Well I was going to wait til I hit 75 but I've been in the thick of things with my Whitemage and 73 is pretty high, so I'll just make it now.
First off, a few things to consider about the job.
Before playing Paladin, you have to understand there are rules of honor for the Paladin that are unwritten but very true. You will be put into situations where your life is constantly on the line, and it's your job to never panic and never act out of fear. You will be required to die for your party, or for strangers. If this just isn't in you, don't play paladin.
You are the tank, unlike every other member who is trying to avoid being hit, you want to be hit. It must feel good to you whenever the monster attacks you, as if you're doing something right.
When setting up your equipment, your priority is...
Hate > Defense > Damage
Hate must be first because, you can have the defense of a 5 feet piece of steel but it doesn't do a damn thing for your party if they're all killed because the monster doesn't give a damn about you.
Your subjob must be warrior as there is a need for the provoke ability.
You should set the following macros.
Provoke(lvl 10)
Flash(lvl 37)
Shield Bash(lvl 15)
Sentinel(lvl 30)
Rampart (lvl 62)
Warcry(lvl 70)
Cure 1/2/3/4 (5/17/30/55)
Defender(50) (I combined with my provoke macro)
Cover(35)
Targeting>> /target <bt>
The targeting macro is useful so that you can get the monster off the puller before he even reaches the camp. You'll never provoke the wrong monster. I am always resting between battle, so I'll start jamming the targeting macro once the puller annouces a pull. Once it appears that means it's in radar range. At that point I stand up and start jamming flash. If you do this then never are you responsible if the puller dies on his/her way back to camp. Of course if he's going to die getting up and running there is needed, but follow the guidelines for a normal pull.
At earlier levels there's no flash, to hold hate you must cure constantly. As a tarutaru I healed maybe 50% of the battle to hold hate and then let the whitemage take over the second half. There was downtime, if you don't like it use juice. Once you get flash you'll have to heal somewhat less to retain hate, but it will vary party to party.
Do not put stupid catch phrases into your provoke or flash line. You can't rely on your macros timer to tell you when it's ready again, because it's canceled when you hit another macro. You must hit provoke constatly, and flash constantly, and for the first few fights spread your other Job Abiilities out a few minutes and if you hit them constantly it will stay spread out.
Heal your party members only if you need to for emergency or if you're having hate problems and MP is not an issue. Why? Because cures casted on yourself are double hate. Cures casted on them are regular hate. It's a better Hate/MP ratio if you save it for yourself, as a result, you protect them better by retaining the monsters attention.
Always get the most defense possible, except in the issue of +enmity gear or defense. Then get enmity. Do not try to get damage over defense in the idea that you'll hold hate better with damage. That's how WARs will hold hate, but not Paladin. Remember that more damage taken also = hate lost so with a great sword you'll actually hold hate worse, except for monsters that are very weak, such as EP or DC.
Shield Bash: Hate tool or stun? Depends on the monster. I usually spam it but for a caster unless I trust the people with stun vehemently I will save it for defensive purposes.
When to cover? This is a highly arguable issue. In my experiences I will only use cover if the person behind it is going to die without it. Because it has a long retimer and I'd hate to not have it when I really need it. Often I'd hear a ranger say "Cover!!" as if they think I forget it, but in truth I have my finger on the button but I'm merely waiting to see if it's really needed. Though recently cover timer has changed to 3 minues instead of 5 so maybe it's more practical now for using it every fight.
Elemental Staves, Vermillioin Cloak and other expensive stuff: I would say your priority stave wise is: Dark > Earth > Light(if you want light, but you don't need). I would only equip light staff after hate has already been lost and you need to do a cure to another player in danger to bring it back, gives you a little extra punch. But I myself have never used it and I think probably fumbling around with staves when someone is dying is a bad idea. Dark staff I like to use between battle after I've used up my TP on a powerful spirits within to rest back to full. Earth staff just use for fighting NM who hit more powerful than normal mob. Vermillion cloak is nice, but I think after using it I would say it is not worth the price really. If you have it already from another job, use it of course between battles.
