Quote:
Originally Posted by Estu
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Regarding the value of shield AC - according to this parse, you take about 2-3% less damage if you equip a shield. Granted, this is just one parse, only one hour long per situation, and it's a level 51 character. But just putting it out there. Both sides here have valid points. I used to be very much of the opinion that sword+shield made more sense because you're a TANK, not a DPS, and so you should be TANKING. But really, you need to weigh the value of that damage mitigation versus the value of whatever increased DPS you can do (there are also damage caps that will come into play on a 30/40 weapon and limit your DPS for many levels, which no one has mentioned yet). It would be helpful to do some parsing and see how much damage you're really doing with each situation, and compare it against the damage the other DPS classes in your group are doing. |
Gotta laugh out of "... the
other DPS classes ... " there, heh. With the 16/27 Sword of the Morning and the 25ac/50hp Charred Guardian Shield both so cheap and accessible I definitely advocate using them over the Baton of Faith when you're tanking for a group that includes any recognizable DPS class.
Seriously, the difference in damage output is so small that the extra HP buffer, reduced damage intake, and additional interrupts are worth more than the ca. 1 DPS diff you'll see in actual practice. Unless, of course, your group so totally overpowers the content that you don't actually need to tank with anything tougher than a half-naked Druid alt, in which case do whatever makes your groupmates happy (sing songs on vent, tell dirty jokes, do silly roleplay with randoms in ooc) because you have nothing meaningful to contribute anyway except maybe stunning a runner once in a while.
Paladin is NOT a DPS class, only the Cleric has less damage output potential than the Paladin. Arguing about a difference that is less than 1% of any half-adequate group's damage aggregate output is just silly.