[Dirkdaring]

Paladins are a great class, I played one from Dec 1999 thru Oct 2004. They are a late bloomer class as they get most of the good toolkit later on 50 +. Sadly the Luclin, and Planes of Power expansions which we`ll never see made them really OP.

Luclin added two low lvl, low cost fast cast stuns, which helped lvl 7, and 13, self haste spell, self hot, more hp buffs, damage procs, group heals etc.

As far as grouping , mob trying to gate, or complete heal, stun, group has to many mobs, and cc is struggling, root park some out of the way, enc pet break, stun to get aggro, and tank mez, while enchanter debuffs, and recharms, can spot off heal group, saving cleric mana, soloing undead is fun.

raided from 2000 thru 2004, we killed, farmed every raid target in every expansion, from Classic, thru VP, Sleepers Tomb, except Kherym the sleeper, but farmed Warders, AOW, etc, Everything in Luclin, Vex Thall and rest, Planes of Power, all the Gods, and everything in Plane of Time.

We never had pallies around just for a charged Soulfire lol , we used them, as Rampage Tanks, off tanks, helping off heal their group. I see a lot of Pallies, trying to offtank adds, and turn on attack, damage them , and causing them to summon, lol. There's no real need as a pally to turn on attack in order to get aggro, non damage stuns, taunt, and casting root over, and over, and flash of light on it, are normally enough to establish aggro, esp if you are just grabbing aggro until adds are mezed if they can be, or charmed, all that does is screw up the CC.

When we fought Emp in SSra Temple, Pallies off tanked his adds, same as Rathe Council during POP, I even tanked Bertox in Plane of Time.

We`ll never get to Luclin, or Planes of Power, but they can still be effective, and are great group tanks, Alot focus on the Warrior aspect of the class, and neglect the caster side, depending on gear, you can do more than just tank.

Once I joined a group in Plane of valor, I was way over geared, non raid pallies, had around 5400 hp, and 1k mana, I had little over 9k hp, and 3k mana. I was able to be puller, tank, and only healer, and we still killed just as fast as when they had a separate tank, and a cleric, but that was with best gear on server, and with Luclin, and POP spell kit. We`ll never see those here.

Try and get later on, 150 or so str is fine with buffs you`ll be close to 200 str, or higher, pally melee damage while is okay, it`s your spells, and utility, that make you shine. aim for high hp, with a mana pool 25 to 30 % of your hp pool. and you`ll be fine.