a gantru raldukan  

Three things.

First of all, against 55th level enemies and below, paladins are much more mana-efficient than warriors when it comes to tanking. Yes, warriors have armor paladins can't use, and yes, it sports somewhat higher AC and HP bonuses; yes, that means warriors will take slightly less damage per hit on the average, and yes, a CH will heal slightly more HP per point of mana spent. That is how far it goes, however.

When I used to tank 55th level enemies and below, I didn't just stand there and take the hits as a warrior would be forced to do. Instead, I would be using 4 and 6 second stuns whenever they were up, timing them so they would hit just before the enemy was about to strike. The end result? The enemy stuck less than half the number of times it would have otherwise, which meant I took less damage than a warrior on permanent Defensive discipline (which is, of course, not an option.) Aggro loss just didn't occur. The shaman or enchanter slowed the enemy while it was still incoming, meaning no mana wasted healing the warrior while he established enough aggro for the slower to be able to do her thing safely. My mana? KEI, MC1, and FT4 allowed me to keep up without any meditation breaks whatsoever.

Secondly, in the high-end game, where yard trash is able to hit for 700+ damage and make quad attacks, everyone, 65th level warriors included, may die due to a sudden unfortunate flurry, a series of ripostes following a high-damage quad attack, an unexpected add or two, etc.

Paladins, however, have their stuns. When I get low on HP unexpectedly and the CH is still 10 seconds away, I just spend that single second casting a Force of Akilae, thus buying myself and the cleric 4 seconds of time. That could be followed by a 10-second stun (2 seconds to cast), if one is high enough level to cast it. Those stuns are difficult to resist, mind you. Against most enemies, in my experience, FoA is resisted perhaps once an hour of constant tanking.

If a warrior were tanking in such a situation, the cleric would have to abort CH and instead cast quick heals, which hardly is the mana-efficient thing to do.

Finally:

Well, that's just the thing: If you want to be brutally honest, a warrior doesn't really have a place in the perfectly balanced XP party--warriors are best at tanking single, raid-level enemies who can't be stunned; that's it. In an XP group, it would be far more effective to let the paladin tank and get another damage dealer instead of the warrior.

But of course, I'm not one of those people who sneer at less than ideal parties; I play the game to have fun, so if you're a warrior and a nice guy, you can take the place of a damage dealer in my party.

Sir Karnos Darkmere
Crusader of the 62nd Circle and 60th Alternate Advancement
Lord of the Order of the Fiery Heart
Firiona Vie

well said Ashbentiel
Like so many things in this game, the ability to hold agro, and the skill in knowing WHEN to get agro, is not entirely a class-based thing. It is player dependant.

(btw - I LOVE proc'ing weapons - unfortunately, as my 2 current proc'rs have DoT proc's the only use they see *usually* is when I am certain we have only a single mob and no adds incoming :p~)

Edited, Tue May 7 00:17:32 2002