should i put a DD set together?

[Bindie]

heya all

Level 23pld here

I know i know dumb question to worry about at my level. But yesterday i was in a group with 2 PL (yes 2 )...and they insisted letting the pl tank which make sense, but i felt usless with my 0-5 some spikes near 10 dmg hits(usign flame sword).

my friend a 75 pld instructed me to worry more about hp and vit so i have been going that route but i do have beetle ears+1 and battle gloves thats about it.

just wodnering if i should carry some str gear around and maybe invest in a great sword or something.

idk...i suppose it was a mix too of fighitng IT+ and IT++ lol

thans

Bindie
Manthra PLD

[Mog]

heya all

just wodnering if i should carry some str gear around and maybe invest in a great sword or something.



Great sword = nono. Your best combination for paladin is a good sword and a shield. The fact that the pl was tanking has nothing to do with your job. He tanked only because he was healing your party for way more than the mobs liked.

[Ameroth]

When you're solo, then a GS can be fun. Having +STR gear obviously makes it better.

When you're solo!

In a party, 95-99% of the time, you will be tanking. In these situations, anything that increases VIT and DEF is a plus. Maybe a little DEX, but try to emphasize VIT and DEF mostly. The more a mob hits you for, the less hate it has for you, causing you to voke, use mp, etc.

Your 75 friends is right:
+HP gear = good
+VIT gear = good

also

+DEF gear (almost all armor you'll wear obviously) = good
+DEX gear = okay, but not as important
+Enmity gear = good

But str is not something you need to worry much about as a paladin in an exp pt.

[Slip]

PL's + PLD = blergh.

On the one hand they can make for faster xps. On the other they deny you Shield, Evasion and Parrying skillups, as well as real-player-skill in holding hate, casting inbetween mob hits and using TP wisely.

So what to do? If it's a minor thing, one session or two, going with the flow and sucking up the easy xps won't be the end of the world. If it's all the time? Painful as it may be it's probably smarter to bail on the party and get a real one.

In terms of going DD, if you do find the need - eating DD food should help a bit. At 23 there's not a lot of equip you can switch in or out that'll make a large difference, but things like Balance Rings (handy to have for others jobs) can help a little.

Also Sword makes a lot of Skill Chains. Assuming the party isn't brain dead lookup whatever you can do with someone else there and have at it.

[Haggai]

This is why I don't like PLs. They take the role of curing and tanking and people don't learn to do their jobs correctly. See, this PLD is already thinking of trying to be DD when he should be tanking.

This is why we have healers that can't heal, tanks that can't tank, THFs that can't SATA, BLMs that overnuke, and many others.

My advice to you is to stay out of PL'd parties, if you can. Yeah, EXP is fast now, but you're just hurting yourself in the long run. What happens is you get to the mid to higher levels where PLs are not used and you don't know how to hold hate well. Thus, people die and EXP suffers as a result.

This is my opinion, I welcome yours.

[Bindie]

thanks for the help, as for me wanting to be a DD thats not what i was asking just was asking in that scenario.

i agree surprising enough i hate having a PL its nice to get our of dunes and Qufim but its boring as a tank


anyhow thanks guys

[Davitron3000]

So what to do? If it's a minor thing, one session or two, going with the flow and sucking up the easy xps won't be the end of the world. If it's all the time? Painful as it may be it's probably smarter to bail on the party and get a real one.

I would go with this advice. I wouldn't worry about a DD set just yet. Also, I wouldn't worry too much about your hp just yet either.

[Celeal]

When a "traditional" exp. party invite a PLD, the party expect PLD to tank, not dealing damage.

If your PLD is trying to tank like a WAR/MNK at low level --- which in theory, tanking while dealing damage at the same time, then your PLD should gear like a WAR/MNK tank and eat the proper food. However, PLD/WAR is not a WAR/MNK.

[pearlsea]

If you like ballista and being able to be useful in more various roles then just tanking then i would say getting some DD gear would be a good idea, but its not nessary to be a good pld and just having a set of tanking gear is enough. Also never stray away from the standerd sword and shield in a party, its just realy useful for a paladin.

