"the solid rock upon which the party's defense is founded"
Thing is, the party's defense does increase with a paladin in it. I'm playing a paladin and have no trouble increasing my whole party's defense with it. I don't speak for the DEV because I'm not them. I didn't attend the meetings where decisions were made. I don't even care. I going with what abilities they have and what the paladin can do. If they change the paladin, I'll change my views with it. For now, I play the paladin, very effectively, as an support off-tank because it works great as one.