NANEEJE
04-19-2008, 05:38 PM
<p>Well, I'm here. </p><p>I have obtained level 80, I have all but the Mantle of the Jarsath Wastes, shield of the Green Dragon, and there really isn't any reason to do COA/Voes/Chelsith/Chardok. I have shiny collections, all the Lore and Legend, maxed harvesting, and a level 46 Armorer, but crafting isn't important to me.</p><p>What was important is getting to be one of the top Paladins in the game. I have the gear, I have the adornments, I have all the things you can get with 6 people in all of Everquest. I am looking forward to raid days more now then ever, it used to be fun to take down mobs of different types, but now.... I just want what they are storing in those exquisite chests!!! I have half my masters, no money, and nothing to spend it on anyway.</p><p>My purpose of writing to everyone right now is this:</p><p>1. Thank you to all the Paladins who supported the younger ones in getting to a position where they can eventually be considered decent Paladins. Virutis, Glerin, Tharinor, Maergoth, whoever Boli is, Oisin, and many others consistently monitoring the Pally channel.</p><p>2. Don't be concerned about your dps if you don't have all the gear. WOW, what a difference it makes as you go along. I was at level 80 with all of my ravaged onslaught set, and still not dps'ing crap, I was averaging zone wide of 600-800 depending on healing/warding/ taunting. As i grew into fabled gear, each one with +parry/defense/riposte, for tanking, and +melee/spell damage, +crits on spell, melee, double attacks, the increase in dps is PHENOMENAL!!!. You can literally go from 800 zw to 1100 zone wide within a month, cause I did. I steadily increased my gear into fabled from just T1 raid zones, (we are barely into T2). As each adornment goes on, I block that much more, or do that much more damage. </p><p>So if your sitting with just group instance gear, few adornments, don't worry about your dps. See.... everyone can in a perfect world set up to do an encounter where they can hit a ext dps of 2500 at my stage, but the reality is, you have to balance out consistently in your instances. The very next encounter, half your spells are not even usable. So what you do zone wide, instead of encounter wide, is really more important I think. </p><p>3. Paladin raid tanking/group tanking is strictly based on the player itself. Don't buy into Paladins not being raid tanks, or they are only group tanks, just like any other class, your ability to tank a raid depends on whether you are set up for survivability, max str/sta/agi/ or whatever you set up for. Most Pallies are holding Off tank roles, cause its the easiest way to contribute to your raid force. And face it, your not raiding 100 percent of the time you play. So for me, I am the choice tank for all instances, due to our versatility, and survivability. I do have 8 peices of gear that I swap out for when i am going to do nothing but tank. Every one of those 8 peices are adorned with at least the +16 whatever. I have my epic, and I am reallly, really, really trying to find the best place for it to be used. I tank with the Nathsar shortsword, and I dps with a 2 hander when not in off tank role. But lately, to be honest, im just using the nathsar to tank, and epic to off tank/dps, cause i like the shield bash a lot, every time I put the mob on the ground with mastered kick/shield bash, and 8 points in hammer ground, people notice you. They get to love the way you can hold aggro on all 4 skeletons in VOES, and knock them flat on their back 3 times in a matter of 15 seconds. (most epic mobs are only able to be knocked down every 30 seconds, if you didn't know that, so be careful when you use your knockdowns). To end this part, if you want to tank raid zones, then set yourself up for survivability, (plenty of guides out there). If you want to DPS, there are sooooooo many ways to set up for dps, with different gear/aa lines. </p><p>So while I am at the top of the food chain, there are still many hurdles i have to overcome. </p><p>1. I am currently doing 1000, 1200 dps zone wide while i tank, and i want to get that up. I feel I am capable of doing 1,500 zone wide while tanking, but i haven't figured that out yet. </p><p>2. Spell order only counts on groups in fast instances, (coa/voes/chelsith/city of mist). So I have to figure out the right order for me and what i like to use to get that 1,000 up a lot higher. My max hit so far in a raid, and in a normal raid/group setting is smite evil for 5,400. I keep hearing of 10,000 shots, i keep hearing of 69% blocking/absorbtion, and I am not even close to that, I was happy to get to 55% for absorb, and 54% avoidance self buffed, no potions. </p><p>Here is a normal run for me in let's say.... Voes... you start off in the beginning with 3 skellies (lets assume I am in an awesome group and we can handle all 4 starters). i will body pull, and as soon as all 4 are by me, i hit:</p><p>conviction- (very fast cast - hits all 4 - builds quick aggro) </p><p>consecration ( damage over time - aoe - slows mobs, aggro keeper)</p><p>castigate ( remember castigate hits more if you have effect cast on you, and it clears it - and its an aoe)</p><p>smite evil (excellent damage, hits all 4, massive aggro keeper)</p><p>doom rays ( 2,100 damage per mob, hits all 4, <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>circular smite ( aoe - ok damage, but still hitting 3 by now)</p><p>shield bash / cleave faith / holy strike / kick / legionnaires smite / and all the other spells that are still up. </p><p>this will give me about 2,100-2,700 ext dps for this mob, ( masters strike is on too). Getting the riposte item on nathsar seems to help with dps as well, with the 6 seconds/(usually down to 4.9) delay. </p><p>Then you turn right around and hit 2 golems, doing the same thing, then 3 skellies, and then when you hit single mobs, you do about 1,100 dps... and as you go quicker, i lose some dps and do 800 cause i mis-timed some spells that werent even up yet. So i have some work to do to get to my awesome predecessors. </p><p>If you want to know what top end gear is out there, go to the characters page, check out the names of who is posting in this chat and see what gear they are wearing, thats how i knew what to get, and that's how i went from 600 ext to 1,200 in one month. </p><p>Gentlemen, there is much talk about our crappy epic, crappy mythical, and lack of dps compared to other fighters, but we are the most versatile, the most fun, and in my opinion, the most survivable class of all of EQ2, and I enjoy it a lot. </p><p>I want you to answer me this question though, for all you experienced players out there, help me out by filling me in on your key to being successful, what is your key to success in your paladin role?</p><p>Mine is my versatility, I took the cure line, and when the guardian mt/raid leader/ guild leader gets feared, i hit cure, and hes instantly back in the fight, and he knows how i roll... lol... so my key to success is everything stated above along with playing to the versatility of our class. </p><p>Good luck and have fun!</p>