Need a tad bit of advice.

[csBahamut]

Re: Need a tad bit of advice.

1. When you coffer hunt, Skill-up of Farm but never in an EXP party.
2. VIT VIT VIT, that was my build, get the Head Body Legs with the highest DEF for my lvl and anywhere else I can stack VIT I do it.
3. As a PLD DEF/VIT food is all you should eat in EXP parties. PLD is an MP sponge so minimize the MP need to keep you alive.

You do know that there's more than one way to skin a cat, right? Increasing defense isn't the only way, and it becomes a waste when 100 defense *maybe* reduces 1-5 points of damage on average. The faster you kill a mob, the less damage you will take overall as well. The shorter the fight, the less often you will get hit. But that does not mean stack on attack to kill fast. As PLDs, we have to balance offense and defense. When defense starts giving very minimal returns, switch some of those pieces of gear over to atk/acc (if it gives a significant boost). Things like Tarrasque mitts for the AF gloves. The 9 less defense will NOT be missed. Going with a Hauby (or Byrnie if you know how to make it work) over AF body also works. That +4 VIT will not be missed either. The loss of the +emnity won't hurt either, if you're geared right elsewhere. Hitting the mob more often means you'll need less +emnity.

Seriously, I looked into all this LOOOONG before CoP even came out. How else could my static get more than 5K/hr in the days of no sushi? The only reason I held onto my Gluttony Sword so long was because of the higher base damage. As soon as I hit 66, I got an Espandon+1. Really, 7 VIT is nothing when you already have over +20 from the rest of your gear.

[Aeni]

Re: Need a tad bit of advice.

Really, people need to get away from the whole "PLD can't DD!" mentality. It's not one of the bandwagon jobs (WAR/NIN, NIN/WAR, MNK), but PLD is respectable compared to other DD's (though my bro's DRG is pimped out and pwns me in damage). If PLD couldn't DD, the how in the world did I pull hate off the NIN/WAR and MNK/NIN on Hakutaku with pure melee damage? /sarcasm on "Obviously PLDs can't DD." /sarcasm off. It's just generally easier to see a PLD as a tank since that's mostly what we know about the job. Most people don't know the DD side of PLD at all, and usually think it doesn't exist by default.

I'm not saying PLD can't DD, I'm just saying that they don't have "natural" tendencies to do so. What is the first thing you would do as soon as you rip hate off someone as a PLD? Yes, you're gonna burn a defensive JA almost on instinct followed by Flash. This move is a defensive move and yet I bet 99% of a pallys will do this. You will not see them toss on Berserk, eat a Red Curry and then go on their business in this instance.

Again, the way I see it, Paladins were made defensively from the ground up. The fact that you sub WAR to get both offensive and defensive abilities show that your main profile does not share anything in similar with a ninja. On the other hand, I know NINs sub BLM and become DD monsters to the point where they can sometimes tank with consistency without provoke. I've known several NIN/RNGs that could tank like this (before the change in range attack behavior)

Point is, Paladins aren't inherently offensive without the proper subjob. Ninja, however, like Monk, Dragoons, Dark Knights, etal are offensive.