Thoughts on PLD changes

[Sqwall]

I have been maining PLD since 2.0 launch and here are my thoughts on all the good and bad from 2.0 to 5.0 ( I play on PS4 with controller)

2.0 Very simple design, clean, and easy to use. Halone combo was your go to enmity generator. Simple macros would help with using cover, while also using stoneskin if older PLD's can remember that. Good starting point

3.0 Added some extra defensive skills while retaining the simple design from 2.0, albeit the new defensive skills didn't offer that much in making PLD feel more tankish. Sheltron was a one time block for 50 oath. Not a great trade off unless you timed your sheltron perfectly on large hits, and a small amount of MP. Stance dancing was more apparent. Halone hit a confusing spot since you good get strength down or look for a DOT with goring, or a high damage with Royal. Naturally we did all of them to have all the effects going, which made PLD's pretty busy like ninja going through all the combos. Still PLD was in good spot.

4.0 WOW! PLD is greatest tank, but busiest tank in the game. IMO my controller was ruined after this expansion. And it made me branch out to play the other tanks. Seriously though - Flash, Total Eclipse, Cover, intervention, holy spirit, requiescat, shield swipe, halone combo, goring combo, royal combo, sheltron, Bulwark, Divine, Sentinel, Rampart, Stance dancing, etc; you get the idea and this was about every mob pull! This right here made me want to change to WAR or DRK.

5.0 Finally. PLD is perfect IMO. Best thing SE did to make PLD feel good again. An AOE combo, and simple 2 branch combo. While doing a balance with casting. Sheltron is amazing! I actually use sentinel all the time now. My only gripe is atonement and that it doesn't give us charges to use when we need them, wish I could use them after a combo instead of spamming them. PLD is perfect at this point and simple. No more stance dancing. Perfection! RIP FLASH

What are some of your thoughts?

[Inuk9]

Still dont understand How a sword and shield job do more damage than the 2 handed weapon jobs.

[shao32]

PLD is a clear example of evolution with every expansion, I wish I could say the same of DRK.

[Phileas]

Paladin feels like they took all that worked with 4.0 and gave some nifty tools to fill the gaps.

Using atonement helps as its higher potency than spamming RA combo while goring is up and well gap closer....nuff said.

AoE rotation feels good and very satisfying. Hallowed ground and shelltron helps fill the gap when rampart/sentinel/arms lenghth are on cd.

Only bad thing is the nerf to block and cover getting nerfed

Overall i switched to Paladin from WAR and its been very nice

[Kolsykol]

Did they change something about Clemency?
Because it's driving me insane when I heal in dungeons... It seems like there's more Clemency spammers around than before, lol.
And every time that I point it out and tell PLD's that they're not going to die and don't need to use Clemency they're either rude or don't respond or tell me why.

It's honestly very irritating and feels like they don't trust me <_<.
Just because you're bellow 80% hp doesn't mean that you're going to die or that I am sleeping ( btw I have insta heals )...

If they changed Clemency and made it useful for dps somehow then for some reason people refuse to tell me.

Edit: I am not trying to '' tell people how to play '' or whatever... Altho to me it's almost like a BLM spamming Freeze for the AoE rotation or something, it's just slowing things down and I am fully capable of AoE:ing whilst keeping the tank alive at the same time without stopping my AoE.
And I mean you're using a GCD that could be used for AoE instead whilst I have OGCD's to use. I don't have to stop really.
But I'd be lying if I said that it didn't almost feel like taunting at times or as if they think that I am incompetent.
And even tho I am not rude when I point it out and I do it in a friendly manner I still get rude responses back.

I've had a lot of bad experiences with PLD's since Shadowbringers for some reason o_o...
It's making me bitter towards them...
I don't understand what's happening and if something was changed because it seems to have gotten worse imo.
Perhaps just a lot of new people I guess.

Maybe I come across as rude in my comment but I don't mean to be, I just had numerous of bad experiences with this in a row.
The last one where I decided to ask ( politely ) I was cussed out...

[Nedkel]

Still dont understand How a sword and shield job do more damage than the 2 handed weapon jobs.

Historically, sword and shield are deadlier than just a sword.

[ArianeEwah]

I started my trial back in 3.3, and took GLA/PLD as my starting class. It was great as a story job, as it gave off this WoL feeling...