Food: Fish kabobs or crab depending on preference. I see little difference personally. Fish gives you a little more dex, crab a little more defense. Just be sure to use one of them... food is extremely important for paladin.
VIT or Defense??? Well this is another debated matter. I prefer more vit whenever possible, but this is just from my experience as tarutaru paladin.
When a party member dies, when is it your fault? It's better to say when is it not your fault. When there is a situation of add, often you are put in a position where you must decide how to spread your hate, and you must think quickly. Always provoke the more powerful mob and let the weaker one go. The casters must try to sleep it. If there are deaths, it's not your fault. Try to cure them if you can, but you will be interupted by your own monster, which you also must keep hate on. Also, when puller pulls when you don't have enough MP, and you have been stating that you need more MP for the pull but are ignored, then a DD draws hate from you and is killed, I don't think it's your fault. But this should happen only very rarely. However if they die when you had invincible ready, it IS your fault because you should have used it to draw back hate instantly.
Working with a Sneak Attack / Trick Attack. For me, this has been the most difficult aspect of paladin. You must be very skilled at gauging exactly how much hate you need and only pull slightly above it, so when the first DD vokes and uses weapon skill it will turn the mob, so that the thief or 60+ thf sub can perfect the SATA to you. If the first WS cannot turn the mob, you shouldn't have a thief in the party. Thieves in general work better with Ninjas because they aren't required to pull hate up just to protect the whitemage who is healing them. In the situation they can't turn it, pump your hate up as much as possible and just let them perform on the first DD and try to hold.
Feel free to post any comments or questions.
Edit > grrr typo
First off, a few things to consider about the job.
Before playing Paladin, you have to understand there are rules of honor for the Paladin that are unwritten but very true. You will be put into situations where your life is constantly on the line, and it's your job to never panic and never act out of fear. You will be required to die for your party, or for strangers. If this just isn't in you, don't play paladin.
You are the tank, unlike every other member who is trying to avoid being hit, you want to be hit. It must feel good to you whenever the monster attacks you, as if you're doing something right.
When setting up your equipment, your priority is...
Hate > Defense > Damage
Hate must be first because, you can have the defense of a 5 feet piece of steel but it doesn't do a damn thing for your party if they're all killed because the monster doesn't give a damn about you.
Your subjob must be warrior as there is a need for the provoke ability.
You should set the following macros.
Provoke(lvl 10)
Flash(lvl 37)
Shield Bash(lvl 15)
Sentinel(lvl 30)
Rampart (lvl 62)
Warcry(lvl 70)
Cure 1/2/3/4 (5/17/30/55)
Defender(50) (I combined with my provoke macro)
Cover(35)
Targeting>> /target <bt>
The targeting macro is useful so that you can get the monster off the puller before he even reaches the camp. You'll never provoke the wrong monster. I am always resting between battle, so I'll start jamming the targeting macro once the puller annouces a pull. Once it appears that means it's in radar range. At that point I stand up and start jamming flash. If you do this then never are you responsible if the puller dies on his/her way back to camp. Of course if he's going to die getting up and running there is needed, but follow the guidelines for a normal pull.
At earlier levels there's no flash, to hold hate you must cure constantly. As a tarutaru I healed maybe 50% of the battle to hold hate and then let the whitemage take over the second half. There was downtime, if you don't like it use juice. Once you get flash you'll have to heal somewhat less to retain hate, but it will vary party to party.
Do not put stupid catch phrases into your provoke or flash line. You can't rely on your macros timer to tell you when it's ready again, because it's canceled when you hit another macro. You must hit provoke constatly, and flash constantly, and for the first few fights spread your other Job Abiilities out a few minutes and if you hit them constantly it will stay spread out.