[Ameroth]

Also never stray away from the standard sword and shield in a party, its just really useful for a paladin.

Agreed. I usually have my sword/shield skills capped before I hit the next level. That's just good practice.

[Tsingtao]

What the guys say is true, don't worry about DD for now concentrate of DEF and VIT. Once you pass 60 you will start to look at DD and by the time your in the 70s you'll be wearing more DD than tank gear for xp.

[FranckKnight]

Its not that PLDs can't DD at all, problem is their abilities aren't made for it.

Take for example a Monk. Gets kick attacks, Boost... DRK gets Soul Eater... War get Warcry, Berserk and Double Attack, Thief gets Sneak Attack...

PLD gets :
Shield Bash : uhm yeah, great damage there
Rampart : More defense
Sentinel : More defense
Cover : Take hits for someone else

Warrior sub gives them Warcry and Berserk, but yeah, that's it.

You shouldn't go out of your way to change what task you're GOOD at. Stay defense. But you can change small things to increase a bit of damage, just not your whole set. Get yourself some cheap Str rings for example. Don't use Defender. Use some DD food. Cheap earrings to trade evasion for accuracy or something. Just use those when you're stuck with the PL.

Keep your Sword either way, unless its capped. You could always skillup something else if it doesn't bother the team. An unskilled weapon won't hit often nor will do much damage, but it can't really be worse than doing little damage as you described, can it?

Just don't start thinking you're a DD either way. We had the pleasure of partying with a PLD that was carrying no shield and a great sword the other day, in Garlaige (read level 32-35). She also said she usually has a spear, so WTF.

[Shihei]

heya all

Level 23pld here

I know i know dumb question to worry about at my level. But yesterday i was in a group with 2 PL (yes 2 )...and they insisted letting the pl tank which make sense, but i felt usless with my 0-5 some spikes near 10 dmg hits(usign flame sword).

my friend a 75 pld instructed me to worry more about hp and vit so i have been going that route but i do have beetle ears+1 and battle gloves thats about it.

just wodnering if i should carry some str gear around and maybe invest in a great sword or something.

idk...i suppose it was a mix too of fighitng IT+ and IT++ lol

thans

Bindie
Manthra PLD

Paladins were meant for defense, though that doesn't mean they can't DD...they just aren't as effective IMO. At your level you don't really need to worry about it. Later on 35-40+ more so leven later, it may be wise to well...not necessarily bring a whole DD set, but bring some attack/strength+ gear to macro in for your WS. You are a paladin, so its hard to do the same dmg as a normal melee DD, if your using even the same DD gear they are, but you can improve your damage slightly. However, obviously you will be tanking basically 95% of the time in your party. So the stats you want are Def-->Vit-->Enmity/HP. There are certain level ranges where Def is more important than Vit and where Vit is more important then Def. (If you want to know this, then just reply) HP is important, but more so for end-game tanking.

[Lmnop]

Paladins built for defense means they can stand to put on more DD stuff while tanking and not take much of a hit (haha pun) to their damage taken.

You won't outDD a DD. Don't worry about too much DD stuff. just some rings, earrings, spike necklace will do. High damage sword = win. Put these pieces on as you feel comfortable doing so.

PLs are bad.

[Loial]

It shouldn't take 75 levels to "learn" how to play PLD. However, your first time to 75, you should indeed try to stay away from a PL. Just general party dynamics need to be learned. And if you get a PL, you might start to feel dependant on a PL.

[Nixx]

...

[Empedocles]

I've very recently hit 71, (done trial breakage, need Scorp to die :( ) and my 'DD' set is composed of.....

Haubergeon (http://ffxi.somepage.com/itemdb/1394)

I macro it in for ws... and that's all, really.. but then again, I do come from the seems-to-be old school of the Turtle. But, I really haven't had any complaints, usually the DD's are doing enough.

[Malacite]

First off, you're fighting mobs that are way too high, so of course your damage will suck.


Now then, PLD has an A+ rating in Sword, meaning by the time you're 75 it will cap at the highest possible natural skill level of 276. That means plenty of natural attack and accuracy.

