Outside of pulling, Monks are by far the most braindead class in the game. Literally just auto-attacking while enjoying the best get-out-jail-free card possible with FD, so they're basically never punished for their mistakes compared to every other class. The class pretty much plays itself, especially once well-geared. For this reason, it's very difficult to tell a good Monk from a bad Monk if they aren't doing difficult pulls. The decision tree of a Monk at any given moment is basically, "Keep attacking or FD".
Paladins, on the other hand, have a much more diverse pool of options to choose from at any moment. Their decision tree has a lot more branches, and they are considerably more complex to pilot well as a result, and thus a good Paladin stands out much more clearly from a bad one. For example, imagine a scenario where you're tanking for a dungeon group and suddenly get trained by several adds, including a caster or two. One of your group members is immediately getting hammered and will be dead within seconds, and things look bleak. The Monk is basically powerless in this situation, and can't do anything except try to DPS the mobs down and then FD to save himself and prepare to CR the group.
In contrast, the Paladin can Lay on Hands the group member to save them, attack one mob to get agro, toss a stun on another to agro it, root a third out of melee range, drag the caster mobs around a corner and root them to keep them from casting on the group, then go back and help the group start downing the mobs one by one. Paladins have a toolkit that allows them to "make plays" in this regard better than every other class besides Bards, and thus a well-played Paladin is, like a well-played Bard, very obvious, memorable, and appreciated.
Paladins are also much easier to gear than Monks due to less competition for their high-end items, and their damage is very respectable with a good 2H weapon. A skilled Paladin will always be a welcome addition to any group or raid, certainly more so than just another forgettable warmbody DPS Monk. If you want to play a Paladin, don't let your friend discourage you. It's a great and highly capable class.
|