PLD questions

[Indalecia]

Theoretically, yes

Btw, DRK SMN WHM BLM PLD, 8 Scythe, 8 GS, working on shield now. Plan on leveling BLU and THF. But I have my mains and I'm not wasting it on other silly skill points. lolaxe

[Valisk]

But missing 4 shield skill merits that are only beneficial during the small amount of time shadows are down are?

Same can be said about people macroing Buckler Earring, Boxer's Mantle, MHead, Shield Torque, AF1 Feet, etc etc. Not gonna try to validate either side but calling one side silly because YOU disagree is retarded in and of itself. It's all personal preference.

[kandiekane]

4 shield skill to a pld is just as important as 4acc 8 attack.

Clearly people that are saying shield merits are a joke do not understand its important.

Shield skill and Haste is the key to lowmanning things. If you have ever tried to single tank anything as pld/nin or your co-tank just went down, you'll realize the importance of shield skill.

4 weapon merits do not make or break your melee job so that they can "Zerg" any better. With feint, angon, 6 brd songs, anyone can zerg with 0 merits.

[Atlasion]

Sword, Axe, Great Axe. Next question.

You've come into a thread about PLDs endgame telling people to cap out thier melee jobs. Believe it or not, not everyone is here to deck out their melees.

If you're very serious at tanking endgame with PLD then merit shield. If you prefer melee jobs, then cap out all your weapons. Shield merits don't make or break a PLD, the same way 4 additional weapon merits won't make or break a melee job.

Edit: I would like to point out that it took me over 2 minutes to make this post, and I had not read the post above in that time.

[Sendra]

You've come into a thread about PLDs endgame telling people to cap out thier melee jobs. Believe it or not, not everyone is here to deck out their melees.

Point taken. Suppose what I'm trying to say is that you'll see A LOT more from four weapon merits than you would shield. If you've got room I guess it's cool for completion and e-peen, can't argue that 8 shield skill is worse/the same as 0 shield skill. It's just damn close.

[TomodachiF]

you should aim for one that doesn't de-level every death

yea;; 17k buffer now tho!!!

[siknoz]

I bet the PLDs who are arguing that shield skill merits aren't worth it are also the ones using homam feet.

/shitstorm

[Mayareira]

1) Shield Skill merit, do you really need this endgame ?

Like mentioned above, they'll not make or break you. If you've got available merits go for it.


2) Gears swapping (that makes your model reloaded), do you do this ? - Assuming your mages don't play on PC and do not have access to BlinkMeNot plugin

Ideally you'd expect your mages to have custom cure macros, etc. but we all know that this doesn't always happen. Give it a try, if your support can keep up with it then go for it.


3) HP max and MP max, how much is enough on average to keep you alive from 1 shotting ? - I'm a Hume PLD

Again, they won't make or break you but you'd want HP merits more than MP on Paladin.


4) Joytoy or Maha+1 when you're tanking seriously with /NIN ?


Mach +1.

5) March x 2 or March+Ballad ? - I have haste gears up to 22% recast reduction from haste/fastcast but I don't have much +Enmity gears.

March ideally, ballad when you are hurting MP.

6) Does defense value matter at all with /NIN ? - I mean like 370 and 400ish def.


Haste, Enmity and Damage reductions should be your priority.

[Neosutra]

Because getting your shadows back up can save a fight, while having 3% more acc probably wont?

[Crizto]

I bet the PLDs who are arguing that shield skill merits aren't worth it are also the ones using homam feet.

/shitstorm

Is this sarcasm?

[Dein]

I bet the PLDs who are arguing that shield skill merits aren't worth it are also the ones using homam feet.

/shitstorm

Is this sarcasm?

There's no way it couldn't be.

As for what the OP asked:

1) Shield merits are a matter of opinion. Decide if your PLD will be what you plan on using for HNMs and most endgame stuff or if you're just leveling it as a back up job for when you lack tanks. 8 more shield skill will help if you use the job a lot but otherwise you should reconsider.

2) You should always have gear swaps ready. How often you swap though will depend on how prepared your mages are.

3) As a Hume I went with 8 hp merits and never had any troubles with mp. Having around at least 300 mp always felt like I had plenty of mp unless shit was hitting the fan and you'll usually have more than that with homam and other gear on.

4) Mach+1 always for anything big. The only swords you should consider replacing it with on HNMs would be Hauteclaire and Excalibur.