However, if you find that you're managing the hits just fine, then consider using some meat dishes to boost your attack. Roast/Juicy Mutton is great for the lower levels, giving +27% attack. You'll swing *much* harder, thus generating more hate. I find the attack food generally beats out defense food early on, but you should experiment with both.

[Kildem]

uhm... why using a damage dealer equip in party when the paladin role is ONLYYYYYYYY to tank so to have as much defense as you can? Your role is not to deal damage, the fact that your sword skills up fast and easily is because it's your A+ weapon. paladin is not a damage dealer, so don't get yourself in trouble by buying haubergeon or scorpion harness or something odd. Keep your defense damn high and save the party.

[Timian]

uhm... why using a damage dealer equip in party when the paladin role is ONLYYYYYYYY to tank so to have as much defense as you can? Your role is not to deal damage, the fact that your sword skills up fast and easily is because it's your A+ weapon. paladin is not a damage dealer, so don't get yourself in trouble by buying haubergeon or scorpion harness or something odd. Keep your defense damn high and save the party.

I dare you to parse against me, as PLD/NIN with my full DD gear.
Seriously.

And whoever suggested DEX rings (Balance Rings or higher. Doesn't matter)
Please stop posting bullsh*t.
DEX is possibly the most useless stat in the game,
unless you're a THF.

[Kildem]

I am not here to dare anyone lol, just saying, paladin was born as a meat shield. Why suddenly changing the history and... trying to be a damage dealer? None talked about pld/nin yet, and i didn't either.

[Armando]

Fact: Defense has diminishing returns. Paladin can hit this point in EXP easily.
Fact: PLD has DD potential. We get most of the same gear as true DDs, and some toys of our own (Justice Sword, Homam.) We also have an A+ in the weapon we do want to use to DD, as opposed to WARs who use A- and B+.
Fact: The more damage you do, the better you hold hate, the faster you kill, and the more EXP you get.
Fact: -Evasion doesn't hurt us, since we couldn't dodge a truck going at 15 mph if it happens to /check anything higher than T. We only dodge during Flash.

Let's see. You could continue to turtle it up for minimal improvements in your damage reduction, or you could equip a Haubergeon and a pair of Accuracy rings, take just a bit more damage, and hit plenty more often. Which do you think is a smarter option?

Any PLD that has the option to do so should get Woodsman Rings at 40 and a Haubergeon at 59. Unless you're overhunting so much that you can't hit the mob in the first place, they'll help more than anything else you can equip in their respective slots in EXP. That aside, I would seriously encourage any PLD to consider putting a set of DD gear together starting at 50. It's not that hard, just takes some time to get money for gear that every other DD has to stop and farm for anyways.

There are cheaper alternatives as well, such as Jaridah Peti 'til you can afford Haubergeon and a Venerer Ring to replace one of the Woodsmans in the meantime.

[Timian]

I am not here to dare anyone lol, just saying, paladin was born as a meat shield. Why suddenly changing the history and... trying to be a damage dealer? None talked about pld/nin yet, and i didn't either.

Change history?
I won't lie, PLD gets nothing in terms of job abilities/traits to help DD.
They do however get an A+ weapon, the 2nd highest base STR of all jobs (beaten only by DRG and DRK) and access to most heavy DD gear.
As a PLD in better-than-stock DD gear I've outparsed plenty of "career DDs", wearing mid-tier gear.

Which brings me to my point;
PLD can be good DDs. Nothing close to a Kraken-DRK, or a Ridill-WAR,
but certainly just as good as your "run of the mill everyday common gear DD".

[Kildem]

Which brings me to my point;
PLD can be good DDs. Nothing close to a Kraken-DRK, or a Ridill-WAR,
but certainly just as good as your "run of the mill everyday common gear DD".

Now you said it right.

[Karinya]

Diminishing returns isn't a point, it's a range. And it's in a different place depending on what mob you're tanking. A hybrid DD/tank setup is fine for some things, but scorpions and spiders will tear you apart if you don't take your defense seriously.

The majority of pickup exp parties are against monsters with weak offense (crabs, beetles, crawlers, colibri). But not all. So you should always have a set of good defensive gear available, even if you don't need it in every party.

