In Defense of the Paladin

[Lorraine]

Originally Posted by Adolphus [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I mentioned that AC being broken affects every class in the above post - but I understand the confusion here.

Allow me to clarify: first, I never mocked, insulted or laughed at the idea that Paladin is severely damaged by the broken mechanic. And I don't think Paladin is useless by any means. Nor do I think that people should not play Paladin due to a game mechanic being broken. Rather, people should play the class they enjoy most regardless of mechanics and penalties. Implying it wasn't "viable" was overreaching on my part. It can still be viable as a tank.

That being said, approaching the class with a good attitude does not excuse the glaring, non-classic issue that has plagued it since the beginning of the server. AC being broken affects Paladins more than any other class, because AC is the Paladin's primary stat for tanking. The Paladin doesn't have the HP of a warrior and/or the Disc's. It doesn't mean that Paladin's can't tank - but it does mean they are at a significant disadvantage relative to their counterparts at this time.

I am rooting for Paladin's here - I love the class. I played one in live. But if we choose to blissfully ignore and/or criticize those who point out this non-classic flaw with AC that adversely affects Paladin's, then I feel we're doing a disservice to the potential of the class. It's not to dissuade people from playing the class that I bring this up - it's just telling a truth about the state of the class that most people aren't aware of. Some people may appreciate knowing this kind of thing prior to rolling a Paladin on this server. I certainly would have appreciated it.

AC is a primary stat for every tanking class. Personally I rank HP/Sta higher than AC, as I do resists. We're in the same boat as shadowknights, only they can go large races for some stat boosts and paladins can't.

The thing is that according to peoples personal experiences (mine included) and parses, AC 'appears' not to be working as intended. It is still an important stat and shouldn't be overlooked (imo) but it is not a deciding factor for the Knight class, in a way that we always had and always will have less AC and HP when compared to equally geared warriors. This fact did not change.

Even if AC was 'working as intended', raids wouldn't allow paladins to tank Baazt Zzzt or Hoshkar or any quad hitting raid boss for that matter. Mallets and discs are what's required for them. And even if AC was 'working as intended' paladins wouldn't exactly get 10 group invites the minute they log in. People would still hold prejudice against the class in a way.

You know what else people report 'broken' ? Warrior threat generation. There are way more posts and a LOT of warriors asking what they need to do in order to keep mob attention onto them instead of the support/dps classes. And there were quite a few who swear by the Bible that warriors used to build and hold agro way better and easier back in live than they do here.

What people don't pay a lot of attention to though is this...
a ) In Live, Kunark was around for 8 months. In here it's been close to 3 years. That's a very long time for people to actually sit down and try to analyze things.
b ) In Live, during Kunark, rogues under 30 with Ragebringers or Monks under 30 with CoF/Tstaff were the 0,0001%. In here they are the 95% (exaggerating to make a point).
c ) Midnight Mallets.

We 'win' some, we 'lose' some. Hybrids are still a ton of fun to play, if you stick with them and learn the 'tools of the trade'. Watching a veteran bard or knight (or even ranger) go to 'work' is a thing of beauty. Rare as hell though.