I found two really good posts about the new armor, more specific the paladin armor, on eqstratic forums which brings up very valid points..
- Avron -
Post by Travix in EqStratics forum October 22, 1999 04:53 PM
Topic: Protest from Paladins over neglect.
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It appears that Verant wants to trim down the number of classes in light of
the recent treatment of Paladins. The Shadowknight and Rogue classes have all
but disappeared due to similar circumstances. In a post on this forum, a
petition was circulated that detailed changes that would bring the paladin
back as a viable character after months of neglect by the programming team.
In a few short hours, the number of "aye" respondants to the petition reached
over 250. Then the server crashed. Now the post and its results are gone.
Soon the petition will be reposted and the process will start again.
After the recent upgrade to the Ranger, Paladins were certain that they were
next for enhancement. We waited patiently for the patch that was supposed to
be our salvation. Instead, what we received was armor quests that were 10
times the length and 5 times more costly than any of the quest of any other
class. And for all of that the armor stinks. Class specific plate armor for
the Paladin has less AC than that of the chain worn by the ranger. Paladins
are the "Holy Knight" counterpart to the ranger. Yet, with the last 3
patches, the Ranger has been augmented so that he has more AC even though he
can wear no platemail. He also has higher skill caps, does nearly twice the
damage in battle, has spell equivalents to most of the Paladins spells yet
not confined to undead. Ensnare is far more effective that root. Several
other spells and buffs of the druid class aren't nerfed , level wise, as with
the paladin. The ranger can track. Whereas the paladin can point himself in
the direction of the nearest undead, unless of course if there is a pet in
the area. Now to the arguements.
Paladins have a unique skill called Lay Hands. However, at higher levels, it
is simply an extra superior heal. In practice, it is simply a method, once
per hour and a half, to be able to solo a creature that would be of little
difficulty to any other class of the same lvl. I don't discount the benifit
of Lay Hands. I only say that, to the Paladin, it is not sufficient
justification for nerfing our class as the ignorant and uninformed think.
Lets move to a discussion of weaponry. Ghoulsbane is indeed a prize. At lvl
30 it is obtainable...er... was... not sure if the Shin Lord spawns there
anymore. It is supposed to be made No Drop. Ive seen nothing on this yet.
In any case, the damage of the GB is unacceptable at higher levels. It
is too slow to interrupt a caster and the proc is only usefull against...
again...undead. People pass around the name soulfire as though it were a
rusty short sword laying around simply waiting to be picked up. Aside from
being , perhaps, the most lengthy and involved quest in the game, it also
requires Killing Sir Lucan and a named SK in MM. From what I am told, it
takes at least 2 groups of lvl 40ish to take down Lucan in the midst of the
militia held West Freeport. The Sword, while nice, is not the "ultimate
weapon" that the ignorant and uninformed think.
There are many areas which we could discuss the imbalances. I am cognizant of
the "grass is greener" excuse foistered by Brad. It simply doesn't hold water.
If the game has changed with the latest patch, and people rarely have the
patience to take a paladin beyond lvl 30, where are his figures? Please post
them. Oh... I'll probably pull my lvl 31 paladin out of the closet and dust
him off occasionally. But, I think I'll focus more on my ranger from now on.
I liked the mystique of the paladin and am disappointed in the loss of the
many hours I could have spent on a character not crippled by the biases of
the games creator. I did have fun and met many good folk that I will rejoin
when I reach their level again. I simply like the competitive side of things
as well. I can powerlevel with the best, but I enjoy travelling, questing,
and adventure also.
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Post by Dyers Ar'dair in EqStratics forum October 22, 1999 05:19 PM
Topic: Alexiran Bladedancer's Paladin Petition!!
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Greetings Fellow Travelers of Norrath,
Prelude:
What I bring before you today is not a flame, nor is it a "grass is greener"
whine. It is righteous indignation and anger. Before going into the actual
petition I will give a bit of background information. If you wish to skip
this and go straight to the petition it is indexed by a "**>>>>**".
Background:
Verant recently implemented class specific armor quests. Even when these
quests were still rumors I rejoiced at the opportunity to quest for my armor
instead of camping. What has transpired upon full implementation of this
quest is an insult to every Paladin in Norrath. The difficulty of our quests
is without peer. Yet I remained calm while others flamed since I assumed
that, in the end, our armor would be worth it. I envisioned a holy knight
clad in armor blessed by the gods outshining even a warrior. As the cold,
hard numbers roll in it is as if we are the victims of a cruel joke.
**>>>>** Petition
I propose that the stats of the "Armor of Ro" are increased in proportion to
the difficulty of the quests. In addition I propose that Verant take a very
close look at the stats of the Shadowknight armor as well. As always it seems
as if our evil twins share in our troubles.
For example: The current Greaves of Ro are AC 11 sta 6 sv cold 10
The new Greaves of Ro AC 14 dex 8 sv cold 10
Rationale: I have stated that the difficulty of our quests is without peer.
I invite any citizen of Norrath to view the details at either
http://everquest.gamestats.com/ or
http://gameznet.com/eq/. In addition I
will briefly describe them here.
Each church in Norrath controls the mold to a piece of armor (there are 7).
A paladin must raise his/her faction with the appropriate church to get the
quest. Then he/she must hunt a rare NPC for an item that is turned in for
the mold. Then the paladin must raise faction again with the Temple of
Solusek Ro to obtain a cauldron from Lord Seafire. In this cauldron you are
to place 4 more rare items and 2 bars of enchanted platinum. If you are a
Master Blacksmith these items will combine to make a bar of "Ronium". Then,
despite false information from Lord Seafire, you place the bar of Ronium and
and the mold into a forge and hit "combine". Once again, if you are a Master
Blacksmith, the items will hopefully combine into the armor.
*Note* Several of the items required for this are No-Drop so you CANNOT have
a professional Blacksmith do this for you. The Paladin MUST become a master
himself.
Despite this difficulty the stats on our "Armor of Ro" are pathetic. A
ranger, who supposedly sacrifices AC for agility and duel wield HAS HIGHER AC
QUEST ARMOR THAN PALADINS. EVEN a Shaman, who is not even a tank, has higher
AC armor in the greaves than Paladins/SK's. Also, for some bizzare reason,
bards have better armor than all three of us. I'd love Verant to explain the
logic of that but I digress.
Precendent: The stats of the Warrior crafted armor were adjusted to make them
competitive with the quest armors. The Paladin armor can easily be adjusted
to also make them competitive and worth the effort.
Conclusion: Please show your support of this petition in the form of a reply
with a simple "yes". I invite other classes to study the issue and ask high
level Paladins about it.
As a Paladin I try to humbly serve other citizens. So I make this request not
for myself but for the younger paladins who should have real rewards to look
forward to.
Thank you all for your time.
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