Heal your party members only if you need to for emergency or if you're having hate problems and MP is not an issue. Why? Because cures casted on yourself are double hate. Cures casted on them are regular hate. It's a better Hate/MP ratio if you save it for yourself, as a result, you protect them better by retaining the monsters attention.
Always get the most defense possible, except in the issue of +enmity gear or defense. Then get enmity. Do not try to get damage over defense in the idea that you'll hold hate better with damage. That's how WARs will hold hate, but not Paladin. Remember that more damage taken also = hate lost so with a great sword you'll actually hold hate worse, except for monsters that are very weak, such as EP or DC.
Shield Bash: Hate tool or stun? Depends on the monster. I usually spam it but for a caster unless I trust the people with stun vehemently I will save it for defensive purposes.
When to cover? This is a highly arguable issue. In my experiences I will only use cover if the person behind it is going to die without it. Because it has a long retimer and I'd hate to not have it when I really need it. Often I'd hear a ranger say "Cover!!" as if they think I forget it, but in truth I have my finger on the button but I'm merely waiting to see if it's really needed. Though recently cover timer has changed to 3 minues instead of 5 so maybe it's more practical now for using it every fight.
Elemental Staves, Vermillioin Cloak and other expensive stuff: I would say your priority stave wise is: Dark > Earth > Light(if you want light, but you don't need). I would only equip light staff after hate has already been lost and you need to do a cure to another player in danger to bring it back, gives you a little extra punch. But I myself have never used it and I think probably fumbling around with staves when someone is dying is a bad idea. Dark staff I like to use between battle after I've used up my TP on a powerful spirits within to rest back to full. Earth staff just use for fighting NM who hit more powerful than normal mob. Vermillion cloak is nice, but I think after using it I would say it is not worth the price really. If you have it already from another job, use it of course between battles.
Food: Fish kabobs or crab depending on preference. I see little difference personally. Fish gives you a little more dex, crab a little more defense. Just be sure to use one of them... food is extremely important for paladin.
VIT or Defense??? Well this is another debated matter. I prefer more vit whenever possible, but this is just from my experience as tarutaru paladin.
When a party member dies, when is it your fault? It's better to say when is it not your fault. When there is a situation of add, often you are put in a position where you must decide how to spread your hate, and you must think quickly. Always provoke the more powerful mob and let the weaker one go. The casters must try to sleep it. If there are deaths, it's not your fault. Try to cure them if you can, but you will be interupted by your own monster, which you also must keep hate on. Also, when puller pulls when you don't have enough MP, and you have been stating that you need more MP for the pull but are ignored, then a DD draws hate from you and is killed, I don't think it's your fault. But this should happen only very rarely. However if they die when you had invincible ready, it IS your fault because you should have used it to draw back hate instantly.
Working with a Sneak Attack / Trick Attack. For me, this has been the most difficult aspect of paladin. You must be very skilled at gauging exactly how much hate you need and only pull slightly above it, so when the first DD vokes and uses weapon skill it will turn the mob, so that the thief or 60+ thf sub can perfect the SATA to you. If the first WS cannot turn the mob, you shouldn't have a thief in the party. Thieves in general work better with Ninjas because they aren't required to pull hate up just to protect the whitemage who is healing them. In the situation they can't turn it, pump your hate up as much as possible and just let them perform on the first DD and try to hold.
Feel free to post any comments or questions.
Edit > grrr typo
But i miss those days when we were all together. I dont know if its just me but lately alot of the parties ive been in with my rng have really been horrible. Tanks not holding hate blms over nuking or not mb worth a damn whm not healing when they should rdm not debuffing and the worst is trying to do skill chains. I mean if you cant do your job and your 55-60 your just wasting everyones time. I usually dont say anything even if the parties suck but I know your not worried about letting it fly. Well guess i got off track but its nice to see guides like this floating around, just wish the people who need to read it. So keep em' coming Fire!