3.0 snip

PLD did great in appearance, but once I hit 60, and got some advice from FC mates, I came to realize...
PLD was the worst of all tanks, and I noticed this once I started MRD/WAR. PLD had no damage! Like, every task/duty/job they did was sluggish. I did ARR relic with PLD, and seriously - dungeons were a sore. No AoE (except SoC), just single target, and even ST combo was painfully weak.
Divine Veil was a great idea, but imo I rarely saw any great use of it. Shelltron was great for mana regen if you needed it, and had up to 30% mitigation. (yeah, btw "Oath gauge" wasn't a thing in 3.x, it had a flat 15s CD.)
STR down also nice, but had rarely any use either. Most "dangerous" damage was raid-wide, and those were magic type. PLD was lacking magic mitigation. Rampart and Sentinel, that was it, both on 90s and 180s respectively.
DRK and WAR were far superior to PLD.
WAR had almost the same mitigation, Holmgang could be used as much as Sentinel, Bloodbath heal on burst was insane, Storm's Path mitigated ALL damage types. Their damage was over the top, strongest AoE, great snap aggro. They did roughly 30% more damage on ST than PLD.
DRK was also more fun to play, and had great magic mitigation, and dealt ~15-20% more damage than PLD.
PLD also suffered TP problems on high uptime fights, while DRK could manage with Blood Weapon and WAR had Equilibrium.

3.x PLD was never in "good spot", it made me switch to WAR real quick... despite it being my first job in FF14.

4.0 WOW! PLD is greatest tank, but busiest tank in the game. snip

Define "busy"!? PLD was (and is now) the easiest tank to play rotation-wise.
If this is about button bloat, I agree. PLD was loaded! Bulwark, Shelltron, Intervention, Arms (Wings), and... Shield Bash? Still there...
PLD received great changes in 4.x, with AoE addititon, a magic "burst rotation", Cover, potency and combo buffs, OT mitigation, blocks affecting magic (HUGE buff).
PLD was finally able to find a save spot in every party, and was probably the the strongest tank in this expansion.
Dungeons were still in favor of WAR, just as pulling raid bosses. But given the tools PLD had, that was no problem.

5.0 Finally. snip

I think SE did great with tanks in general with the latest expansion. Right now, I haven't leveled PLD beyond 70. Yet the additions of AoE possibilities, as well as getting rid of the old button bloat are beautiful.

[TheForce]

@Kolysycol,

PLD main here, and one who also loves using Clemency in dungeons. As for the reason why I do this, I personally just really dislike falling below 80ish % hp. No matter what game I play, I always just like having lots of HP. Also, I don't like completely relying on somebody else to take care of me in this regard. Clemency is an incredible powerful tool, so I will use it.

I'll be honest Kolsykol, if a healer told me what you tell other PLDs in dungeons, I'd be annoyed too. Definitely not excusing PLDs cussing you out or things of that nature, but I do think their irritation is justified. You claim that you're not trying to tell people how to play...so why even try to confront someone about this? It's not about not trusting you, personally, I just like to take care of myself as much as possible. Especially when I have the tools to do it. A PLD who wants to heal themselves isn't bringing any real harm to the group, in fact, they may be saving you some MP. If someone is doing something that isn't truly hurting you, don't try to make them feel wrong for doing it.

I won't speak for others, but for me, if someone does this it makes me feel like they think they're some all-knowing higher up (which they never are) who has the right to pass judgment on everybody. I don't like that, at all. A, because like I said it's not true, and B, because it's kind of rude and jusy flat out annoying, no matter how "polite" you try and make it sound. Rule of thumb: unless someone is obviously ruining the group and stopping you from progressing, just try not to say anything.

[ADVSS]

Yeah getting ready to drop that Greatsword and go back to my original main in 2.0. It looks amazing, and even has its iconic identity, which may be situational, but its still a very pure rendition.

[Sqwall]

I love using Clemency TBH. I know it's a direct DPS loss no matter how you look at it, but it lines up with requiescat so well with 50% more healing. I have seen clemany hit around 52k crit, and I am not even 80 yet! That to me sounds like a perfect MP saver for heals and allows them to DPS more if they wish. I can help more with clemency and take stress off of healers.

And that brings up another topic on tanks in general. It seems the dungeons are designed for tanks to take WAY more damage from bosses. Seem to be some tank busters integrated into boss fights. The level 75 dungeon is a good example. First boss has Stone fist which hit's for around 30-40k, second boss has one (can't think of word) hit's for around 30k, and final 3 headed boss hit's with Rend that does 50k sometimes.

Correct me if I am wrong but didn't healers get sort of a DPS loss in this expansion, and have to focus more on being healers. As a tank I would love a healer doing DPS, but as a healer I would simply LOVE a tank healing themselves. It seems like tanks want healers to DPS which is fine, but healers don't want tanks to heal themselves which isn't fine...why is that? Is this a pride thing for healers? Because there are some healers that I have actually "dealt with" where I really needed to help them out in keeping me alive.

For me when I run my 70 AST I have all my DPS macroed out so I never have to take my target off the tank or MT. I weave in all my heals and DPS and I actually love healing PLD's since they will use clemency more when they see I'm spamming gravity/lightspeed combo. I welcome it from tanks!

Let's keep these thoughts coming I like seeing how the community reacts to the new tanks.