Your level relative to the monsters also plays a large part in determining how much defense you need. So does your party composition - in a party with several healers you can afford to take a little more damage to deal a little more damage, but in a DD-heavy party your extra damage dealt is less significant and your extra damage taken is more significant. In a party with no THF you will often want one of your rings to be Hercules's ring (or sattva if you have it), while if you have a THF it's probably unnecessary.


Although being able to do more damage can be useful, I don't think it would be a good idea for a PLD to focus on their DD potential to the detriment of their survivability; although it might be wise to maintain a range of gear, you should have an all-out-defense set with you in case it is needed. And possibly a macro to instantly switch into it, too. Slightly improved kill speed is no substitute for being able to keep the party alive when something bad happens.

[Malacite]

PLD used to be an offensive beast back in the beta, but then SE IMO screwed it up by making it too defensive.


To me, the ideal protector is one who smites those who would dare threaten his charge while healing the wounded, not a living punching bag. Maybe SE will do something about this some day ^^

[Karinya]

Eh. It's balance - if PLD could do as much damage as MNK or WAR while also taking hits better and healing the wounded, why would you invite anything else?

No job can be good at too many things at once. So the tradeoff for great defense and some healing ability is less offense than most melee jobs.

Of course, this "balance" thing has been a little screwy since RoZ introduced a job that (often) takes even less damage than PLD and *does* do as much damage as a DD, but that's the theory, anyway.

[Malacite]

Balance my eye >_ > I'm sure there's a way. Whether SE finds it or not, well we'll have to wait and see.

Seriously, NIN more or less threw balance out the window with it's introduction.

[Armando]

Diminishing returns isn't a point, it's a range. And it's in a different place depending on what mob you're tanking. A hybrid DD/tank setup is fine for some things, but scorpions and spiders will tear you apart if you don't take your defense seriously.I would agree with you if Defense were being lost, but all the gear swaps I suggest (Haubergeon, Woodsman Rings, Assault Earring, Royal Guard's Collar/Chivalrous Chain for the few that still wear Medieval Gorgets at 55, any other sword over Gluttony) only trade VIT for Accuracy, and we all know how little VIT helps. Even if you're fighting Spiders, a Sickle Slash is still gonna hurt like a bitch no matter how much VIT or Defense you have because it's a critical hit WS, just like a SATA WS on an HNM always puts out good numbers regardless of how much Defense and VIT the HNM has, and how many levels higher it is than the player. That's just crits for ya.Your level relative to the monsters also plays a large part in determining how much defense you need. So does your party composition - in a party with several healers you can afford to take a little more damage to deal a little more damage, but in a DD-heavy party your extra damage dealt is less significant and your extra damage taken is more significant. In a party with no THF you will often want one of your rings to be Hercules's ring (or sattva if you have it), while if you have a THF it's probably unnecessary.It's true that in a DD-heavy party the damage you do becomes less significant by comparison, but it also means you need more hate, so the more the DDs are outdamaging you, the more you need to step up with your own damage to compensate. Besides, on anything that the DDs are doing so well on you shouldn't be taking that much damage either, since odds are it's a low IT at best.

[Lmnop]

Just a quick correction:

the 2nd highest base STR of all jobs (beaten only by DRG and DRK) and access to most heavy DD gear.


It's actually Drk and War. DRG is tied with PLD, I believe. While Sam, mnk, nin, etc are all a bit under.

I encourage all DD jobs to carry a cheap defense set with them at all times. The problem with Pld is that it's hard for them to do the opposite -- there isn't a lot of cheap DD gear that's extremely effective for it's slot the way Phalanx Rings are.

Really, just Lifebelt and a pair of Coral Earrings. That and some Jaridah/Sipah, and you'd do pretty decent. Sipahi stuff is nice since it has a great deal of AGI for your shield blocks in addition to the STR for dmg. If you fight weak enough mobs, some cheap str/attack gear and Sushi would go a long way.

