Question on the Paladin

[Blazzo]

<DIV> <DIV>(I posted same thing in SK forum but geared towards SK's)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Ok, I have leveled a Zerrker to 55, Monk to 60 and a Guardian to 51.  Not that I got bored, but I just couldnt get excited about them past that.  </DIV> <DIV>Here is the scenario, I will be grouping 99% of the time with the same group, 4 of us.  2 Warlocks and a Warden.  I know enough about Guardian, Monk and Zerker to know that I do not want to play them anymore... so next is either Paladin or SK.</DIV> <DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Oh, one more thing.  I have about 60 plat for this toon, so I will always have the best gear and all Adept 3+ spells/skills.</DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Here is what I liked/disliked :</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><U>The Guardian</U></DIV> <DIV>Liked : The way he kept aggro.  With 2 Warlocks nuking and AOE'ing he only lost aggro a few times but it got it back ASAP.</DIV> <DIV>Disliked : The lack of fun to play it.  The "vanilla" spells/skills and AA line.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><U>The Zerker</U> </DIV> <DIV>Liked : The DPS he could dish out as well as good tanking ability with defensive stance.</DIV> <DIV>Disliked : I cant put my finger on this one, there is just something about the class that doesnt agree with me.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><U>Monk</U></DIV> <DIV>Liked : Feign Death (saved us countless number of times), his AE attacks and on even con and lower mobs he seemed to do very well tanking (although I know post 50 they are lacking)</DIV> <DIV>Disliked : Had a harder time tanking anything above his level.  Seemed lacking on taunt ability and I just never seemed to be in control on a fight (like it could turn for the worse at any second).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Ok, so there it is.  </DIV> <DIV>Now I have to ask, do you guys think Paladion is the answer for me?  I really find SK's and Paladins LOVE their toons, but I need to know a few things....</DIV> <DIV>1.  Are they closer to Guardians, Zerkers or Monks in the 3 tanking abilities : Overall tanking, maintaining aggro and DPS.  How do they rank?</DIV> <DIV>2.  The Guardian was so easy to play, you literally could button mash and be as effective.  Are Paladins the same way?</DIV> <DIV>3.  Are they a better Group (3+ MOB's) tank or solo MOB tank?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Feel free to add in anything you wish on why you enjoy the Paladin.  I promise your input will be heard and I will be basing my decision on it.  </DIV></DIV>

[Wulfborne]

