07-25-2005, 06:47 PM
From the point of view of a player going up against paladins and having played with them a lot in the beta but not much in retail, here are my impressions of the class.
Paladins are annoying SOB's who can't die but can't do much damage either. Every once in a while, I get an itch to roll a paladin, because I think I'd be a very good one. In effect, I would play a paladin as a "priest wearing plate." That is, I would consider my auras, seals, dispelling, and healing to be my primary concerns in a party and would only whack on things when there's nothing else to do. Paladins played like this in group PvP are extremely annoying and I imagine that paladins played like that are beloved in groups.
The trouble is that I think most people who chose to roll a paladin didn't know that this was how they were going to play their class. I think they thought they were going to be a significant damage dealer/tank and that their auras and stuff were kind of icing on the cake rather than their primary skills. They get bored, because it turns out that they can't do the kind of dps they thought they would be able to do.
Some people are now calling for paladins to get better attack skills and spells. I am *very* concerned about this. The trouble with giving paladins better dps is that then you'd end up with an invicible character who can also damage people hard. Warriors are bad enough in this regard, but at least they can be killed. Allow paladins to deal a lot of dps and there wouldn't be any reason to play anything else.
Should you play a paladin? Basically, I think if you go in with the idea that you are a "priest wearing plate," then I think you'll have an enjoyable time. If you go in thinking that you're going to be a major damage dealer/tank, you're going to have a miserable time.
Paladins are annoying SOB's who can't die but can't do much damage either. Every once in a while, I get an itch to roll a paladin, because I think I'd be a very good one. In effect, I would play a paladin as a "priest wearing plate." That is, I would consider my auras, seals, dispelling, and healing to be my primary concerns in a party and would only whack on things when there's nothing else to do. Paladins played like this in group PvP are extremely annoying and I imagine that paladins played like that are beloved in groups.
The trouble is that I think most people who chose to roll a paladin didn't know that this was how they were going to play their class. I think they thought they were going to be a significant damage dealer/tank and that their auras and stuff were kind of icing on the cake rather than their primary skills. They get bored, because it turns out that they can't do the kind of dps they thought they would be able to do.
Some people are now calling for paladins to get better attack skills and spells. I am *very* concerned about this. The trouble with giving paladins better dps is that then you'd end up with an invicible character who can also damage people hard. Warriors are bad enough in this regard, but at least they can be killed. Allow paladins to deal a lot of dps and there wouldn't be any reason to play anything else.
Should you play a paladin? Basically, I think if you go in with the idea that you are a "priest wearing plate," then I think you'll have an enjoyable time. If you go in thinking that you're going to be a major damage dealer/tank, you're going to have a miserable time.