How Easy Is Gunblade Compared to Paladin?

[DenzelVilliers]

Imo GNB is easier than PLD, GNB gauge is by far the easiest Gauge from all Tank to fill and use, their skills are similar to PLD ( DoTs, Heals, Shields, Support, etc ) but way simpler to manage, no MP usage and etc. But WAR are the easiest Tank at this moment imo, tbh there's no complexity on Tanks anymore.

[Tigore]

Gunbreaker doesn't feel too bad for me. It just takes some getting used to on using their power combo and off global combo. The off global combo is all in one button. Just make sure the 4 buttons are in a comfy spot for you to press. Once you finish the power combo, the standard combo feels very similar to the other tanks' speed.

[Tex_Mex]

Most players will strongly disagree with this statement. Paladin is definitely much easier.

For me, I tend to do better with classes that have more of a priority system than a set rotation. This is really the biggest difference between PLD and GNB. The PLD rotation is VERY set in stone and once you master it, it is extremely easy to use. Literally it is (123, 66667 -- 123, 124, 555 -- 123, 124, 555 repeat) The GNB rotation on the other hand is basically just a simple priority system where optimization comes from using CD's correctly. No mercy, bow shock, and sonic break are all 60s CD's, so you just make sure to use them all together. Gnashing fang and blasting zone are both on 30s CD's, so they always line up well with other CD's as long as you use them when they are available. The entire rest of the job actions are just a 123 combo. This is just about one of the simplest priority systems in the entire game (though WAR is definitely easy too lol).

IMO, I find GNB easier than PLD, but that is purely subjective, since I tend to find priority based systems easier than strict rotations. I can definitely see how players that find rotations easier could see PLD as an easier job.

I find all of the tanks pretty easy, but if I had to rank them from hardest to easiest it would be:
DRK, PLD, GNB, WAR

Even DRK is really pretty simple to master, it just has a more punishing mechanic (TBN) if you mess it up than the others. Messing up TBN is literally a 500 potency mistake. That's pretty severe.

[Fluffernuff]

There's alot of subjectively here, but in order to avoid a long winded response that will lose the point i want to make, i'll settle with this;


If you find dragoon particularly difficult, I would advise against Gunbreaker. Gunbreaker's playstyle, or specifically rotation, is very similar to Dragoon. everything is lined up in a particular way. it's admittedly not 1:1, but they are very similar in structure- more then any other 2 jobs, and thats including the "Warrior of DRKness" memes even still on the front page of this forum section.

theres a particular "flow" inherent to GNB thats very easy to grab and run with, and the 1% for pld isnt as clear cut as it appears. That said, though, I find, personally, PLD is the better choice if DRG specifically isnt something you can play well. If DRG is rough, I would feel "off" telling that same person to use GNB

[BarretOblivion]

SMH. Monumental DPS loss is an exaggeration. Not everyone plays like an elitist or perfectionist. I go through contents just fine, even savage raids. More buttons = more complexity = more mistakes = DPS loss.

And basically you instead of trying to better your rotation and timing you should shrug and say "meh, DPS will pickup the slack". This is what our old static leader said before we finally booted him for doing less dmg than PLD on WAR during SB...

There is a minumum DPS threshold every tank should be hitting in fights especially since the DPS checks right now are so tight. Macroing such a massively important part of your kit will result in far more DPS loss than simply making a mistake in your rotation. Everytime you hit that macro you are losing 1-2 GCDs in the fight and that stacks up fast especially as a GNB when you use it every half a minute. That is a total on the generous side of 1 GCDs in Eden Prime or 20 GCDs in the worst case. That is not something a simple rotational mistake will make you lose.

[Absimiliard]

SMH. Monumental DPS loss is an exaggeration. Not everyone plays like an elitist or perfectionist. I go through contents just fine, even savage raids. More buttons = more complexity = more mistakes = DPS loss.

