RP PvP Woes

[JustAGuy]

Regarding Paladins, we've already had a long discussion about their role in CTF matches a while back, so I don't want to reiterate everything here.  The summary is that, while you might complain about how shamans can ghostwolf and earthbind and all that, you can't imagine how powerful having plate wearing invincible dispellers and healers is until you have to face a team with a good group of them.  Don't try to justifying using exploits by playing the "Shamans are so much better than paladins" card, because that BS sure isn't going to fly with me.
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I'm not justifying an exploit, I think it's cheap and I don't use it. If I had the ability to use it, I wouldn't, since it's pretty cheap regardless of whether it's an exploit or not. My guild did it a few times, in instances where it didn't necessarily cause one side to win or lose, it was just done. The key thing is that certain guilds got wind of it and there were overreactions. My guild does not continue to use this tactic, nor did they, after the initial backlash.

I didn't complain about Ghostwolf or totems or shocks. I merely stated that the Shaman is different, they have their abilities that are seemingly very well suited for PvP encounters, Warsong Gulch being a prime example. The Paladin is a 12 second invincible tank, an ability that is greatly useful, but is defensive in nature. The Paladin is a defensive creature, almost completely so, as he only has a few talents or skills that all do VERY little damage in PvP.

Shamans are much different than Paladins, but I didn't say they were better overall. The two classes are geared toward different play styles. If you were to take a Paladin and play him like a Shaman, you're going to have a poorly played Paladin. As far as CTF tactics go, I play both sides, a Paladin and a Shaman. The Shaman is much more fun to play, as he has abilities that help him capture flags and kills players, IN ADDITION to being a great defensive player (through the use of totems, flash heals and shocks). The Paladin is more one-dimensional, and because of all of the proc-related skills, playing him is more frustrating and less involved when playing in an offensive style (that is, a player killing style).

Now, where you've gone astray is where you believe I insinuated that the Paladin should play "defense" all the time, as in, stay in the flag room and keep horde from trying to capture our flag. That's actually not a very good tactic, as Paladins have no real method of crowd control or catching runners (which is what a flag protector must do).

I play my Paladin for an offensive goal, that being capturing the flag, but his role is inherently defensive. I protect, that's defending.

My role, as a Paladin, is always, and I mean ALWAYS, to escort the carrier while on offense. I follow the "big" Paladin and heal him (our Paladins are Field Marshalls wearing the huge PvP sets that grant massive stamina boosts -- they've got over 5k hps unbuffed). We run in, either seperated, or together, and I just cleanse, BoF, and Heal, all day long. In many situations, I use Divine Shield to protect myself from those who peel off to incapacitate me, so I can CONTINUE to heal the carrier. I use my stopwatch and drink swiftness potions to stay close at all times. It's very simple for me, and the tactic works when my skills aren't on cooldown (and the rest of the team helps once we reach mid-field). It's usually 2 or 3 on offense, because as you know, 5 on offense and 5 on defense rarely works.

Blessing of Freedom, Cleanse, Heal, Lay on Hands if things go south (usually, if for some reason, we decided to go up cave route back to our flag post) is all I can do, and all I'm responsible for. When I'm with the guild, this leads to wins. When I'm not with the guild, my efforts are wasted (for some reason, the Alliance really sucks in pick-up groups. Really sucks).

Despite me being a huge contributor on offense, my role is always defensive. I rarely go for kills, as that's not what my class (at the moment) is suited for. I stun, I cleanse, I heal; that's all I can do, and these are all defensive, despite where I am or what our end goal is.