Quote:
Originally Posted by kaev
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...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...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.
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Re - pally and dps. Pallys are terrible DPS, this is true. At low levels, however, theyre fairly competitive, unless yur definition of a "half -adequate group" is a bunch of twinked out monks and rogues. A 30/40 weapon with double attack is still a 30/40 weapon with double attack, even with a pally swinging it, and will put out a significantly larger amount of dps than a 16/27. Mobs at lower level (ie exping sub 50) hp really isnt that big. I dunno where you got your "less than 1%" number from but even with a pallys crappy dps I gotta question it.
Normally this is the point where I'd grab one of my chars and do some parsing and post evidence to prove my point -- sadly I don't have access to a paladin in the appropriate level range to do that at this time. I will say this, if you think the difference between a 16/27 and a 30/40 is 1 dps I'm not quite sure what I can say besides go download a parser because they aren't even close.
Look, shield/1 hander SHOULD be the way to go with a pally. Shields should be an awesome defensive aid that make you way more tanky at the cost of some dps. It's so painfully logical that its hard to believe its not true. Sadly, this is classic EQ, and they did some bone-headed things. They did fix it eventually, but not in the timeframe of this server. Here, shields let you bash (undeniably useful) and take slightly less damage. Emphasis on the slightly. Using a 30/40 2 hander lets you do a lot of damage at only a very very slight reduction in your tankability, and losing the option of shield bashes (which are useful vs casters). The upgrade in your DPS isn't slight. Its a BIG upgrade. Literally an entire order of magnitude higher than the mitigation lost, easily. And you can still ghetto bash with the 2-hander if yur not lazy.
*note as mentioned it is true the SoB will be dmg capped for a while which makes it less good till the cap comes off..but certainly by level 30 there is no comparing them.
And I once again wanna reiterate this isnt to say 2 hander is ALWAYS the way to go. If your group is a chanter with a chamred pet two twinked out monks an epic rogue one healer and you, an you're fighting casters, then yeah, youd wanna sword/board. Your DPS would be irrelevant. But for most cases (non casters, groups with ok dps only) that 2hander is gonna be the winner and it wont be close.
To the OP -- to summarize, the more DPS you have in a group and the more people in the group, the more valuable the shield will be as your overall dps contribution goes down. In high dps groups I'd recommend the shield. Just keep in mind the benefit of that shield is pretty small, and your personal DPS will be way higher with even a cheap 2 hander, so in smaller groups or groups with light to moderate dps you're most likely better off with the 2 hander.