So the raid pally's role is to realise they may as well have not even bothered logging in, get to the character select screen only to change their mind, log back in and save the day?

No, they need to Divine Strength everyone before the pull, then log out and watch the raid from character select.

Yes, because the paladin did nothing before that or are all your clerics logged out during raids? Sounds like a weird way to play but ok.

Paladins are terrible dps, but Divine Shield should not be underestimated on raids. Often during raids there is a gap in healing on the Warrior. Paladins save the day with Lay on Hands. LoH also works while silenced which can be huge. For any trash mobs such as Halls of Testing I prefer a Paladin tank for 80% of the mobs.

idk m8 my erudite necro in rags has more mana then my geared HIE wizard by about 300 and being 17 levels lower.

Unless you start a fight at full mana and need 100% of your mana for that fight, it doesn't really accomplish anything having 300 extra mana.

Well, for a Paladin it would. Same as with a cleric, having mana for one more heal/root/stun or are ress can save the group/raid from a wipe(or a lot of time). In a perfect world it might not matter much in reality things doesn't always go as planned.

And it doesn't matter how much mana you start out with, he would always have 300 more mana in any given situation. Even when OOM he'd spent 300 more mana.

Compared to a SK, for instance, who only really need to concern himself with having mana for disease cloud/shroud a Paladin has a lot more tools to add to his or her party(which when employed intensely would definitely be consumed faster than any mana reg would negate bar having a necro dedicated to feeding you).

Point is, yes, mana is important for a Paladin. I'd say, as a hybrid we're closer to the cleric side rather than the warrior whereas SKs are closer to the warrior than they are the necromancer.

yeah maybe on blue but [[cringe]] if you're playing a paladin on there

300 mana is 4 more casts of divine strength before you sit down and make all the important people wait

I created a pally (blue) as my first character and I'm now level 17. I've not had a problem (yet) tanking for the most part, but I've really only scratched the surface. I would like to raid at end game because I never got the chance back in 2000. This thread has made me second-guess my choice, but I'm not going to throw in the towel yet.

I've raided on live with rogue, sham, cleric, and war(as trash tank) as well as played wiz, mag, enc and druid to near-max levels, so I'm comfortable with almost any role. My question is this: if you were in my shoes, would you re-roll to be more desirable in raids? Keep in mind I'm not that invested, nor have I had a problem playing any of the aforementioned classes, so it's not a huge deal for me to start a new char. Appreciate any feedback or suggestions.