Coming back to FFXI with paladin questions

[Onisan]

NOTE: this was posted on alla too for maximum feedback.

I quit about a year ago, so I guess you can assume how much has changed since I last played. I played a pally back in the day to about level 60. I think I completed my artifact and was weilding a gluttony among other expensive pieces.

Anywho, I remember at that time ninjas were considered better for endgame, due to shadows completely taking away damage which means more mana for the healers.

Is it still the same case? Will I be stuck as an offtank fighting gods and hnms? I should also note I'm with a set PT of good friends this time, but eventually the 6 (7 actually) of us will need to join with more to take on the big HNMs, I'm aware I'll be tanking from 1-75, but being a hardcore mmo gamer, the endgame is my goal. Also, ninja is not my cup of tea, and I'm not ready to start buying the gil to fund it. My static PT and I are all starting at level one, new server, so even if I wanted the role of MT (or one of the MTs heh) and that required NIN, I'd just stick to my WHM.

So basicly, how are paladins nowadays with tanking endgame, what role will I have against the big bad mobs?

Also, feel free to toss me any random information thats not listed in patch notes about the paladin class that changed over the past year. I know we got a shield change and autorefresh, thats not my question.

I appreciate the feedback, thank you in advance ^^

I'm also very familier with game mechanics, such as hate, mana management, effeciency etc. I'm also very familier with endgame encounters so feel free to use all the lingo without the need to explain stuff like the kirin fight. Unless you wanna bring up a situational example of course

[Atma]

Re: Coming back to FFXI with paladin questions

Some fights paladin is better, some fights ninja is better. It all depends on the fight. Also note paladins are currently far better then they used to be after thier recent buffage.

[Omniblast]

Re: Coming back to FFXI with paladin questions

Auto-refresh at level 35, shield mastery, gain more tp on shield block.

[Taskmage]

Re: Coming back to FFXI with paladin questions

I found this post over on alla that probably has the information you want. It's a guide to paladin use vs a long list of specific HNMs. It was last updated in December, but I don't imagine a lot has changed on the HNM scene since then, save for Absolute Virtue being killed, but that doesn't even involve tanks, so ...

Also, the most recent patch introduce these changes to the paladin job:

• Shield Mastery: Grants bonus TP when blocking an attack with a shield.
• Auto Refresh: Gradually restores MP.

which Omni mentioned, as well as increasing the chance of a shield block and the damage reduced when a shield block does occur. Auto-Refresh is at 35 and is identical to the Summoner trait. For more details on Shield Mastery, see Armando's thread by the same name.

The above changes have made Paladins considerably better in normal parties, but other than the slight increase in durability from the shield tweak I don't imagine it affects HNM tanking all that much.

[Onisan]

Re: Coming back to FFXI with paladin questions

I found this post over on alla that probably has the information you want. It's a guide to paladin use vs a long list of specific HNMs. It was last updated in December, but I don't imagine a lot has changed on the HNM scene since then, save for Absolute Virtue being killed, but that doesn't even involve tanks, so ...

thanks, the alla post answered my question, although if anyone still has some commentary I'd appreciate it.

thank you for this though, I saw the post but didn't bother reading it, as I remember the same post from about a year ago, and it didn't have what I was looking for, I assumed it wasen't updated either, guess I was wrong.