Paladin that bad?

[Aroith]

Paladins are the only class I have yet to play on everquest. I am thinking about making one as an alt. Are they really that bad? When I do a class /count they are always fewest played character on the server. If i throw a fungi and full twink items would they be able to solo to 60 or close ? Are they a complete waste of time or could they be fun?

[Archistopheles]

I always thought it was more that everyone loves shadow knights more.

[Lune]

They are decent exp group tanks. Your agro and stuns are an asset.

If you twink the shit out of a paladin, you'll notice a few things:

1-40ish you're going to rip through mobs pretty well, but as you progress through the 40's and mob hp pools start to inflate, you'll also notice your melee skills begin to fall behind pure melee classes. Your dps becomes completely pathetic relative both to other classes your level, and the huge hp pools of mobs.

With good gear, you can keep soloing way into the 50's, but it's quite slow. In 50+ groups, you're a tank who brings very good snap agro, some utility, and very little dps. Compare to a warrior who brings adequate agro, very little utility, and moderate dps. Or a monk, who can do all three quite well if played properly.

Really, one of my biggest gripes about being a 50+ knight was how OP monks are. When a monk can mitigate roughly as well as you, do 3x your dps, agro adequately, and bring pulling utility, it can make you feel as though you don't really have a niche, or that you're not contributing as much as you'd like.

Consequently, most knights quit their characters before level 45 or so (this was reflected in the class statistics last time i looked, and it might also have something to do with the xp penalty). At the end of the day, you really need to enjoy the class to stick with it.

[Waedawen]

Root, Lull, and Stun are all abilities that can be used with extremely wide range of effectiveness

Utilizing the tools in your kit is essential to becoming a good paladin. A root and a few steps back is just as good as mez. A key stun will stop a 1,000 point nuke. All the while you're completely comfortable getting smashed in the face.

No other class can do that except Paladin. They're front-line CC.

[marcjpb]

Never played Pally in EQ1 but I will always remember our danish paladin back in Luclin raiding. He would stun snap aggro, pull away mob from the raid and root in place.

I see paladin as a tank that sacrifice dps for utility. If tanky / support is your play style, paladin might be the great for you.

[lecompte]

Ya, people fiend for the SKs but I generally prefer a paladin in a group. It is harder to find a good paladin than a good SK though. SK has to cast one spell, paladin has to use three. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.].

[Danth]

Shadow Knights aren't actually all that much more popular than Paladins. Paladins are dead last for popularity on P1999, but Shadow Knights usually fall about fourth from the bottom as well. As noted above, both classes have but a few advantages over Monks.

Paladins suffer mainly due to their warped power curve. They're at their best from about level 30 or so up into the low/mid 50's. Once you get to the high levels, quite a few of their abilities either deteriorate in power or don't work at all. The inadequate scaling of their damage output was already noted. In addition, lulls become essentially useless against highly resistant monsters (almost everything at high levels), stuns become less reliable against these same creatures, and stuns simply don't work against giants or 55+ creatures (lots of these in Velious). High-level groups tend to be more likely to have a Cleric, so the utility their buffs provide also diminishes.

Most folks will enjoy the Paladin best if they use it as an alt with no particular intention of taking it to 60. It takes a specific sort of person to enjoy the class at the level cap given its limitations during this game era.

Danth

[Duncon]

Which 3 spells?

[Danth]

A Paladin in the tank role will pretty regularly use Flash of Light, Stun (level 30), and Holy Might (level 49). Deepwater Bracer stun can be used if mana's an issue. Force doesn't get used much because it's an annoying knockback stun. Other spells tend to be more situational and not really used for hate-building.

A mediocre Shadow Knight will rely almost exclusively on Disease Cloud. These SK's tend toward incompetence and don't ordinarily make 60. The Shadow Knight actually has a larger assortment of useful aggro tools than the Paladin has.

The Paladin's major advantage as a tank is its unparalleled ability to shut down spellcasters, up until you run into monsters that are either highly resistant or outright immune. Paladins and Shadow Knights can both effectively build hate on mezzed monsters, which Warriors have trouble with and Monks can't do at all, so the hybrids tend to improve Enchanter life expectancy.

Danth

[Kevris]

When compared to a paladin, other melees are very one dimensional. The paladin gives you options in nearly every situation. Need crowd control? Root. Need pulls? Lull. Need heals? They can heal. Clerics sleeping at the wheel, warrior isn't going to survive another round which means the whole raid wipes? Let me fix that for you (once every 72 minutes).

That said, they don't mitigate damage like warriors, and don't look quite as stylish as dark elf sk's do in their ro sets, or later the velious hats. But would you rather look pretty, or be a man.

Be a man, play a paladin.