Danth, so you are saying that paladins gain nothing really in velious besides better defensive stats?

Well, Paladins still gain all the fixes that the other hybrids get. That's more than just defensive stats. They also get switched to an improved combat table, gain hybrid spellcasting haste for their few offensive spells, and have the experience penalty removed. New spells are added and a few are fairly nice. They're very welcome improvements if you play the class and I plan on gaining a few more levels on my Paladin at that time.

It's true that stuns and lulls work on lower-level creatures, but given how reliant the Paladin is on those spells (stuns especially) it really sucks when they don't work on important stuff. This becomes an even greater problem in Velious owing to all the giants and such running around and well as the generally higher resistances of many creatures. There's also relatively little undead in Velious, depriving the Paladin of getting much use out of undead-specific spells. Of course Kunark content remains available and the improvements make the Paladin a lot more effective there.

Taken as a whole I'd say the Paladin is better off during Velious than Kunark, as all the hybrids are. Anyone who plays a hybrid should look forward to that expansion.

Danth

I've always heard that SKs were crap and that it only got worse with expansions, but I love mine and I'm glad to see all the nice stuff coming in for us in Velious. Also, if anything, I feel powerful. Nothing OP, just a solid class, when I compare myself to the others. DPS isn't so bad as many people make it out to be, and the rock solid aggro is a real pleasure.

Thanks for the insight on all those things Danth. About the hybrid spellcasting haste, could you detail that please? You say it's only for offensive spells right? That's awesome for improved dps, not losing time between the weapon swings anymore.. :) How much faster will hybrids be casting in Velious so?

Thanks;

I think the answer to this question is simple.

Back in classic, people didn't really know the mechanics of the game. I remember making an SK and gearing all for INT. I didn't know any better. Now we know, as a knight class, gear for AC/HP STR ect. This is the reason people thought SK's were insufficient group tanks. Most didn't know what spells to use that cause the most aggro, or how to properly FD split.

There's not much we don't know about this game now.

+1 ^

yeah, don't high level SKs still use Disease Cloud? so counter-intuitive, must've taken awhile to figure out.

/disagree :mad:

its situational! to many variables

^ This, and to add to the great agro they generate as tanks, SKs can solo fine. Relatively low DPS will make it slow, but survivability trumps that (dying makes it even slower), with darkness + fear + lifetaps + FD you can go out and XP with little downtime if there are no groups to be found.

^

http://gifsoup.com/view7/2582881/avon-o.gif