<div><blockquote><hr>Blazzo wrote:<div> <div>(I posted same thing in SK forum but geared towards SK's)</div> <div> </div> <div>Ok, I have leveled a Zerrker to 55, Monk to 60 and a Guardian to 51.  Not that I got bored, but I just couldnt get excited about them past that.  </div> <div>Here is the scenario, I will be grouping 99% of the time with the same group, 4 of us.  2 Warlocks and a Warden.  I know enough about Guardian, Monk and Zerker to know that I do not want to play them anymore... so next is either Paladin or SK.</div> <div> <div> </div> <div>Oh, one more thing.  I have about 60 plat for this toon, so I will always have the best gear and all Adept 3+ spells/skills.</div></div> <div> </div> <div>Here is what I liked/disliked :</div> <div> </div> <div><u>The Guardian</u></div> <div>Liked : The way he kept aggro.  With 2 Warlocks nuking and AOE'ing he only lost aggro a few times but it got it back ASAP.</div> <div>Disliked : The lack of fun to play it.  The "vanilla" spells/skills and AA line.</div> <div> </div> <div><u>The Zerker</u> </div> <div>Liked : The DPS he could dish out as well as good tanking ability with defensive stance.</div> <div>Disliked : I cant put my finger on this one, there is just something about the class that doesnt agree with me.</div> <div> </div> <div><u>Monk</u></div> <div>Liked : Feign Death (saved us countless number of times), his AE attacks and on even con and lower mobs he seemed to do very well tanking (although I know post 50 they are lacking)</div> <div>Disliked : Had a harder time tanking anything above his level.  Seemed lacking on taunt ability and I just never seemed to be in control on a fight (like it could turn for the worse at any second).</div> <div> </div> <div>Ok, so there it is.  </div> <div>Now I have to ask, do you guys think Paladion is the answer for me?  I really find SK's and Paladins LOVE their toons, but I need to know a few things....</div> <div>1.  Are they closer to Guardians, Zerkers or Monks in the 3 tanking abilities : Overall tanking, maintaining aggro and DPS.  How do they rank?</div> <div>2.  The Guardian was so easy to play, you literally could button mash and be as effective.  Are Paladins the same way?</div> <div>3.  Are they a better Group (3+ MOB's) tank or solo MOB tank?</div> <div> </div> <div>Feel free to add in anything you wish on why you enjoy the Paladin.  I promise your input will be heard and I will be basing my decision on it.  </div></div><hr></blockquote>Without getting into the big debates, lemme see if I can give it to you down and dirty.1.  As far as 'overall tanking', I'm going to assume you mean damage absorbtion. Guard>Zerk>SK>Paladin. The only reason SK is slightly over the paladin in this aspect is due to their new mit-spihon abilities. However, paladins can heal and ward, so in anything LESS than raiding, you'll likely not see much difference. Also, even though at the bottom of the list for plate tanks, they absorb FAR more damage than monks, so there's really no comparison on that. If you're talking about damage avoidance, then monks are better...but that tends to lead to massive damage spikes. The rest of the plate classes are pretty close in avoidance. Paladins excel at aggro. They don't have instant snap aggro, but usually once it's on them, it's stinking hard to get it off them. Keep in mind aggro is a group responsibility (so in your case the warlock without Amends shouldn't go balls-to-the-wall crazy) but whoever has Amends almost has a free ticket to burn themselves out. If I had to guess, in terms of aggro I'd think Pally>Guard>Zerk>SK.2.  Paladins can survive in many group situations with button mashes, but what's the fun in that? Actually, given your group make-up, if you just button mash without strategy, you will lose aggro to that second warlock from time to time. The more you strategize, the better tank you'll be for your group.3.  Paladins also excel in multi-mob encounters. With the wide variety of ae's we have at our disposal, we're definitely an excellent tank for that. Not only that, but in those situations, we can put up nice DPS. In regular heroic multi-mob encounters, I regularly hit 1300-1800 DPS in groups. (That's not T7 raid, btw, though I can get over 1k on those regularly...just not 1800. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> )Comments: You mentioned liking the dps of the zerker. Zerkers regularly out-parse us, so you'll have less killiness there. However with 2 warlocks you may never even notice. You also liked FD of the monk... Paladins have nothing like this (though SKs do). Instead, we have the group heals and LoH... and if you choose the appropriate AAs, you can give your groupmates 700 more mit each. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />I've played a pally since day 1 of EQ2. Though we often feel shunned by the changes and expansions, I still feel that (outside of T7 raids) I am a [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] good tank, and can be an awesome asset in any group...even one that already has another tank in it.~Hawke</div>

[Cakassis]

I usually group with the same 3-4 people as well.  a 50 defiler, 40 SK, 47 nec, and myself a 46 pally.  Sometimes another friend will bring out their 44 assy.  With myself as the tank we never have any problems with mobs that are yellow to the 50 as long as they're not red to me.  What I've found is the fact that pallies can heal/ward makes things a lot easier if you only have the one healer.  <div></div>

[MeridianR]

Play a Stamina AA spec'd rogue.  Killer dps, and can tank anything heroic. Not trying to be an [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] or anything, but if you didn't like being a monk or a zerker there is no way you are going to like being a Crusader.<div></div>

[PattontheGen]

<P>You have some great questions...</P> <P> </P> <P>I to have played a pally since day one of EQ2 and for the most part loved every min of it. Yes the pally can use some fixing but over all it is a awsome class to paly. </P> <P> </P> <P>Put it to you this way: </P> <P>When it comes to tank class I think the pally is the best over all well rounded plate out there by far. </P> <P>We have plate, we can use a wide range of weapons, including tower shields and even ranged now!!! ...WooT thanks EQ</P> <P>We can single target heal, group heal..single target massive heal, we have decent group buffs, we can ward any single target aginst all kinds of damage, we can battle rez (best battle rez in game), we can hold agro well if you know your toon, we have AMENDS...we have nice dps (no where near the zerker's dps or even monks dps)...for the tank class we have a crap load of AOE's (think I have a total of 6) so we normaly can hold agro well with groups. We can debuff aginst divine damgae (most of the damage we do is divine damage so this works out nice)...depending on which AA line you decided to go down you can even increase your hate gain. </P> <P> </P> <P>Like I said over all the pally has a lot to it, now you just have to pick what you like best...do you want dps if so then you go with monk or zerker..do you want awsome agro control then pick guard...BUT if you want a well rounded toon with lots of chocies then the pally is the one for you....but if you are planning on being a raid tank...pally is not the best choice. </P>