why is the paladin not played a lot

[Bacon9855]

Always loved the Paladin and was wondering why not alot of people play one. I will be starting a Dwarf Pally once my Titanium CD arrives from Amazon!

[Oleris]

-40% xp http://wiki.project1999.com/Game_Mechanics

DPS isn't that great, heal spells are lackluster, offers nothing to raid (except 1 buff in velious). I wouldn't play one.

[toolshed]

There's (misguided) hate on this server because of the hybrid class xp penalty. People think that the hybrid classes are sucking xp from the group, so they hate on all hybrids in groups. On P1999 you basically have two people: the ultra fungi-lvl 1 epic twink and the new player that is wearing nothing. New players aren't going to care, but twinks won't want to group with you (honestly, the ultra twinks are the worst encounters I have had on this server, so screw em)

THAT SAID

There is a huge lack of tanks on this server. There are no SKs or paladins because of hybrid hate, and there are no warriors because they are relatively boring/awful first characters because of the gear dependence. If you like to group, there will be people looking for you in the popular zones (usually the ones with the highest ZEM or zone experience modifier). *SO* many times groups have just gone awfully because we only had a lowbie warrior that can't taunt/proc well yet, and the mob just goes from caster to caster.

Make what you want. Just realize that people on the forums are most likely people who have been playing here a lot and a long time.

[Estu]

In terms of tanks, you got warriors, SKs, and paladins.

Warriors are popular because they are the premier raid tanks (mainly because they have access to disciplines at high levels) and because they have a small EXP bonus. However, they are pretty bad tanks in EXP groups because they are entirely reliant on procs + DPS to generate aggro. They can take damage, but they're bad at convincing monsters that they should be the ones getting hit. If they have really good gear, this is less of an issue, although they never match SK/paladin aggro generation ability.

Shadowknights and paladins are pretty similar to each other. They both have a 40% hybrid EXP penalty. They are both great tanks up until you get to raid bosses where disciplines are super-useful. They both have excellent abilities to generate aggro - disease cloud as an SK and flash of light as a paladin. However, SKs are a lot more popular on this server than paladins. Why?

Well, SKs have some neat abilities. Their ability to feign death makes them useful pullers. Their ability to fear+snare monsters makes them able to solo if necessary, and snaring is very useful when grouping. They have access to a (very weak) pet. Feign death and solo ability are the big ones.

Paladins have access to weak heals, although paladin heals are not THAT weak; they're about on par with druid/shaman heals. Paladins have lulls, which can be useful for pulling, although as a rule are not very reliable. Paladins have stuns, which are useful against casters. The unique paladin ability (lay on hands) is much more useful than the unique SK ability (harm touch), although neither is that amazing because the cooldowns are so long.

So paladins have some nice abilities, but SKs have Feign Death, which is a real game-changer, and they are much better at soloing (though still not amazing at soloing). Not as important, but SKs can also be stronger melee races (ogres, trolls) that have nice abilities like high starting stats, frontal stun immunity in the case of ogres, and increased regeneration in the case of trolls.

The end result is that someone thinking about going either Paladin or SK ends up going SK most of the time. But paladins are still a perfectly worthwhile class, and since there are so few paladins on the server, paladin gear is cheaper and easier to come by.

[Daywolf]

I like them in groups, I fight undead a lot when in groups. I've never played one, just with people I play with regularly that do, and me running with my cleric that I like to do combat with rather than sit and heal. I pretty much play my cleric as a pally in most respects. The downside with them is the xp hit, it's actually pretty painful for a pally. But in the right group it's not a big deal, especially as you listen to the brittle bones -a- crackin! It just makes the time fly by.

and there are no warriors because they are relatively boring/awful first characters because of the gear dependence.
Hmm? Actually they are one of the largest groups on this server... second largest server pop (tied with druids) only second to necro being the leading class, counting all levels. At lvl60 cap, they hold about 8% pop which is healthy and 1% more than druids.

[toolshed]

Hmm? Actually they are one of the largest groups on this server... second largest server pop (tied with druids) only second to necro being the leading class, counting all levels. At lvl60 cap, they hold about 8% pop which is healthy and 1% more than druids.

