Paladin Adjustments (new patch)

[FranckKnight]

Paladin Adjustments

With high defensive capabilities and enmity generation in mind, we will be adjusting the effect of the paladin job abilities Sentinel and Rampart.

Sentinel
The effect of Sentinel will be changed from an increase in defense to straight damage mitigation.
Also, all actions taken while Sentinel is in effect will generate additional enmity, allowing the paladin to more easily gain and maintain an enemy's attention.

Rampart
In addition to the defense bonus granted to party members within the area of effect, Rampart will now also provide a "Magic Shield" that will absorb a certain amount of magic damage in the same manner as the spell "Stoneskin."

Shield Mastery
In addition to granting a TP bonus, the Shield Mastery job trait will also prevent interruption to spell casting when an enemy's attack is blocked with a shield.

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I'm really interested in these new changes I must say.

Sentinel won't simply add defense, it will actively reduce damage and increase Enmity. Frankly, Sentinel wasn't lowering damage all that much for the mere 30s it was lasting. Defender was better on that side.

Rampart will be awesome now, especially if you try to use it right before a mob uses a -ga spell of some sort, if there's no way to stun it.

And It was about time that the Shield actually did something more than reducing the damage. It made little sense to still get interrupted when you did block with the shield. It will be even more useful to skill up your shield with this.

[Slip]

Some interesting and unexpected changes there.

Sentinel and Rampart will become a little trickier to use now I think. Previously I'd toss them out on a regular basis for start of battle hate spiking. Now that they have additional effects it's tempting save them for more tactical uses.

The Shield Mastery change on the other hand is pure love. Against most mobs getting off spells isn't too hard now, but this will give us a shot at getting spells off even against mobs like Chigoes and other hyper fast beasts.

[Rai]

Rampart will be great! How many times have you been in a Pinch and hit invincible only to see, Mob begins casting Thunderga III, lol and you get nuke killed anyways.

I have always thought we deserved a bit more Magic Defense.

[bikkebakke]

*drool*

[Davitron3000]

Paladin Adjustments
With high defensive capabilities and enmity generation in mind, we will be adjusting the effect of the paladin job abilities Sentinel and Rampart.

It seems like they are listening to the player base, and I thank them for that.

Sentinel
The effect of Sentinel will be changed from an increase in defense to straight damage mitigation.
Also, all actions taken while Sentinel is in effect will generate additional enmity, allowing the paladin to more easily gain and maintain an enemy's attention.

I am most excited about this. As I said in another thread, capped Sentinel + capped Guardian would be really nice. So now, with Sentinel up, you will take less damage, gain enmity, and lose less hate if you have Guardian. What is not to like

Rampart
In addition to the defense bonus granted to party members within the area of effect, Rampart will now also provide a "Magic Shield" that will absorb a certain amount of magic damage in the same manner as the spell "Stoneskin."

I can't wait to try this out. Magic shield that is like Stoneskin and affects the whole party is what I have been wanting. I have always felt our biggest weakness is magical damage, and this is a boost to defend against it.

Also, I am not sure about this, but does the Valor Coronet increase the duration of Rampart? (from 30 to 45 seconds I think I read, but I don't know if that was misinformation).
If it does I want one more than ever now.

Shield Mastery
In addition to granting a TP bonus, the Shield Mastery job trait will also prevent interruption to spell casting when an enemy's attack is blocked with a shield.

This is good too. Timing your casts has always been a part of playing Paladin, so I don't really rely on shield blocks to get casts off, but hopefully it will help when I do get interrupted.

To say that I am a happy Paladin to see these adjustments are gonna happen would be an understatement.

[Celeal]

As Slip in above post mentioned, I also agreed that Sentinel and Rampart will become tricky to use. Let say after the new adjustment, if a DD got hate, and after Cover ends (after Provoke, Cure, etc) the DD still has hate. Do we toss in Sentinel or Rampart, or reserve them?

IMHO, the change in shield block is very interesting. Maybe there is some usage of size 1 shield again? Let say tanking NM that uses hundred fists, swap in size one shield during the hundred fists just for better chance not to get interrupted?

[FranckKnight]

Well, Sentinel was never really much of a hate grabber in my opinion. Rampart might be because of the Party effect. But if Provoke + Flash + Shield Bash + Warcry doesn't grab the hate back, I'm not sure Sentinel and Rampart would be of much help in that extreme situation.