5)March+Ballad is usually good enough for most things but 2xMarch helps if you absolutely need recast timers reduced.

6)Defense will always help. You can't avoid every hit on /nin so reducing some of the damage you take from normal hits will help in the long run.

[Kayos]

I bet the PLDs who are arguing that shield skill merits aren't worth it are also the ones using homam feet.

/shitstorm

Cause fulltiming AF 1 feet is good amirite?

Because getting your shadows back up can save a fight, while having 3% more acc probably wont?

If only there was a spell that helped increase shield block rates that pld could use to help get shadows back up...


I agree that if you are a fulltime pld than shield skill is best, I am not arguing that. However, the clueless plds (like the 2 I quoted above) really aren't doing anything to help the argument why shield skill is better than melee combat skill if you have both.

[Seraph]

I bet the PLDs who are arguing that shield skill merits aren't worth it are also the ones using homam feet.

/shitstorm

I have 4 Shield Merits, and use Homam Feet for my -50% recast build. What of it?

I have seen a definate improvement with the merits. This conversation is definately a mutation of the 'shit is situational' concept with gear, except this time it's with merits. Want to block a little better? Merit shield. Want to do a little more damage? Merit weapons. However, unlike gear choices, this topic doesn't have a clear solution, so complaining back and forth does nothing except increase post count. Diehard PLDs will merit Sword8, Shield4, and then blow 8 somewhere else. Some choose Parry/Evasion, some choose GS, some choose Staff, some choose a weapon from another of their jobs. Not that huge a deal.

[homerun]

I'm not sure why you would choose to not blink as a paladin, what's the point of getting enmity/haste/shield skill gear if it's not equipped when you need it?
I've never had mages in my tanking party refuse to make a cure or status cure macro with my name in it, it's their job to keep you alive. A blm/whm that has your name in a paralyna macro is 500% more helpful then a merited whm that makes you stay in your emnity set while you are trying to get ichi up. What I do is just have two sets of macros, one that blinks gear and one that has the same actions but with no visible gear swaps right next to each other, if i'm about to die I can just swap palettes. Works with spellcast too, if you use it.

[Neosutra]

Cause fulltiming AF 1 feet is good amirite?


If only there was a spell that helped increase shield block rates that pld could use to help get shadows back up...


I agree that if you are a fulltime pld than shield skill is best, I am not arguing that. However, the clueless plds (like the 2 I quoted above) really aren't doing anything to help the argument why shield skill is better than melee combat skill if you have both.

REPRISAL IS A MINIMAL INCREASE AND DOES NOT PUT YOU AT MAX SHIELD BLOCK RATE AND DOES NOT NEGATE THE FUCKING NEED FOR SHIELD SKILL.

And did you just call me a fucking clueless fucking pld? Are you that fucking stupid?

[Indalecia]

...And the flames of war were ignited and out of the ashes rose a messanger. "Hark, all ye who visit here, j0 bout to get pwnt."

[Callisto]

OH IT'S ALREADY BEEN BROUGHTED

[Kayos]

REPRISAL IS A MINIMAL INCREASE AND DOES NOT PUT YOU AT MAX SHIELD BLOCK RATE AND DOES NOT NEGATE THE FUCKING NEED FOR SHIELD SKILL.

And did you just call me a fucking clueless fucking pld? Are you that fucking stupid?

You seem a bit insecure about your pld to be so angry.

I also find it funny how you are unaware of the fact that 4 shield merits alone won't put you at max shield block rate either. Not to mention the fact that the block increase from reprisal > the increased blocks you would get from 4 shield merits.

Anyway you may want to grab a towel or something and stop leaking all over this thread.

[Atlasion]

You seem a bit insecure about your pld to be so angry.

I also find it funny how you are unaware of the fact that 4 shield merits alone won't put you at max shield block rate either. Not to mention the fact that the block increase from reprisal > the increased blocks you would get from 4 shield merits.

Anyway you may want to grab a towel or something and stop leaking all over this thread.

Are you saying PLDs shouldn't have shield merits because of reprisal?

You can't have reprisal up full time, and its pretty hard to predict when shadows are going to go down. As far as /NIN tanking is concerned, I find reprisal pretty useless. Its increase in shield block isn't noticable on HNMs.

[Ratatapa]

Shield merits arnt necessary if you arn't PLD main and/or have too much jobs to merit.

but if you are PLD90% of time in events plz cap shield merits ....