Posted by Ponderer(VIP) on October 20, 1999 at 12:04:47:
I recently watched Bram Stoker's Dracula for the 50th time(a good movie if you're into that sort of thing) and I was thinking about ole Drac at the beginning. You know, where he's running around fucking people up in that nifty-ass body armor that looks like an anatomy picture of the muscles in an encylopedia. Thinking about CF, as I usually do when I'm watching a "period piece" like that, I thought about he could probably be rationalized into the Paladin guild. Then I began thinking about the sorry state that Paladins are in. You know, people sitting in their guild, muttering to themself because they're a storm giant with 17 int and no trance to help them keep their mana above 3%. I also thought about how people generally play paladins. You know, sitting in their guild, only leaving when the coast is clear, power-ranking to 30 or so then sitting because they get tired of having to earn like 50k xp for each rank, and generally getting their ass beat unless they run around in gangs of 65 and even then basically contributing little except a couple wraths, a sanc or two, and a few heals. Most are pretty passive, usually arbiters or Dawnies, who die a little to much to soak any enjoyment out of them. Or maybe they're Marans, running around "destroying" evil and ending up getting the smackdown placed on their ass by a group of 150 Imperials or the lone evil rager with a bad attitude. Then I began thinking about the class choices. Storm giant, the obvious way to go but, like I said before, at rank 30 you better enjoy killing mobs for days on end. Elf, just as much mob-killing, but you get your ass handed to you like an gnomish warrior that has had his hp smited down to 15. Human and half-elf, basically as good as the class will let them be, which isn't good at all. Then onto helpfiles I went, analyzing the meaning of the class, what they were meant to be, what they are, and how bad they suck. What you've got is basically a shaman/healer/warrior breed that is supposed to be chilavrous, blah blah blah, and lawful. They're usually seen as non-bloodthirsty, kinda passive, kind-hearted, and so forth. Well I say that this is all bunk. The paladins obviously need a little help. They need something to help make them worthwhile, cause let's face it, you might as well go shaman. Sure you don't get dual wield or charge set, or even the awe-inspiring shield bash which is only scary when it's got buggy code that makes it MANGLE when it hits, but you get all that other great stuff that let's you bust some rear, PLUS TRANCE, which is huge. I'm rambling terribly bad, which is what I do when I've had a six-pack of Mountain Dew and about a dozen packs of Smartees. The moral of this story, is something needs done. CF is a bloodthirsty game, like it or not, and paladins just don't match up. Let's toughen them up a little bit m'kay? Imms, are ya hearin me? Can you smell what the Ponderer is cookin? When you're overhauling the class think of good ole Drac busting some heads m'kay?