1.21a Paladin Ability Changes

[Alerith]

Nothing to complain about here. I'm happy all across the board. Cover can be used more often, Divine Veil is actually useful and Spirit's Within got the boost I was looking for.

[Masamune1004]

Hopefully it's enough to make PLD the main tank now.

[Hitoriki]

Nice changes! This will probably make PLD main tank for things where "tanking" is more of the objective rather then being able to tank and do damage at the same time. For example I would think tanking chimera would be alot better with PLD then WAR now because war doesnt really do much damage to chim and getting/keeping hate can sometimes be an issue. On the other hand, on things like the mistress where a good war can actually do good DPS as well as tank, there is no reason to ever use PLD.

[ChiefCurrahee]

Divine veil Blocking for 20 full seconds will be awesome phalanx spam thats gonna secure a ton of hate onto the PLD.

[jwang]

Still can't see how these changes would make PLD more preferable to WAR. Mitigation might be a bit better on PLD, but the damage output on WAR is still so amazing that you'd be crazy not to pick it for your tank.

[NoctisUmbra]

Still can't see how these changes would make PLD more preferable to WAR. Mitigation might be a bit better on PLD, but the damage output on WAR is still so amazing that you'd be crazy not to pick it for your tank.

Easy - a tank's not about DPS but damage mitigation and hate.

PLD - defensive tank.
WAR - offensive tank.

[Alerith]

Easy - a tank's not about DPS but damage mitigation and hate.

PLD - defensive tank.
WAR - offensive tank.

Basically, are you bringing two WHM to the event or just one and filling the other spot with a DPS?

[jwang]

The thing though is while a PLD has better defensive CDs, WARs are only marginally more squishy. With their huge HP pool, Rampage crit heals not subjected to interrupts due to movement and damage, not being dependent on a resource which requires another class to refill, I don't see any benefit of bringing a PLD over a WAR outside of situations where you must kite a large number of mobs without coming into melee range. As it stands, a PLD is too much of a niche tank to be preferred over WAR, even with recent changes.

[Geabrielle]

I do not understand where people get that Warriors are tanks - I can't apply the term to a job that is nothing without a WHM standing behind it to make it work, while a PLD arguably can survive a heck of a lot longer without being baby sat except in the most extreme of situations. No disrespect to any warrior but from experience the internal dialogue is " I'm a Warrior, WAR SMASH" while the other is " My shield and I dare you to kill me! ".

Not trying to start an argument but the mindset baffles me. As a support player I'd much honestly have my stalwart Knight watching my keister than the berserk dervish that is going to do little more than make my healer the next target the instant he goes down .... now as a back up I see no problem with this because the rate of enmity from DPS is going to place said War in that predicament. But in all honesty I am happy to see the changes to Paladin as a step in the proper direction.

[jwang]

My counter argument to the statement that healers will be too high on the hate list is that with the WAR's current damage and threat output, they can actually generate more hate than PLDs can outside of a multiple mob kiting situation. Between Antagonize and Sentinel, the hate generated by your actions should easily allow your damage dealers to remain safely in the yellow zone most of the time, and thus push their DPS higher. Sentinel, Rampart, Featherfoot, Foresight, and Vengeance all reduce damage taken, and the self healing done by Rampage and Second Wind also adds to hate in addition to reducing the amount that healers have to heal, lowering their hate generation. In my experience as tank, I actually have a harder time holding hate as PLD than as WAR since part of my threat generation comes from healing the party and myself. When my MP runs dry, I either have to depend on ethers (which I don't have room or inclination to carry), Outmaneuver (which returns a piddling amount of MP), or Ballad (which requires a specialized group setup). It just simply is easier to go with a WAR tank than a PLD tank, especially since on boss level mobs, it's less about the amount of armor you have and more about the amount of HP you have to give healers more breathing room for their cures, HP numbers that WARs have in spades.