Paladin Raid Viability

[Dakronn]

 First of all, hello. I'm a new comer to EQ2 and have enjoyed playing my bruiser so far but ive seen on various forums that most melee classes arent needed/wanted in raids outside of the main tanks. Is this true? The reason I ask is because I'm planning on playing for a good while and would like to play a toon thats going to carry me up and through endgame. My reason for thinking of a paladin is because it looks like they offer some group buffs and various heals aswell as some added dps through melee. However, I'm wondering if another class couldn't do it better or is more desirable in a raid. So right now im looking at paladin and mystic; what are the pros and cons for each and what would you suggest? Thanks for your time. Dakronn.

[Excalibre33]

<p>Those two classes are absolutely different playing paradigms. Paladin is mainly a tank. Mystic is mainly a healer. Sony WILL make every single class desired in endgame raiding. By the time you get there, class desirability will have changed and will probably continue to change as the game matures. If you master playing your class, and are in a guild that wants to help you succeed, you will find a spot in a raid regardless of class. </p><p>The player is more important than the class. End of story.</p><p>Raiding desirability does not boad well for jack-of-all-trades focused players. Raid leaders are looking for the VERY best to fill each seat in the raid. Paladins uniquely can excel in each class archetype and can be excellent Tanks, Healers, or even DPS given the proper obsession... but like I said... Paladins are plate tanks first and foremost. Refine that aspect of the class and the rest will follow. Excellent players <b><i>earn</i></b> raid positions but, for now it is true that there are less tank positions available in a raid than healers or DPS... but that is changing RIGHT NOW as I type this.</p><p>Ignore the advice of others in the forums minus this one statement... Play what is fun and master it. You'll have no trouble seeing everything Norrath has to offer. There are plenty of character slots for you to choose from if you get bored with one class.</p>

[Mgunner]

Well, Zerkers are plate tanks as well but offer a lot more raid utility than us. Check out my post on <a href="http://www.eq2flames.com/paladins/12707-why-i-hate-call-duty.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">EQ2Flames </a>to understand better and why I think Call to Duty is a horrible buff.  We got the shaft with group buffs hardcore.

[Buzzing]

Play your bruiser if your having fun... I take em all the tie to raids, good avoidence for your MT and dps to boot.

[Leafkiller]

This really has been discussed to death. Its beyond beating a dead horse, more like beating the bone dust from a really really dead horse.  One paladin is very viable on a raid, especially with some of the new raid wide buffs they can add, plus they can do enough dps played right to not be embarrassing. One paladin is an asset on any raid, assuming player un-noob-ishness.Pretty rare to see two on a raid though, and quite rare to see the pally as MT. Keeping that in mind, find the right guild, and paladin's are fun on raids.

[Rast]

<p>I MT raids quite often.  Often have 2 on the raid and a shadowknight too.  Course, the guild I'm in isn't stuck up on the elite group setups and we don't consider it a tundra raid unless we have 6+ fighters <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  (The last one I ran in LoA we had 3 guards, 2 paladins, a SK and a Monk, and yes, we used a paladin as the MT <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />)  About the only group I'm picky about is the MT group, the rest we fill in and do what we can with it <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Paladins are fine on raids, as are bruisers, as are monks, as is any class in the game.  Where we get hurt is in the min/max game and the court of puplic misinformation, which I simply don't care to play in, so I don't worry about it all that much.</p>

[Twofeets]

God Im tired of people who dont think pallies have a place in raids.   Either they havent been with a decent pally, or simply have no clue.My pally is tank/heal specced, and I love him.  Granted, i have trouble getting into pick up raids, but once people get to know me, I almost aways seem to get invited back.  Ive also been in a few raiding guilds, and the only reason I am reduced to pickup raids is a lack of play time, not a lack of them wanting my pally.Pallies have some HUGE advantages when it comes to main tanking a raid.  Im not going to say we are better than guards, that depends a lot on the player, but personally I love my pally.  To start with, when used correctly our ability to hold aggro is second to none!  Ive seen a lot of guardians who put an assassin, dirge, AND coercer in their group to hold aggro.   This limits them to 2 priest classes, and reduces buffs and survivability against hard hitting mobs.   For a pally this simply isnt needed!  Ive tanked Deathtoll with just an assassin for Murderous Design, and my amends on another DPS.  With the 3 priests and my AAs i was sitting at 64.x5 mit and 60% avoidence, and about 13k hitpoints.  Add that to my self wards, Divine Aura, etc and that makes me one tough nutt to crack.    In another raid, i was able to get a dirge, and my avoidence shot up to 64% as well!  Guardian, no thanks.In my current guild, which is a casual raid guild, i usually play the role of 2ndary tank (since im not there enough to be the MT).  I use my sigil and amends to help our DPS keep from pulling aggro, and with my heal spec I can usually healparse close to the priests.  On a lot of fights my heal parse is 2nd only to the shammies (God i love my wards!).The trick to playing a pally is learning that you're not limited to one cookie cutter role, and by showing off your versatility you can do things some other classes can only dream of.  We are one of those classes where the player makes the class, rather than vice versa.  I have a 70 fury, templar, wiz, and conji, but my pally is my favorite by a long shot!Good luck!

[khufure]

Of the classes you listed, Mystics are one of the rarest and most useful classes in the game.  You are most likely to get top endgame content with that class.Every tank class can off-tank ("OT&quot<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Guardians are the most likely to maink tank ("MT&quot<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.  If you play a tank class it's good to understand that.   There's a lot of competition for the OT spots.