March 29, 2024 9:03 PM PDT
So, against my deepest desires, I have yet to roll a rogue in Pantheon to see what the other classes are up to. Season 1, I have played exclusively paladin.
1. Stupid fun. This class, for me, was amazing. Levels 1 and 2 were a little tricky and not sure if every class has that issue, but I died to several 1s while 1 and several 2s while 2. It wasn't to a frustrating level, but it is probably not necessary. It seemed to be mobs that conned lower than their majority in an area, so just a random char a level lower than the norm, but it took a few to catch on to that. After 2, I was a capable tank for a group. I could pull, hold aggro VERY WELL, my baseline AC was good enough to hold until i was able to gear up some and it did feel different with each piece of armor. I felt I was getting stronger. Even without masteries in my skills, the abilities for pallies were extremely fun. I was able to use each ability to its full potential when I got it (to level 8... please no wipes). The mob flee speed was insane, but Celestial Might was incredible and felt powerful for an ability that doesn't do damage. It took until about level 6 before I really noticed my divine dmg buffs really showing up, but right around there, those crushing blows using some weapon techniques with the divine damage buffs was killer. I never felt invincible, though, so there was fear of the unknown and a bad pull, but even Celestial Might helped as a pull mechanism without aggroing too much. It was such a useful ability. At 8, I finally worked out, since there was no stun in my kit, that I can use Celestial Might as an interrupt. It's tricky but doable if necessary. But the best part was the fact that even in a bunch of bad pulls down in goblin caves, a group of 6 were able to take 4 mobs without having a chanter, and manage enough to win without wiping. We did that several times. It took my off healing even while MT but I was able to hold aggro on mobs I wanted to. So great job to VR on the pally balance to lvl 10. I felt like a paladin at level 2 and it just kept getting better.
2. Too much wrath? So, for a good chunk of my tanking, I felt I was able to almost spam every ability while engaged. I started to think that there was just too much wrath, or the cost of the abilities was to little. And I figured maybe thats just a tweener level issue and it works itself out in a couple levels. And then I was off-tank for a while. That SUCKED! As an off tank pally, I figure that I can be back up heals while back up tanking. Nope. If I'm not generating hate, I'm not gaining wrath. So, while trying not to take aggro off the MT, I'm shooting myself in the foot in being able to use my other abilities. My spamming abilities stopped immediately and I was forced to choose between adding one additional hit now, or waiting to see if someone would need healing sometime in the next minute. Don't get me wrong, though. I LOVE the fact that we don't need to use mana to heal. I thought that was a brilliant move and wouldn't change that for anything, but it would be nice to be able to generate a little more wrath while not tanking so I have some other abilities and continue to be useful to the group. And maybe pull the cost up a tad on those early wrath abilities, make me think about it at least a little...
3. Shield love. Now I know I only made it to 10, but I know the grandiose plans for warriors and shields. I personally felt like my shield was an armor slot and nothing more. Even something simple like tying it to my Aegis buff??? (the one that shields damage for 3 secs). At least then it feels like my shield is doing something other than increasing AC (I know it also as block mitigation, but not tied to anything I'm doing...) Maybe there's some stuff that happens later, but I kept being torn on whether to go 2-handed or have the shield. Luckily, I had a buddy give me a great Iron Hammer drop that was a killer wep for me from lvl 6 on, so I stayed 1H and shield.
4. Heals are uh-mazing. So I remember playing my pally alt in EQ1. The paladin heals were about as cool as rangers, meaning not cool. It was almost like not having one. I could bandage way faster than I could heal. The amount of healing I was able to do was very meaningful, and with my flood of wrath points, I could heal in combat like a boss. I was able to save several people while destroying the enemies with my hammer of justice. I can't think of anything more... paladinny? It almost felt like there's no way a nerf is not coming because this is too amazing feeling. I'm not supposed to be this satisfied. But, maybe that's just a pleasant side effect of the very limited HP and longer fights. You just feel like you're doing something amazing every other second even though I know I'm doing way less healing that the shaman next to me. I still feel like my heals are meaningful. So thanks for that.
5. So slow... I was very, very, very aware of how drudgingly slow my attack speed was, first with my base longsword, then on to my two 1h hammers I had following. It was nothing like other games I have played. Levels 1 and 2, it was very obvious. Then, as I got more abilities, it didn't seem to be so glaring, but still there. It took getting used to. By the time I had my lvl 6 spells, I noticed myself thinking way more about using my divine damage buffs to maximize my output. I would try to time having both divine damage buffs on by the time a weapon technique was available with readiness, then I'd literally drop the hammer, and get a crit in the 80s at level 7 or 8, and I felt like a boss, and for the right reason. I was using my utilities as intended. So, the slow rate at auto-attack no longer frustrated me once I was able to take advantage in my limited amount of swings. And it felt good.
Not much of a critique, I admit. There are others that hang out on Reddit enough to do that for you. Shields and wrath were the biggest question marks for me, but not enough to make paladin not fun or strategic. I loved tha abilities I had and the utility I could get out of them.
Lastly, I want to say this to the community. I know there were a couple snafus here and there during Season 1 with the players BUT I purposefully did not try to meet up with any of my friends to groups. I pugged the entire 2 weeks I was in. I never, hear me, NEVER had a group that was not fun. I never had a camp that my group did not have fun. I never had a group where players did not learn something about another class and its abilities. We shared info on camps, on abilities, discussed strategies, never camped a particular spot but moved through content, even at the early bandit camps. There was no sitting in one spot and someone brings all the mobs to you. Everyone moved through and stayed safely behind the puller but kept it moving. that was one of the absolute best changes about this game. It invites you to get up and move around, get involved, don't sit still. So, a big thanks to the Pantheon fanbase all the way down to the Supporter level. Nothing but fun and smiles the entire 2 weeks. I've never said that sentence about an MMO before.
Onward and upward, son.
