The Problem with Paladin

[SwordCoheir]

So Summed up

Enmity Abilities: Winner WAR
-WAR has Collusion, Antagonize, Provoke, Rampart, Flash, and Sentinel with no restrictions.
-PLD has Provoke, Flash, Rampart, and Sentinel w/o restriction, and Wardrum (which requires a block and 500tp)

Healing Options: Winner WAR
-WAR has Second Wind, Rampage, Bloodbath which don't cost tp/mp.
-PLD has Aegis Boon w/o restriction, Cure and Holy Succor both cost mp (Succor isn't affected by Sacred Prism which could be an excellent hate tool), and Divine Viel requires a different person to cure you (and pretty redundant since WHM's cast Regen anyways).

Blocking / Parrying: Winner WAR
-WAR parrys quite often which negates damage both magical and physical.
-PLD blocks with shields about as often as WAR parries, but only blocks physical moves (save when Aegis Boon is active) and only negates partial damage. Rarely Parries if at all.

New Weaponskills: Winner WAR
- Steel Cyclone is a Tier-3 AoE off an Enmity combo, 30 second recast, and has a chance to Stun.
- Sprits Within is a Tier-2 Single Target combo which requires a block to start, 90 second recast, slight damage boost based on current hp (faulty logic since tanks are taking hits all the time and barely noticeable difference even when at full hp).

Damage Mitigation: Winner Could say Draw but WAR kinda comes off on top for lack of restrictions. ( OH COME ON! )
-WAR has Rampart, Sentinel, Foresight, Featherfoot, Vengence, Rampage (Patch notes say defense though the action says attack power, just put that for clarity.)
-PLD has Rampart, Sentinel, Aegis Boon, Hollowed Ground, Protect, Stoneskin (Hollowed isn't very useful for being 15min hindering effectiveness, and Protect / Stoneskin are redundant due to healers casting it on tanks anyways). To be fair PLD can use Foresight, however you cannot Parry with a Shield Equipped.

Gear Selection: Draw
-Both have similar Gear selection, even both sets of AF are on par defensively.

MP Restoration: Null / Void
- WAR gets Featherfoot, but does not have any abilities that use MP.
-PLD does not have any MP restoration abilities, but Utilizes MP.


Overall, it seems like SE wanted WAR to remain a DPS and secondary tank option and cement PLD in a position where it could only tank. However I wouldn't doubt SE wrongly thought WAR was at a disadvantage in hate gaining / damage mitigation, thus gave WAR all the boosts in those areas in the update and ended up backfiring hard against PLD with WAR's comparable but unrestricted tanking abilities and far superior DPS.

Advice to SE: Don't be afraid to let jobs to work outside of their designated role. PLD can and should be able to be a great DPS in or outside of tanking situations. The base damage of PLD weapons compared too other DPS jobs (which is quite large) should allow them to close the gap by spamming weaponskills faster but are held back by long 60-120 second recast timers. For the times PLD is tanking however it should be allowed to tank harder and more reliably than other jobs no matter the situation, all these restrictive game mechanics placed on PLD only make things harder on it to fulfill it's intended role. Hell, even being able to parry while wearing a shield would greatly increase our damage mitigation possibilities well above WAR to be viable.