with my MP was just around half.

That said, potions shouldn't be underestimated. But if your priority is maintaining enmity, you *could* keep curing yourself and using ethers to compensate for lost MP... or you could just use a Maddening Potion.

Are you sure you had an easier time with PLD because of PLD, or because you had a BRD and a WHM where before you may have only had a CNJ?

I just bring this up because honestly, I see no reason for PLD to outdo GLA as it stands, unless BRD allowed you to succor frequently.

EDIT: Based on some of the replies, specifically this one, I should not have come across this issue if we had a BRD for the WHM, or perhaps a second WHM. Even so, I still beleive Outmaneuver should be fixed, and the Defense boost for PLD should actually be noticeable for the loss of HP. To me, GLA still seems to have a bit more over time survivability with the same enmity tools.

[psykhaotic]

Are you sure you had an easier time with PLD because of PLD, or because you had a BRD and a WHM where before you may have only had a CNJ?

I just bring this up because honestly, I see no reason for PLD to outdo GLA as it stands, unless BRD allowed you to succor frequently.

As I mentioned (and I realize now that I used the wrong word and thus my sentence didn't make sense), it was with other players doing jobs (as opposed to classes). So the other jobs made it easier for sure, but I also attribute it to the added enmity and healing strength in the PLD artifact armor. There might've been other things that made it easier, too; I imagine the added Defense you get as a PLD helped since I didn't have to get healed as often, despite the decreased HP. It could just be in my head, though.

Also, I stuck with Cure and only used Holy Succor on my party if I felt like it. (I'm pretty selfish for a PLD I guess.) I know Holy Succor uses a lot more MP, so maybe sticking with Cure for self-cures helped with the MP conservation?

[Phobos]

As I mentioned (and I realize now that I used the wrong word and thus my sentence didn't make sense), it was with other players doing jobs (as opposed to classes). So the other jobs made it easier for sure, but I also attribute it to the added enmity and healing strength in the PLD artifact armor. There might've been other things that made it easier, too; I imagine the added Defense you get as a PLD helped since I didn't have to get healed as often, despite the decreased HP. It could just be in my head, though.

Also, I stuck with Cure and only used Holy Succor on my party if I felt like it. (I'm pretty selfish for a PLD I guess.) I know Holy Succor uses a lot more MP, so maybe sticking with Cure for self-cures helped with the MP conservation?

Ah, I think I understand you a bit more here. Perhaps I'll avoid succor more, though I was mostly using it on myself. I still wonder though, if you were just using cure would GLA have been better? Perhaps we'll just need more input but I feel like the big advantage of PLD for you is the same as it is for me (and likely others): the gear.

The gear is great, though I think it should add a tad more defense (my defense is comparable to my WAR friend in his full AF). I think the best test would be a GLA does the fight in their GLA gear, then again on PLD but in their GLA gear. Supposedly the AF gear is supposed to be a little better than double-melded gear (at least I thought I read that somewhere), so someone who has that or more might find GLA definitively better or worse. I don't mean to say PLD can't tank, but compared to GLA the abilities given just don't seem good enough (compared to the difference between the other classes and their jobs enhancing their specific roles as you would expect).