Paladin Low Level Damage Is Unacceptable

[Duskane]

This is a typical problem with the modern gaming culture, though.

"If the top tier players can do it, everyone else can too, they just need to git gud" instead of developing around the majority of customers, with top tier/streamer players just getting to be exceptional heroes to be looked up to like was the case in the past days (remember when Blizzard came to their senses with Wrath of the Lich King, realizing that things like the original Naxxramas and Sunwell were silly because why put that much of your investment into content that only a tiny percentage of players will ever see, and it was perhaps the most beloved MMO expansion in history except maybe for Endwalker?).

Keep in mind that said "gitting gud" can frequently even involve loveliness like degenerate gaming, or even Those Tools. Is it really good for gaming in general to make the standard for RPGs being able to pull off competitive speedrunner tricks, or even worse, TAS being the expected playstyle (which high end raiding has already practically turned into, in particular)?

potd solo is difficult content
its git gud or don't bother

there is also way worse jobs to solo it than PLD,
so adapt or find something else to solo with.

[Coatl]

current PLD has already gotten a solo clear and killed behemoth in Potd

ok but is it easier or harder than before?

[Tlachtga]

SE has always balanced the lower levels as much of the higher levels.

that's why PLD gets their gapcloser, Intervene at lvl74, when DRK gets theirs, Plunge at lvl 54, GNB gets theirs, Rough Divide at lvl56 and WAR gets their Onslaught at lvl62.

that's also why DRK gets Dark Missionary, their raid shield at 76, and can't use it in 2 of the 5 Ultimate fights, literally the main places it'd actually see some meaningful use. Same with WHM, they get their Cure 2 equivalent lily spell (Solace) at 52, but don't get their Medica equivalent lily spell (Rapture) til 76, and therefore can't be used in 2 Ultimates.

Speaking of Ultimates, at lvl70 SMN gets a Bahamut every min, meaning the dmg they do eclipses anything BLM could hope to do at an equivalent level. and its been almost 10 years and NIN and DRG still get their first aoe skill at lvl38 and lvl40 respectively.

They changed SAM's Tenka Goken from a cone aoe to a circle aoe, because using Fuko ( a circle) and then going into Tenka's cone felt awkward. great change....for everyone above lvl86, piss poor change for everyone below, since now they have to go cone aoe > circle aoe, which is the main reason WAR's Overpower got changed from a cone to a circle.

they don't give a damn about non current expac content outside the bare minimum lol. its an inconsistent mess, its like they don't care about their own level sync system.

[CaptainLagbeard]

The PLD rework as a whole is kind of bad.

For PotD specifically it is a straight up nerf as you kind of need Divine Might from level 64 to make up for the lowered potency from the combo which you can't get in there.

[Jeeqbit]

For PotD specifically it is a straight up nerf as you kind of need Divine Might from level 64 to make up for the lowered potency from the combo which you can't get in there.

Yet the maths I put earlier says it's pretty balanced with GNB right now, and I am using the GNB potencies for that level. If you look at the job guide, it only shows the level 90 potencies. PLD has much higher potency on its combo than GNB to make up for the lack of Burst Strike and a higher damage increase on Fight or Flight. They are very comparable tanks because they have similar models with a 60s buff window.

The only advantage that GNB really has is the Gnashing Fang combo every 30 seconds, whereas PLD can only burst to that degree every 60s, but overall there isn't any evidence to support a major difference in potency in both the short or long term.

[TheMightyMollusk]

SE has always balanced the lower levels as much of the higher levels.

Dancer has Double Standard Step, a 720 potency attack with a 30 second CD, in Sastasha.

[Renalt]

I dunno. I'm mostly on the side of "If I want high damage as a tank...I'd be DRK". I pick PLD because defensive abilities and shield.

So for me it's - PLD if I want to TANK tank.

DRK - I want to burn things down as quickly as possible tank

WAR - Me and at least one other are immortal and healer can green DPS.

GNB - Eh I don't use it.

That's my mindset at least.

[Jeeqbit]

Dancer has Double Standard Step, a 720 potency attack with a 30 second CD, in Sastasha.

We can compare that then, to a Bard over 30 seconds.

Dancer

Cascade 220 + Fountain 280 = 500 damage every 5 seconds.
x4 to reach 20 seconds which is 2000 potency.
7 seconds to do Standard Step, which is 720 potency.
Remaining 3 seconds we can do Cascade for 220.
This is 2940 potency, arguably Standard Step is a potency loss compared to just spamming your combo (which would be 3000 potency) except it applies a damage buff.
Assuming this damage buff is up, the potency across all the attacks becomes 3087.

(and in an aoe situation, the potency is reduced to 25%, making it 180 or 189 buffed)

Bard

Venomous Bite 100 + 150 over 30 seconds
Heavy Shot 160 x3 is 480 and takes us to 10 seconds
Heavy Shot 160 x8 is 1280 and take us to 30 seconds.
But 2 of the Heavy Shots will probably be Straight Shots, which means we can remove 320 potency and replace it with 400 potency.
Not counting openers or 120s buffs, we have 2 Bloodletters in that time for a total of 220 potency.
The total potency is 2310

(and in an aoe situation, its aoe has 10 extra potency which makes up for Standard Step over time)

So Dancer is 3087 and Bard is 2310, which is much lower than Dancer unless we include the 120s buff Raging Strikes.

But the increased single target potency on Dancer has nothing to do with Standard Step, and just raw potency differences on their combos. There isn't really a difference for aoe either.