FWIW, even though my ranger alt is higher level than my bard alt, I actually enjoy my bard alt more... the complete difference of spells, and so much variety of options, really make bards fun. Plus, who can turn down being able to have natural 7x equipment once you get enough spells?! :-D

My main character, and currently highest achieved at a whopping level 34, is a Paladin in Voln. I enjoy him immensely, but want an alt to play every now and then, and I'm torn a bit. So I'm coming to other paladins to see what your opinion is.

I definitely don't want to play a pure, and the only square I'd be interested in is the Monk.

I've been fiddling around with a monk a bit the last couple of days. I enjoy him, but feel like Voln would be the best place for him - which ends up as a very similar mechanical experience to my Paladin.

I played an archer ranger in the past and LOVED him, but deleted him in a moment of foolish frustration. If I created one, I'd probably put him in GoS, as I've never participated in that before.

I have never played a bard before, and am nearly completely clueless as to what they do, other than being able to sing to stuff (which is very handy).

So essentially: Monk, Ranger or Bard?

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I'd actually recommend you try a warmage or ranged ranger. I find lowbie bards to be uninteresting paladins (unless you're in it for the RP then it's fun). Mid-level bards are fun when they get haste, but the temptation to start flinging spells with a mid-level bard starts to heat up and eventually most go the pure route. If you're going for that experience you may as well start haste hunting early on and end up with a wide selection of spells to fling at cap, rather than 1 or 2 deadly ones. Ranged Rangers/rogues are fun because their skillsets are different enough from paladins to make them another animal, but I personally find rogues boring.

Dgry

>First, about the Voln paladin, keep on with that because the class, at least to me, keeps getting better, and better, and better. I guess all classes do but I like the focus of the paladin. At 60+ I am doing things I dreamed about doing at 30.
Chad/Nouvard


You mean more boring? At 60+, there's not much left to do that you haven't already been able to do. Sure you could fill in some extra auxiliary skills, maybe get the skills to raise, learn to skin or something.

But really? Compared to the other Semi professions?

There's nothing really to do.


-farmer

You mean more boring? At 60+, there's not much left to do that you haven't already been able to do. Sure you could fill in some extra auxiliary skills, maybe get the skills to raise, learn to skin or something.

But really? Compared to the other Semi professions?

There's nothing really to do.

-farmer

Not interested in an argument. I haven't played every profession and certainly none to cap. I just enjoy my paladin now more than I did at 30 and look forward to cap.

Chad/Nouvard

My paladin is far from boring at cap, and never was at any point in his growth. I always had goals that, when met, made things better.

Chain? Awesome goal.
Full plate? Awesome goal.
Spells maxed for now? Awesome goal (40/40 for me)
CMANs maxed? Awesome.
Armor Fluidity maxed out? AWESOME.
Mstrike maxed for efficiency (70 ranks for now)? Awesome.
THW, given I'm sword and board? Working on it. Awesome.
TWC? Will be fun! And awesome.
Dodge maxed? See above.
Lores maxed? Will be awesome.

Paladins maybe don't have all the fun CMANs that warriors do, but I feel a well designed paladin is one of the strongest classes in the game. Access to some great spells helps.

<<that they really only come into their own after cap>>

I can understand that post-cap is pretty dang amazing... but, my paladin really came into her own in her early 70's, level-wise. Sure, I've got more goals, who doesn't? But, for what she is now (at 75), I'm pretty bleepin'-happy with how she is.

Let me clarify some.


TLDR version: Paladins should have more depth. The only thing paladins do is kill junk. More Tps just mean we kill faster. But when you already kill fast enough AT cap, it's just really epeen bragging after that.


Rambling version:


When I said that paladins are boring and at 60-ish there's nothing really left to do, I meant new directions you can take.

Chain? Awesome goal.

Full plate? Awesome goal.

Spells maxed for now? Awesome goal (40/40 for me)

CMANs maxed? Awesome.

Armor Fluidity maxed out? AWESOME.

Mstrike maxed for efficiency (70 ranks for now)? Awesome.

THW, given I'm sword and board? Working on it. Awesome.

TWC? Will be fun! And awesome.

Dodge maxed? See above.

Lores maxed? Will be awesome.

See, all of these things here? This is all basic stuff. It's not anything I think adds anything extra. By 60-70, you're already pretty much coming into your own as a Paladin and have leveraged most of your professional bonuses/skills/training into becoming the killing machine Paladins can be. Extra weapon styles, are fun and all, don't get me wrong, but excluding RP, I just don't see the depth to it. Maxed Cmans? Eh. Our list is so dinky it's appalling. Mstrike is neat, but I don't see it as an adding too much. Lores/spells? Yeah, the gained bonuses to our lore are so low, and our spells? Well, I think Dgry and I have said enough in that other thread.

Take the other semi's. A quick poll of any 50 people you ask, and I'm sure you'll find that most favor rangers and bards over paladins by a wide margin. Why? Some of it is pure killing power (fury/disruption being the main points) but the rest I think you'll find, at least in my experience from talking to people AND playing both professions heavily, is that there are more interesting things to do with those professions. More options for powerful combat builds available, more chances for training in skills useful for other people. Just plain more interesting. The most easy example is both bard and ranger can be just as powerful being pure casters as pure weapon-users. Even ranged! Paladins can't be pure spell casters. By design. And ranged? Who's ever seen an archer paladin? I haven't even seen one just played for a joke. Even post-cap ones.


At first glance it seems like I'm bashing Paladins and have nothing good to say about the profession. The fact is, it's just the opposite. Everyone knows what Paladins are good at. Brute force combat with a High AS and a few good complimentary spells. Oh, and being able to permasanct any weapon they choose.

That's it.

The reason I have no problem criticizing the profession is because I want more depth, more professional differences, something that screams 'I PLAY A PALADIN!'. I think other professions have more training depth, more build options. Seriously, there's something strange about a profession that has a specific spell to encourage a specific training plan... and only a tiny minority even chooses to take advantage of it. (Yes, I know a large part is the silliness that shields became in GS4, but still) There's a reason that the majority of paladins use the same basic build (2hder/poles). It's a rut that I think us as players, and staff, should be able to expand out of.



-farmer

I use shields too.

Why play a class and complain about lack of diversity while pointing at other classes that have that diversity rather than play those other classes?

Chad/Nouvard

I, myself, have played a paladin for...six years as my primary. I love the class, but as you said, it's somewhat limiting in the career paths. I agree that we need diversity, but there doesn't seem to be much interest in adding on to the class.

I haven't looked at the numbers, but brawling/UAC may be something to dabble in. Anyone know if you can bond handwraps/boots? If so, that could be a heck of a fun path to walk down.