[Karinya]

Assault Jerkin is free... sort of. Ditto Jaeger Ring. But yeah, a lot of DD gear is very expensive, which is a big barrier for a job that can't make money worth a damn because they kill slower than anyone except BRD and WHM and aren't wanted for most commonly done BCNM fights.

There aren't many mobs where I'd be comfortable wearing -30 Evasion; I don't much like getting hit every swing *during* Flash, as well as outside it. -AGI is going to hurt your shield proc rate, too. Evasion and shield aren't going to happen on every hit, or often enough to rely on them for any particular hit. But they do add up when you look at the damage taken over an entire fight - and the MP someone has to spend to repair that damage before you're ready for another fight. It's no good to kill the monster 2 seconds faster if the healer needs an extra 5 seconds rest before the next pull.

You should look at the performance of the whole party and see how you can improve that, not just focus everything on reducing your damage taken as much as possible, I agree. Sometimes increasing your damage dealt is a good way to do that. Sometimes it isn't as good as other things you could be doing. Lifebelt isn't giving up much (below the levels for Warwolf, anyway), but Hauby is quite another matter, even aside from its cost.

By a DD-heavy party I meant a party with a lot of DD members, not one where each individual DD is doing more damage than normal (because of low level or otherwise vulnerable targets). Something like PLD DRK DRG MNK WHM RDM - not ideal, perhaps, but it's quite possible that you'll get into parties like that. Trying to push your personal damage higher in that kind of setup isn't going to pay off as much, regardless of whether the mobs are VT or IT.


P.S. Hauby also loses significant enmity compared to AF or Adaman Cuirass. Depending on the monster you might or might not make that up with increased damage.

[Timian]

{Deleted}

[Timian]

Assault Jerkin is free... sort of. Ditto Jaeger Ring. But yeah, a lot of DD gear is very expensive, which is a big barrier for a job that can't make money worth a damn because they kill slower than anyone except BRD and WHM and aren't wanted for most commonly done BCNM fights.

There aren't many mobs where I'd be comfortable wearing -30 Evasion; I don't much like getting hit every swing *during* Flash, as well as outside it. -AGI is going to hurt your shield proc rate, too. Evasion and shield aren't going to happen on every hit, or often enough to rely on them for any particular hit. But they do add up when you look at the damage taken over an entire fight - and the MP someone has to spend to repair that damage before you're ready for another fight. It's no good to kill the monster 2 seconds faster if the healer needs an extra 5 seconds rest before the next pull.

You should look at the performance of the whole party and see how you can improve that, not just focus everything on reducing your damage taken as much as possible, I agree. Sometimes increasing your damage dealt is a good way to do that. Sometimes it isn't as good as other things you could be doing. Lifebelt isn't giving up much (below the levels for Warwolf, anyway), but Hauby is quite another matter, even aside from its cost.

By a DD-heavy party I meant a party with a lot of DD members, not one where each individual DD is doing more damage than normal (because of low level or otherwise vulnerable targets). Something like PLD DRK DRG MNK WHM RDM - not ideal, perhaps, but it's quite possible that you'll get into parties like that. Trying to push your personal damage higher in that kind of setup isn't going to pay off as much, regardless of whether the mobs are VT or IT.


P.S. Hauby also loses significant enmity compared to AF or Adaman Cuirass. Depending on the monster you might or might not make that up with increased damage.

1. What? "Can't make money"?
I'm currently packing about 950mill worth of gear (at current price rates), and about 300 mill in cash. Job has nothing to do with how much money you earn. You just have to know what you're doing.

2. Haubergeon rocks. You have an evasion skill cap at 225. You're not gonna dodge anything over an EM on a steady basis no matter what you do. The -evasion doesn't hurt you at all.

3. More importantly you're not meant to be wearing a DD-setup to a party in dire need of a steady blood-tank. You wear it to a TP burn, or as a PLD/NIN DD.
It goes without saying that enmity doesn't mean *anything* in a TP burn, as the mob is
supposed to die before any real damage is done. If you can't cope with the hate you get from Flash (and voke, if you're still subbing WAR at merit level) without additional enmity in a TP burn - you're not burning. You go in > get initial hate > unleash.
Your timers shouldn't even be back up by the time the mob hits the ground.