You lose your ability to queue abilities before they're actually ready. I.e. you can't just keep mashing burst, for example, and expect it to go off immediately upon completion of your GCD. It will instead only read the input once your GCD is complete, robbing you of valuable time and wasting GCDs. Macro usage also tends to interfere with double weaving, and uh.... Well, let's just say the amount of DPS you lose in your No Mercy window by not double weaving oGCDs is rather significant. GNB is punished heavily for failing to efficiently use its No Mercy window. Definitely do not use macros with GNB if at all possible. Clearing savage while gimping yourself like that is a disservice to the rest of your raid team. It basically amounts to being carried.

[Seku]

In a dungeon setting I'd say their probably about the same, while not optimizing. PLD offers way more safety, because if your healer sucks you can save runs and keep youself and your party up (IE: best used with PUGS and new players). GNB basically just offers more damage, which if your entire party is good can get rid of a few minutes on your total dungeon run time.

Optimal rotations though I'd say GNB is harder due to the fact that on top of having to keep everything aligned, you still need to do standard tank duties which over whelms some people and if you don't learn to optimize the rotation you're not taking full advantage of GNB as at the moment I believe it's whole identity is based around less self sustainability and more Burst damage.

But in the end if you like GNB style, just play it. It shouldn't matter if it's hard or not, because if you're not using it, you're not going to get good with it. Same goes for any job / class.

[Lionidas]

In my experience, to the contrary of what many in this thread are suggesting: Paladin is the most difficult job in the game if you make substantial efforts to heal.

Coming from a healing background in other RPGMMOs, I've developed quite the instinct for tossing heals to my teammates at low HP. Combine this with tanking, DPS, Boss Mechanics, and OT support duties, and Paladin gameplay can become quite overwhelming. In this context, any tanking job is a step down from Paladin. If, however, you're the type who rarely throws out raid heals then PLD is probably easier to play than Gunbreaker, and you should thus stick with it.

[JanVanding]

I honestly find gunbreaker easier to play than both dragoon and paladin so... I think you're good to try it. They start you off at 60 with relatively no skills for what it feels like until you hit 70 so, I think its pretty tame. It's as boring to play as DRK right now though at level 50 since you only have 1 combo and one spender for said combo.

No positional requirements and a pretty forgiving rotation early on, the higher you get the more you have to add to your rotation to maximize your output, as you start to add your powder combos and off Global cooldowns. Keeping the rotation tight is probably the biggest challenge the Gunbreaker has, it's very easy to lose Potential DPS by not spending powder when you could resulting in inefficient stock management.

[ArianeEwah]

Define difficulty!?

If you struggle with button bloat, Warrior is the job with the least buttons in the entire game (PvP and roleplaying during quests excluded).
Paladin' and Gunbreaker' skills and abilities both make use of almost 3 whole hotbars. Whether you take PLD or GNB barely makes a difference in button bloat. Anyway, from abilites you'll use the most/always make use of, GNB has the slightly larger button bloat.

Rotation-wise both PLD and GNB are pretty straight forward. Imo PLD has the easier one.
PLD rotation is fixed and doesn't change in the slighest, unless you suffer from downtime. But even then I'd argue it's way easier to recover from it on PLD than on GNB. There aren't many situations where you gonna double weave either.
Your only concern is when to use FoF or Requiescat when they are up, and ofc you have to look out for your mana pool.
GNB on the other hand is little more "freestyle with rules". At certain situations, you'll have to manage 2 combos at the same time without dropping neither of them (Gnashing Fang and standard 1-2-3), applying DoT, double weave, while also handling your defensive CDs. Your standard opener for maximum DPS output requires to double weave at least 4 times in a row! Defensive CDs not included!
This also makes GNB more dependent on ping and connection. PLD rotation doesn't have this problem to pull optimal DPS.

In conclusion: Imho PLD is way easier than GNB, in both button bloat, and rotation-wise (APM/CPM).