The Problem with Paladin

[Evaddaragon]

I held back on that thread because I gave my opinion earlier on the french forums, and it's been announced for quite awhile by reps that there will be adjustments to the Paladin jobs. Therefore, any discussion and opinion given by us for adjustments are nothing more than conjecture, but since we do not when and how the adjustments are going to be made, there certainly is no harm in speculating.

In short, my opinion about Paladin is that, for all intents and purposes, it can do the job it's been designed for efficiently enough. Hell, it can even solo to a fair degree. All of that, however, is sorely dependant on the player's skills and an adaptation in playstyle. I can easily solo a level 54-55 mob with PLD without problems, and I rarely have hate issues when tanking. People have been complaining about the MP issue, but I don't because I don't NEED to spam Holy Succor to keep hate, since pretty much any decent party has 2 WHMs and more often than not a BRD, too. Good WHMs will see to it that you do NOT need to use Holy Succor enough to run out of MP. If you do, you suck at PLD. Same goes for Cover, really. It's meant to be an emergency button, not a counter-measure for your inability to keep hate on yourself. As for soloing, you have access to Aegis Boon, Bloodbath and Stoneskin to last you for quite awhile, at least more than enough to be reasonably sturdy when soloing. Whatever your job is, you are NOT supposed to be soloing anything that's 6 levels or higher than you. Since I can solo a 54-55 mob on my PLD, I can say that on its own accord, it's not broken.

That being said, the actual problem with Paladin is not that the job can't work, it's that there is another job that can do its role even better (WAR). Paladin is supposed to be the better tank because that's all it is good at, since both its healing and damage dealing abilities are below average. That's where it hurts : WAR tanks just as well AND it also does good damage. That's why it can't compare. Like others have said, though, I do not want SE to nerf Warrior (altough honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they ever do something to Steel Cyclone, it's so powerful right now). I believe making adjustments to Paladin in order to make it a better tank than anything else is enough to warrant its usability. Warrior will still be useful as it is.

In my opinion, adjustments need to be made to both the AF armor and abilities of the Paladin. I do not consider each and every of these adjustments to be major, however the sum of these changes will make a major impact.

AF Armor :

1- Give HP bonuses to all the pieces, stacking it up to about 250 HP bonus total. This would bring the Paladin, in a full party, at a level of about 3500 HP without buffs, which is reasonable. Putting its HP total above the Warrior is not a solution I want to apply, nor do I believe negating the 120 HP to 120 MP penalty from GLA would work. Adjustments are about balancing, not overpowering. There has to still be a few disadvantages to jobs, as it is the intent behind the system.

2- Change the current Cover enhancement on the Gallant Surcoat. The current effect reduces damage taken when covering someone. Change that to converting some of the damage taken into MP. It's an idea that worked well, if only situational, on the Valor Surcoat in FFXI, and if well used, will allow the PLD some MP regeneration. There is another adjustment to Cover that needs to be done in order for that to work. More on that later.

These two minor adjustments alone will make it so the AF will be more desirable without making it overpowered. Therefore, using full AF will be perfectly understandable considering the other enhancements (MP +, enmity, other abilities enhancements).


Paladin abilities :

1- Cover : The recast time is fine, the duration can be slightly increased. Make it 30 seconds instead of 20. Also, increase the range to make it equal to the WHM's casting range (I believe it is slightly shorter). Paladins and White Mages need to work in symbiose, and so this adjustment would make it so. Do not increase it further to even protect Black Mages that are even farther, if they die because they spam too much ancient magic, it is NOT the Paladin's fault.

2- Divine Veil : Both the duration and recast time are fine, since the effect can be for about 25% of time you're tanking. However, make it so that you can activate it youself by casting Cure on yourself. Also, make it so it works on yourself as well as stack with the White Mage's regen ( I was under the impression this already is the case, but I'm not sure. ). If you feel that these adjustments make it overpowered, it's because, in my opinion, that Divine Veil is currently the least useful ability for a Paladin. At worst, you can also reduce the regen effect to balance the other adjustments.

3- Holy Succor : It is generally fine as it is, if only that you could shorten the recast time from 10 seconds to 5. It doesn't need to work with Sacred Prism, because it has the potency of Cura, with more or less the same MP cost, however it also heals yourself for half the amount you heal your companion. That alone balances why it shouldn't work with Sacred Prism. However, you could leave it as it is and I'd still think it's a good ability.

4- Spirits Within : At first, considering its power for a tank (it does great damage for a sword WS), I was fine with the recast time... Until I unlocked Warrior and saw that Steel Cyclone, for all its awesoness, was ONLY on a 30 second recast. Therefore, please cut the recast time in half. Then I'm happy with it, as it could always be used with Bloodbath to replenish whatever HP you don't currently have. Indeed, you could use Aegis Boon + Phalanx + Bloodbath + Spirits Within every minute and do not feel this would make Paladin overpowered, while giving it some nice survivability and some DPS to maintain hate.

5- Hallowed Ground : Possibly one of the best 15 minute ability as it currently stands. I'd simply give it an enmity boost comparable to Taunt (temporary focus of the target on the Paladin), because let's face it, what's the point in being impervious to physical damage in you're not the one being hit ? This would simply ensure that the ability is not wasted. While it would negate the idea of using it with Cover, I'd dare say that Cover should be used for something else.

So yeah, these are my suggestions. Feel free to discuss them.