PLD slight "rework" (yet another)

[Nivarea]

A few months ago, I did an exercise for fun and tried to propose a rework of DRK which was pretty well received ( https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-(yet-another) ). So, I wanted to try to do it for other jobs I do play, even so it will probably be far worse given that I’m far less aware of what people like and want for jobs other than DRK.
So, here is an attempt to do a slight rework of PLD, for fun. I’m not doing it with hope of any of this to be implemented in the game. I do think that PLD is already in a far better place gameplay wise than DRK, so do not expect many changes. Also, it’s made with current job design in mind, so I have to cater to the 2mn meta.

To explain my aim, here were my guidelines while working on it:
1 – Trying to take inspiration to some removed points of PLD toolkit.
2 – Keeping PLD identity as being the most selfless tank.
3 – Make us have to think a bit more of the rotation.
4 – Adress button bloat a tiny bit.

So, here we go.

Skill merge and removal:

Removal:

Shield Bash
=> It’s a relic of a time far far gone. While it can be useful marginally (in theory at least), there is not enough of them to justify wasting a skill slot on this skill. Also, no content will ever require having a spamable interrupt unless they give the same tool to other tanks. Given low blow exists and have a quite low cooldown, and with Shield Bash being a GCD with a really low potency, it’s basically a dead skill.

Merge:
Holy Spirit/Holy Circle merged, with Holy Spirit upgrading into Holy Circle. Make Holy Circle targeted.

Holy Circle:
Deals unaspected damage to target and all enemies nearby it with a potency of 400 for the first enemy, and 75% less for all remaining enemies.
Divine Might Potency: 500 and 50% less for all remaining enemies.
Requiescat Potency: 700 and 50% less for all remaining enemies.
The effect of Divine Might will be prioritized over Requiescat when under the effect of both.
Additional Effect: Restores own HP
Cure Potency: 400

=> Since we’re in need of remove a bit of bloat, I don’t think we need to have two skills with the exact same usage, with one single target and the other AOE. So, I merged them. It would be targeted, which is a change for the AOE version. It’s mostly a QoL here to try and gain button space, I, myself, would not be opposed to keep both skills separated.

Changes to the rotation:

Goring Blade:
Deliver an attack with a potency of 250.
Fight or Flight Potency: 400
Additional Effect: Damage over time.
Potency: 30
Duration: 30s

=> Quite simple, Goring Blade is back being a DoT, just not linked to a recast timer nor a combo. It’s quite strong if you manage it well to have its full duration. Just a little thing more to manage. I still made it have a potency increase under Fight or Flight to keep a good burst in the 2mn window.

Intervene:
Rushes target and delivers an attack with a potency of 100.
Maximum Charges: 2
Cannot be executed while bound.
Recast Timer: 20s

=> Here is a tiny bit of change, reducing the cooldown to 20s to make it both more available and also have a non-standard recast timer. It “forces” a usage outside of FoF, which also helps for its usage as a mobility tool. I also lowered the potency, both because of the new cooldown and the new goring blade.

Defensive changes:

Cover:
Take all damage intended for another party member as long as said member remains within 20 yalms.
Additional Effect: Reduces damage taken by 10%.
Does not activate with certain attacks.
MP is depleted by 500 periodically. Effect ends upon reuse or when MP reaches 0.
Recast timer: 120s
MP Cost: 2000

=> I took a bit of inspiration from a bunch of things. First, from Stormblood’s version of Cover, I put back some mitigation on it to make it a bit stronger, but only 10% to not make it as strong as back then. Then, from Scholar Fey Union, I took the idea of the skill lasting until canceled or the resource needed for it depleted. Finally, from old DRK Heavensward Darkside, I took the idea of draining MP. The MP drain would be every server tick (about 3s).
I chose to remove cover from the Shield gauge to make it not compete with intervention, which is the clearly superior skill. I still wanted it to not be totally free, and Cover draining MP is not a big cost given how much PLD can generate and how relatively little it uses it but can still be problematic if not used well. The recast timer is finally to not make it abusable.

Divine Veil:
Creates a barrier around self and all party members near you that absorbs damage equivalent to 10% of your maximum HP.
Duration: 30s
Additional Effect: Gradually Restores HP.
Cure Potency: 100
Duration: 15s
Additional Effect: Restores target's HP
Cure Potency: 400

=> Just to make Divine Veil a bit more equal to Shake It Off (like Heart of Light and Dark Missionary are equal), I added the regen effect, but you don’t have the ability to boost the shield further – even if it’s on basis stronger for the party, given it’s based on the PLD max HP and not each party member max HP.
Edit : NOTE after the first few replies: This change is made specifically with how SE likes to buff tanks defensives and healing habilites, in an attempt to try keeping things mostly realistic. In my perfect fantasy version of the game, I would not touch it, or even nerf itactually nerf the skill by removing the healing part altogether. Feel free to ignore this if you don't like this change. =B

Finishing words and last explanations:[/B]

PLD is in a good place, so I did not change too much of the job. It flows well and my only real gripe gameplay wise is Goring Blade being a really boring button to press and forget every minute. I do think that PLD was quite good and unique gameplay wise before its 6.3 rework, but it would not work with the 2mn meta as we know, which is why I didn’t revert the changes made. And of course, potencies are something you would adjust to balance the job, as usual.

It's not a total rework, as I said I do like current PLD playstyle, but I tried to make it a bit more in depth for its rotation and tried to make cover no as niche as it is now.

Remember that this is a rework for the current expansion, Dawntrail. I can’t know which direction SE will take the job design philosophy for 8.0 and I mostly did this for fun.

That’s all. Thank you for taking time reading this. Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts.