But I definitly need to go Merit Sentinel now

[Davitron3000]

As Slip in above post mentioned, I also agreed that Sentinel and Rampart will become tricky to use. Let say after the batch, if a DD got hate, and after Cover ends (after Provoke, Cure, etc) the DD still has hate. Do we toss in Sentinel or Rampart, or reserve them?
IMHO, the change in shield block is very interesting. Maybe there is some usage of size 1 shield again? Let say tanking NM that uses hundred fists, swap in size one shield during the hundred fists just for better chance not to get interrupted?

I don't know if I will change the way I use Sentinel and Rampart. My number one goal is to keep the mob on me, so if I need them for hate I am going to use them. This may change with Rampart if I see that I can save it and use it before an AOE spell but most of the time I am relying on that to get stunned (in big fights).

Using a smaller shield size for Hundred fists to keep from getting interrupted would be interesting. It would have to really help a lot for me to not use my Keonig Shield though. I block a lot of hits during hundred fists anyways, and the damage reduction on a bigger shield would be the real deciding factor (not to mention the +enmity you would lose). Not sure, someone go test it

[Rai]

IMHO, the change in shield block is very interesting. Maybe there is some usage of size 1 shield again? Let say tanking NM that uses hundred fists, swap in size one shield during the hundred fists just for better chance not to get interrupted?

Back in the old Days before the changes to shield skill, a PLD blocked with his shield and
1. Damage was completely negated
2. Blocking while casting a Spell and the spell would not be interrupted.

[FranckKnight]

Back in the old Days before the changes to shield skill, a PLD blocked with his shield and
1. Damage was completely negated
2. Blocking while casting a Spell and the spell would not be interrupted.

Yeah, Shield back then was just another Evasion/Parry. Skilling up shield was alot more tedious, it didn't trigger as often either. I kinda like the new Shield system better.

But of course you don't get interrupted if you don't get damaged, so this makes the best of both worlds. Damage reduction plus no interruption. Smaller shield will definitly will be useful in some fights against faster hitting mobs that makes it tricky to cast spells. Or a PLD that prefers trading off the stability of his Cures over hwo much damage they reduce, there might be a big matter of choice and strategy in this.

[Macht]

As Slip in above post mentioned, I also agreed that Sentinel and Rampart will become tricky to use. Let say after the new adjustment, if a DD got hate, and after Cover ends (after Provoke, Cure, etc) the DD still has hate. Do we toss in Sentinel or Rampart, or reserve them?
IMHO, the change in shield block is very interesting. Maybe there is some usage of size 1 shield again? Let say tanking NM that uses hundred fists, swap in size one shield during the hundred fists just for better chance not to get interrupted?

Solution is that this makes Aegis shield something to desire even more. Last I remember it was a Size 1 shield with the Size 3 defense.

The rampart sounds like they are giving a PLDs that sort of Convoke ability that was pretty common for PLDs in previous FF titles. At least it's half of it couple the right abilities together that PLD has and you get a sort of rigged up equivalent.

Sentinel more fits it's name sake now. Couple with Cover and not only are you protecting the person but building hate to more easily take it away from them. If you have a reason to need to save it for a certain situation then don't forget you could always resort to being a healer dropping cures of the best for hate gain to draw the mob back to you if you need. Seems to give a lot of possibilities of things to try.

The other question I wonder if Sentinel is straight damage mitigation will this mean a potential when coupled with a Size 3 Shield that it might actually negate damage or come close to it?

[Davitron3000]

Solution is that this makes Aegis shield something to desire even more.

Is it possible for Paladins to desire Aegis more?

[Icemage]

Aegis isn't size 1. It's size 5. It blocks a LOT of damage when it kicks in (though I seem to recall reading someplace that it actually blocks like a size 1 for frequency of activation - double win if true; someone please check me on that if you can).


Icemage

[nanatsu]

Eh, I'm not too sure these changes will result in more invites for normal exp. The Sentinel thing seems nice at first glance. But it's still only 30 seconds and on a 5 minute timer right? If they maybe reduced the timer somewhat I could see it changing things. But right now, it all seems rather...situational. The only really nice change is the Shield Mastery thing, but I dunno if that will wow people enough to make them choose plds more in normal exp. Compared to nin, pld still seems lacking in the ability to fight successive battles, though honestly I prefer a good pld over a nin any day. There's nothing I hate more than meleex4/nin. And seeing mnk/nin makes me cry.

[FranckKnight]

Aegis is a Size 5, the only shield that counts as Size 5 because its a completly different category (at least for now).

Aegis basically has the block rate of a size 1 (means ALOT) with the damage reduction of a size 3 or 4 (means ALOT). Add to that the single highest defense in the game for a shield, and -25% Magic Damage, and your PLD turns into a frigging WALL.

So add to that the new magic interruption for shield, Sentinel and Rampart... PLD with Aegis will be scary.