4. -AGI is not a problem.
Again, you don't go DD-setup if you're tanking things that hit you hard and often.
Shield proc rate is completely irrelevant, most importantly since you should be /NIN and not even using a shield. Secondly, if you are using a shield (/WAR) with a DD setup, you're using a Viking Shield or a Tatami for the attack/str boosts - not for the blocks.

I have no problem seeing why you have little faith in playing DD PLD, because you really don't even seem to understand the most basic consepts of how it's done.



PS.

Lmnop

I stand corrected about one thing. WAR does have higher base STR than DRG.
I clearly wasn't remembering correctly. Kudos to you.
Phalanx Rings are useless though.
10 def? Added to what, 500? There are better things to wear in the ring slots, like STR, Accuracy, Enmity, VIT or even MP (depending on situations obviously).

[Armando]

There aren't many mobs where I'd be comfortable wearing -30 Evasion; I don't much like getting hit every swing *during* Flash, as well as outside it. -AGI is going to hurt your shield proc rate, too. Evasion and shield aren't going to happen on every hit, or often enough to rely on them for any particular hit. But they do add up when you look at the damage taken over an entire fight - and the MP someone has to spend to repair that damage before you're ready for another fight. It's no good to kill the monster 2 seconds faster if the healer needs an extra 5 seconds rest before the next pull.Believe me, I don't get hit through Flash all of the time. I'd be lying if I said I don't get hit through Flash more often, but it's still not as often as you'd think. Either way, if you're squirmish about the whole -30 Evasion you could macro in Gallant Surcoat, benefit from 2 more enmity, and you've already gotten rid of -20 Evasion during Flash. Or, if that's too much trouble, you could use a Byrnie or Assault Jerkin and not be too worse off. Still, there's two sides to the coin and without hard numbers (which are almost impossible to get in this case,) we could debate all day and never be able to reach a real conclusion. You could argue that killing the mob slightly faster won't help if you take much damage, but also remember that having higher damage output serves two purposes. The first is increasing your own damage, and sure, it won't increase enough for anyone else to really care. But if you hold hate better as a result, then every DD's damage goes up as they hold back less.

As a minor side note, I have not noticed any detriment to my shielding. If you can't tell the difference in shield rates between an Elvaan and a non-Elvaan PLD, then the loss of 5 AGI is equally trivial. While AGI is said to contribute to shielding, I don't believe it contributes significantly enough to worry about, just like even a high-AGI build doesn't see enough extra parrying to bother with.P.S. Hauby also loses significant enmity compared to AF or Adaman Cuirass. Depending on the monster you might or might not make that up with increased damage.You go from 13 Enmity to 11, assuming you're wearing full AF and a High Breath Mantle. The loss of 2 enmity is fair enough if I gain 12.5 Accuracy, 12.5 Attack, and +1 DMG. It's true that you lose 2 enmity, but it's really a matter of "13 enmity applied to less and weaker hits, or 11 enmity applied to more and stronger hits." Once again, the question is nearly impossible to give a defined answer, but it's been working well enough for me.1. What? "Can't make money"?
I'm currently packing about 950mill worth of gear (at current price rates), and about 300 mill in cash. Job has nothing to do with how much money you earn. You just have to know what you're doing.I have to agree with this. It's true that money doesn't grow on trees, and that applies to FFXI, but I never really had to spend countless hours farming for my Haubergeon. The only limiting factor was that the other two people I BCNM with are slow to collect seals, since they're busy with other things. Still, you'd be amazed how many seals you can collect starting a low-level job or simply levellig your NPC buddy on EP mobs. I've never gone under the 350 seal mark. If only I could use up all those seals XD

[Malacite]

1. What? "Can't make money"?
I'm currently packing about 950mill worth of gear (at current price rates), and about 300 mill in cash. Job has nothing to do with how much money you earn. You just have to know what you're doing.


Where did you get so much money O _ O;;;;

[Timian]

Where did you get so much money O _ O;;;;

Crafting (Goldsmithing main)
Paid KSNM Runs
BCNMs
HNM Drop Sales for split profit

Note that Farming isn't on my list.
I hate farming, and would never advice it to anyone
except completely new players with no other choice.