I was speaking subjectively about the amount of warriors I see in XP groups right now - not the total population of the server.

[dealicious]

http://p1999pop.dmsimard.com/db/Classes

Working with a database of 21296 characters.
Last update at 2014-06-23 21:31:58 EST

ALL LEVEL
Classes...........Amount
druid...............2006 (9.42%)
necromancer....1909 (8.96%)
shaman...........1898 (8.91%)
monk..............1867 (8.77%)
enchanter........1737 (8.16%)
ANONYMOUS....1652 (7.76%)
cleric..............1544 (7.25%)
bard...............1518 (7.13%)
warrior............1507 (7.08%)
magician..........1196 (5.62%)
rogue..............1109 (5.21%)
shadowknight...1003 (4.71%)
wizard.............888 (4.17%)
paladin............742 (3.48%)
ranger.............720 (3.38%)

LEVEL 60 (Doesn't Count ANONYMOUS)
Classes..........Amount
enchanter......169 (14.79%)
shaman..........145 (12.69%)
cleric.............128 (11.20%)
monk.............124 (10.85%)
rogue.............90 (7.87%)
necromancer...90 (7.87%)
wizard............83 (7.26%)
warrior...........75 (6.56%)
druid..............54 (4.72%)
bard...............52 (4.55%)
magician.........51 (4.46%)
shadowknight...37 (3.24%)
ranger............28 (2.45%)
paladin............17 (1.49%)

[Daywolf]

ALL LEVEL
Classes...........Amount
druid...............2006 (9.42%)
necromancer....1909 (8.96%)
shaman...........1898 (8.91%)
monk..............1867 (8.77%)
enchanter........1737 (8.16%)
ANONYMOUS....1652 (7.76%)
cleric..............1544 (7.25%)
bard...............1518 (7.13%)
warrior............1507 (7.08%)
magician..........1196 (5.62%)
rogue..............1109 (5.21%)
shadowknight...1003 (4.71%)
wizard.............888 (4.17%)
paladin............742 (3.48%)
ranger.............720 (3.38%)

It's probably closer to this at current state of level cap and active players. I know a number of tanks (including pallys) that run with rp/anon up all the time to avoid constant tells to run 12 zones away (and/or 30pp ports) to fill in as a tank for their near-to-disband group. Many druids run with rp/anon, constant tells for ~10pp ports and to give up their ~1k and hour camps to do it. A lot of /tell abuse on this server imo, rather than doing a /who on local or actually having a friend list etc. But from a year ago, you can find the pie chart link on the front page of the wiki on the upper-right (about project 1999 (http://wiki.project1999.com/Project1999:About)). Most likely settled into that as it was recorded years after launch.

[M.J.]

Shadow Knights overlap with paladins and then have even more utility and damage.

They both max out against undead with Expel Undead, but the cast times on nukes at higher levels means you aren't hardly ever using them except maybe on pulls. So the whole “Paladins rule against undead!” mantra is pretty much bunk except at lower levels with a Ghoulbane.

When it comes to damage mitigation SKs get access to Steelskin eventually, which is very cheap to use with Jaspers. Paladins get a damage absorption spell that has a 6 minute cooldown and a fast cast, but costs the same amount of mana and covers less. They are better off healing between pulls, and they can't use their mana free clicky helm if they want to keep their best HP buff up.

Want to backfarm greens? SKs get Banshee Aura (damage shield + AC) and Word of Spirit (104 dmg pbae) and a pet. Want to power level a friend? You can combine Banshee Aura and Wave of Enfeeblement to boost 1-20 quickly, after that you can melee mobs down and FD when they start running. Paladins utility can be boiled down to tank, stun, root, and pacify. But SKs are the superior pullers because they can shed aggro, and if there are undead around they can pacify those too. Plus big races can stun with slam while using a 2h weapon.

When it comes to travel SKs get invis, itu, and feign death, paladins just get Invisibility versus Undead.

With Velious Paladins will have a HP buff, a decent HoT for spot heals, and root and snares will stack. SKs become even better pullers and get a lifetap proc.

Paladins have an edge in getting aggro and controlling mobs, but in damage and mitigation against the mobs that matter SKs pull ahead.