Questions about Paladins

[Heijoushin]

Just want to ask those who have beta access: Do the different fighter classes play differently? Specifically fighter vs. barbarian vs. paladin

 

Like, in IWD, a Paladin just felt like a weak fighter with a cure spell. A barb just had a few extra hit points and a rage spell.

 

Also, one more question:

 

Do we know anything more about the various orders the Paladins can belong to? I see the wiki about that hasn't been updated in a while. For role-playing purposes, I'm very curious about the various celebrated/condemned behaviours.

 

Thanks

 

[Luckmann]

They do play somewhat differently, moreso the higher you go in levels.

The main problem with the Paladin right now is that while the Fighter and Barbarian either gets powers that can be used multiple times or tactically deployed, the Paladin either gets Lay On Hands (which is terrible; it is also a HoT, making it both odd and bad) which can be used three times per rest, or a one-use-per-encounter-ability (Flames of Devotion; it does Weapon Dmg + 100% as Burn Dmg) that really isn't that strong, and usually gets blown in the first round of combat.

After that, it's all auto-attack. Next time you get to pick abilities, you choose between the same initial two powers, plus three different auras, all of which are passive (albeit good), and for whatever insane reason currently is "Combat Only", meaning you have to re-activate it every time you enter combat; you can't even activate it while preparing for combat. I believe this to be a band-aid "solution" meant to artificially inflate Paladin combat actions, making it seem like you actually have two meaningful abilities that you can use in combat, but.. no, not really.

 

As for the various orders, most of the known information should be up on the Wiki. Strangely, the celebrated/condemned behaviours doesn't appear to be listed plainly anywhere, so it feels like you have to sorta guess what to go for for each order, which feels.. odd, considering you are supposed to be part of the order; you'd think you'd know these things already. I haven't paid much attention, though, but I'll check for it next time I'm in-game. I don't think it's listed, though.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Luckmann

[PrimeJunta]

Yeh, they're different.

 

The paladin is almost as good at tanking as the fighter, and it has auras which buff the entire party without you having to manage them. (Okay, it only has one aura that's worth taking ATM, namely Zealous Focus, but I trust they'll adjust the numbers so the others become more attractive.) Most of the active per-encounter and per-rest abilities aren't all that interesting though. Overall I liked the paladin and look forward to playing one. 

 

I haven't seen any info about the order behaviors beyond the descriptions and what's in the wiki. I think linking them to the disposition system is a super-cool idea though.

 

The barbarian kiiiinda sucks in BB392, again because of the numbers. Wild Sprint is fairly useless because he'll take so much punishment from disengagement attacks and just getting surrounded that he won't have time to do much damage before getting knocked out; Rage is nice enough I guess, and I didn't see Yell actually accomplish much even though I tried using it. If they beef up those abilities a bit it'll be a very cool class. (It was stronger in some of the earlier BB builds, I seem to recall.) 

 

Barbs have loads of Health and can get an at-will self-heal, so they'll actually make surprisingly decent tanks also, if played against type. Carnage is quite useful in the front line as you will typically have several enemies within range.

 

Ultimately though a warrior is a warrior is a warrior. It'll stand there and hit things. That's what they do. Applies equally to the fighter, paladin, and barbarian. The rogue does play noticeably differently because of the stealth and mobility related talents; it's inherently higher-management. My fave melee class ATM actually.

[morhilane]

I'm not sure if the Paladin should be put into the "fighter" category. It's designed as a support Leader class like the Chanter and the Priest, but with lower maintenance and more health. Flame of Devotion is their only offensives oriented ability and depending on your Paladin Order, it can be turned into a support ability via order specific talents too.

[Lephys]

The barbarian kiiiinda sucks in BB392, again because of the numbers. Wild Sprint is fairly useless because he'll take so much punishment from disengagement attacks and just getting surrounded that he won't have time to do much damage before getting knocked out;

Kinda seems like the whole idea behind a Barbarian ferociously tearing across the battlefield is that foes would find themselves unable to properly engage him in any meaningful way (kind of like a cavalry charge against footmen... kind of). Seems like Wild Sprint should completely ignore engagement. There should be some guaranteed damage or something, because you're just plowing through foes, so that the trade-off becomes "You're going to take some punishment in the process, but you can basically get yourself to wherever you want on the battlefield very quickly, without all the punishement you wouldn've taken had you just tried jogging there like a normal, non-barabaric person."

 

*shrug*

Edited January 19, 2015 by Lephys

[aeonsim]

You can get a barbarian to do a a fair bit of damage but at the moment it's mainly by sending in someone else to attract the enemies so they group around him then use the barbarian to flank them. His carnage ability then allows him to hit 3-4 enemies at once and because the barb is not the main focus of the attackers he'll survive to deal a fair bit of damage.

In the beta at the moment they can't really survive just charging in first because most of the creatures will kill them to quickly (beetles, massive damage; Spiders, poison).

[Luckmann]

 

The barbarian kiiiinda sucks in BB392, again because of the numbers. Wild Sprint is fairly useless because he'll take so much punishment from disengagement attacks and just getting surrounded that he won't have time to do much damage before getting knocked out;

Kinda seems like the whole idea behind a Barbarian ferociously tearing across the battlefield is that foes would find themselves unable to properly engage him in any meaningful way (kind of like a cavalry charge against footmen... kind of). Seems like Wild Sprint should completely ignore engagement. There should be some guaranteed damage or something, because you're just plowing through foes, so that the trade-off becomes "You're going to take some punishment in the process, but you can basically get yourself to wherever you want on the battlefield very quickly, without all the punishement you wouldn've taken had you just tried jogging there like a normal, non-barabaric person."

 

*shrug*

 

I would be 800% alright with the Barbarian's Wild Sprint ability completely ignoring Engagement (both ways, by the way) or getting a humongous bonus to disengaging.