[aiqa]

I don't understand the obsession with making goring blade a DoT. That just makes it less useful. Now you can use it as a big spike damage, that is useful against any target. As a DoT you would only ever use it against high health targets. So disagreed, I am perfectly happy with Goring Blade as it is.

Divine Veil is already overly strong. It does not need any buff. A tank should not have a strong oGCD AoE heal in the first place.

[Nivarea]

I don't understand the obsession with making goring blade a DoT. That just makes it less useful. Now you can use it as a big spike damage, that is useful against any target. As a DoT you would only ever use it against high health targets. So disagreed, I am perfectly happy with Goring Blade as it is.

First reason, as I said, Goring Blade being a simple button you press and forget evey 60s is boring, uninteresting. The point you raise about not using it against low health target is actually, in my book, a pro. It means you have to THINK about its usage to optimise it, which makes for a more intersting gameplay with a bit of decision making. And if you're thinking about AOE situation, I mean... come on, it would be a "problem" (not really) only in dungeons where you don't really need to optimize your damage as much as in HL situations.
Even if you put forth M6S with its add phase as an exemple, which is one of the rare optimisation where you would have to think about it, I do think it would be a good problem to solve for raiders. I know, I played PLD for this tier and optimizing the add phase was fun, having a dot to manage thrown into the mix would make it more fun to optimize for me and most High end raiders, which is where job balance is the most important as long as low end content is not hindered, which is not the case here.

Second reason, I wanted to take inspiration from the history of the job, and Goring Blade WAS a DoT. I removed the requirement of it being a combo finisher to simplify the skill, but wanted to put it back being a DoT.

Divine Veil is already overly strong. It does not need any buff. A tank should not have a strong oGCD AoE heal in the first place.

The plot twist is that I DO agree. But as I said, I took Dawntrail job design into acount and one of the thing DT made is make all tanks even stronger defensively, with HP regen everywhere. Also, like I said, I only made it roughly equal to Shake it Off, so...
It's actually not something I care much, but I decided to throw it in because it would line up with SE modus operandi on DT job design philosophy.

[Supersnow845]

I really don’t think “we made SIO to ridiculously overpowered because Xeno screams anytime WAR isn’t the best at everything” should be a design paradigm going forward

The shield healers would kill for an oGCD as powerful as shake, why is it on a tank

But your logic that square seems to endlessly buff the tanks equalising them isn’t offensive makes perfect sense

[Nivarea]

I really don’t think “we made SIO to ridiculously overpowered because Xeno screams anytime WAR isn’t the best at everything” should be a design paradigm going forward

The shield healers would kill for an oGCD as powerful as shake, why is it on a tank

But your logic that square seems to endlessly buff the tanks equalising them isn’t offensive makes perfect sense

I added the reasoning on the post itself. Might have been a mistake to try to imagine "how SE would reason" tbh.

[theunhappypotato]

nahh paladin is fine at is, everytime i see a thread like t h is pop up i question if you guys really know what ur doing as a tank

[Carighan]

Neither of you make a good point about Goring Blade as a DoT.

There would be no thought if it's a 30s DoT, either. Now you use it every 60s. Then you'd use it every 30s. Wow. Many thought. Such deep. So complexity. Wow.

[Supersnow845]

Neither of you make a good point about Goring Blade as a DoT.

There would be no thought if it's a 30s DoT, either. Now you use it every 60s. Then you'd use it every 30s. Wow. Many thought. Such deep. So complexity. Wow.

I mean is it so wrong to see it as a flavour thing. To gore something means to pierce or wound something inducing it to bleed. That feels way more like a DOT than just a flat 700 potency damage.

[Nivarea]

There would be no thought if it's a 30s DoT, either. Now you use it every 60s. Then you'd use it every 30s. Wow. Many thought. Such deep. So complexity. Wow.

While yes, it would not be much, it's still something to pay a bit of attention. It's not a lot, but it's still better than just pushing the glowy button every 60s.
Note that I didn't put a recast timer on Goring Blade, meaning you would have to check the dot duration and not wait for the button to lit up like a christmas tree.

Also, with this kind of reasoning, you end up going all the way to simplify everything.
In a vacum, almost any button is not complicated to push and no mecanics is complex, at all. It's the fact that you add them together that create an harmony, a rotation and, in the end, the complexity you mentionned.
My idea is not to make PLD complex, this would require a total rework and a change in the job design philosophy of SE. Still I still try to make it a bit more involved, and yes, having a DoT to manage on top of the rest of the rotation is still a tiny bit of complexity back. Not much, I agree. But still something more to care and something you can optimize with phases change and multiple targets.

I would love to see job design changes. I've played since Heavensward, and I do think that overall Stormblood had the best balancing of involving rotations without too much punishment. HW was too punishing, even if it made the job design really varied and in depht, and since ShB, job design has become less and less punishing over time to the point that you don't really have friction points anymore nowadays (and those that remains are usually ironed out), which are necessary to create a fulfilling sentiment when you push the skill ceiling - which is too low as of now imo.
I'm not holding too much breath for that, and while I have some hopes for 8.0 to at least make jobs more unique, I do not think they will make them much more complex, if at all.

That last bit was a bit of a rant on a tengent topic, sorry for that.

[Burmecia]

Removal:

Shield Bash

How to say "dont even look at the deep dungeon's direction" without saying it.

Anyway, I just want action change expanded. I'm old already, neuropathy all over my left hand. Buttons turning into other buttons would be super helpfun, even if it was just one change.
But that isn't even just PLD problem. PLD is just, well, my job of choice.

suggested holy circle/spirit change seems alright
goring being dot again would be alright
just take damage away from gap-closer
i want stormblood cover back, too
dunno how effective regen of divine veil would be but i guess more is more