I also have a 5-man "static" that will take
anyone through CoP from Chapter 7 to finish
for a price. You'd be surprised how many people
are willing to pay to get U/O and the 4 pot BCNM done.

[Mog]

I also have a 5-man "static" that will take
anyone through CoP from Chapter 7 to finish
for a price. You'd be surprised how many people
are willing to pay to get U/O and the 4 pot BCNM done.

That's an interesting idea. What's the average you get from each person?

[Malacite]

>. > most craft profits (at least the ones I can do >. <) are relatively low these days. I've been tempted to max out my smithing though since Dark Steel is at last a good money maker again.

Either that or cloth, those two crafts seem to make the most bling.

[Timian]

That's an interesting idea. What's the average you get from each person?

Depends entirely on the person.
If it's an obviously struggling individual,
with poor gear etc, we'll charge him like 500k. (100k each).

If he's decked out in "pimp" gear, and has 100+3 smithing,
we'll gladly charge him 2-3 mill.

[Empedocles]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v607/TimLochore/Derailed.jpg

To the OP: No, at that level, you really shouldn't need a DD 'set'. A couple of STR rings and some Rice Dumplings (http://ffxi.somepage.com/itemdb/3942) will help do some more damage.

Later on (and during) your career, you will however want to invest (quest, buy, whatever) in DD pieces to form a set ~Lv.55 onwards.

But always carry a full tanking set/food with you, we are Paladins after all, and you never know when your leader is feeling ambitious.

[Lmnop]

Phalanx Rings are useless though.
10 def? Added to what, 500? There are better things to wear in the ring slots, like STR, Accuracy, Enmity, VIT or even MP (depending on situations obviously).

Sorry, I should've clarified. I mean that a DD job should have a gear swap that includes Phalanx rings because they're incredibly cheap and effective for a job that doesn't specialize in defense. They're quite useless for PLD, I agree. My comparison was that DDs can strap on 2x Phalanx rings and suddenly be at Defense Bonus II level, whereas there's no cheap piece of gear that a PLD can strap on to suddenly get Accuracy Bonus II level benefits. The closest is lifebelt, which is ~8x the price of 2 phalanx rings.

Money is an issue. A lot of people who aren't already an "ideal" job (the ones that are in high demand so money naturally flows to them, even if they're money-making impaired) simply don't have the capacity for making loads of dough. I, for one, cannot stand the idea of thinking about economics while playing a game. I hate "playing the market." I go farm where it's quiet and there's not a lot of profit, just because it means I don't have to deal with people. And yeah, I'm poor.

My one consolation: when you get to 60 (not 50, 'cuz you don't have any IS yet), Assault items still sell quite nice.

[Arctic Wolf]

Paladins that like to deal Damage, I think they should try Dark Knight or Warrior for a change. Dark Knight is a lot like Paladin, I noticed.

[Vandros]

In my experience, it's not that the DD style of Pld's *like* to do dmg as much as a combination of factors that leads up to holding hate better. In general, the mobs of ToA have fewer hit points, don't hit quite as hard (outside specials like Incenerate. How I hated you, fire crawlers), and are what the DDs refer to as 'squishy'. As a result, the DDs are hitting the monsters harder, and you aren't getting hit quite as hard, which means you don't have quite the cure potential.

Think back to 25, 26, if you're leveling outside of Kazham. It's a difficult level sometimes, because the Pld just isn't taking enough dmg to hold hate with cures. Same thing, really. Yes, you'll get hit harder while wearing DD gear than VIT/def gear, but not by much. Food makes quite a different story, I prefer to exp with sushi as soon as the mobs turn to VT and low IT, but if it's still IT+, to IT++, even I break out the tacos, and I'm an avid proponent of holding hate with dmg and trusting your shield to mitigate most of your dmg.

If you *do* want to do nothing but dmg, of course, Pld isn't the job for you. Go to warrior, or Sam, or Drk, or any of the hundred jobs we have who do a better job at it than we do.