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Right now I'm just feeling a little lost and overwhelmed. I've been playing for 4 days now and I'm level 46, but I still feel like I don't really know what I'm doing. As soon as I was able to use the in game chat I found out I should: a) Do random daily queues. b) Join a guild.
a) I started joining the random groups at about level 30ish, and it would throw me in super beginner dungeons, but twice now I've been in a slightly harder level 40 dungeon and after that I really feel like I don't know how to play my class at all.
I'm a Paladin and I went in with a Justiciar loadout and anytime we ran into ~10 mobs one of the dps would die even if I tried healing/using enmity skills and I'm constantly running out of Divinity and only at around 20% of the meter full by the time the group runs into the next batch of enemies. So I end up waiting 20 seconds for my enmity skill to cool down and just sit there blocking. Also I feel bad because sometimes I get lost because I've never been in these dungeons and fall behind.
So even though it's the only way I know how to get Astral Diamonds at the moment I feel really discouraged from actually joining the random queues now. I haven't tried going in with Oathkeeper yet, but I feel like I'll still have the same problem of running out of Divinity... and knowing it's only going to get harder, I'd really appreciate if anyone has any advice for playing a Paladin. Also I have no idea what stats I should be looking for on armor. I've just been following the little star suggesting the "better" armor sometimes I lose 1k combat advantage and gain 1k armor penetration, or lose 1k deflect and gain 1k critical strike, I really don't know how much they affect me.
b) I'm scared of joining a guild and people expecting me to know how to actually play my class when I've spent half my game time running around town collecting pumpkins and waiting for iron ore deliveries.
a) I started joining the random groups at about level 30ish, and it would throw me in super beginner dungeons, but twice now I've been in a slightly harder level 40 dungeon and after that I really feel like I don't know how to play my class at all.
I'm a Paladin and I went in with a Justiciar loadout and anytime we ran into ~10 mobs one of the dps would die even if I tried healing/using enmity skills and I'm constantly running out of Divinity and only at around 20% of the meter full by the time the group runs into the next batch of enemies. So I end up waiting 20 seconds for my enmity skill to cool down and just sit there blocking. Also I feel bad because sometimes I get lost because I've never been in these dungeons and fall behind. So even though it's the only way I know how to get Astral Diamonds at the moment I feel really discouraged from actually joining the random queues now. I haven't tried going in with Oathkeeper yet, but I feel like I'll still have the same problem of running out of Divinity... and knowing it's only going to get harder, I'd really appreciate if anyone has any advice for playing a Paladin. Also I have no idea what stats I should be looking for on armor. I've just been following the little star suggesting the "better" armor sometimes I lose 1k combat advantage and gain 1k armor penetration, or lose 1k deflect and gain 1k critical strike, I really don't know how much they affect me.
b) I'm scared of joining a guild and people expecting me to know how to actually play my class when I've spent half my game time running around town collecting pumpkins and waiting for iron ore deliveries.
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For my paladin (which, admittedly, I only play when the alliance is really desperate for a tank), I have two sets of powers: one for soloing, and one for tanking in a group. When soloing, I have Burning Light, Sacred Weapon, and Smite loaded, and when tanking I have Bane, Vow of Enmity, and either Divine Touch or Absolution (usually Absolution unless the cleric in the group is really overloaded). I do NOT understand the Divine Champion mechanic at all, so I can't help you there. Like you, I'm always running out of Divinity and I have no idea how to deal with that. My solution has been to simply avoid any powers that use divinity, but that's where a real expert on Justicar paladins would help here.
In the alliance runs I've been on things have always went well, even though most of the time I just feel like I'm mashing buttons. My point here is that even people at max level can still be in a learning phase, let alone someone who is still leveling up.
As for random queues, I NEVER do them. They strike me as just too impersonal, so when I do group content I try to do them within the alliance as much as possible. It will take time to find people you are comfortable with, but there are many decent people on the server. Lately I'm finding the Well of Dragons to be the most friendly place, probably because of the high level of cooperation needed for successful dragon runs.
Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO
Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF
Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP
The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRZRXOvmsLJyLugZim7XZ8ZarWL6ifBgHeZvSdxaSZno74c1jCAx15M2U1NujWaKw/pub
In general, when in dungeon I'm fighting mobs, to hold the aggro I use: Burning Light, Templar's Wrath and one between Vow of Enmity and Relentless Avenger.
To hold aggro you need to deal damage, not staying up with the shiled 100% of the time. So, my suggestion is to up the shiled to block the attacks you are going to receive, then deal damage. You can see the enemies when thery are attacking you.
On single target swap Burning Light with Sacred Weapon and Templar's Wrath with Smite (using the Class Feature that gives to Smite the ability to generate Threat).
Don't spam to much Encounters with use Divinity, otherwise it's easy to go out of divinity.
About the Stats:
Save your AD to buy bondings runestones at least rank 10 (thanks to the VIP coffers they are quite cheap). Then buy an Augment companion (they are the ones which give us more stats and they are even more effective if your bondings are low rank). Then you need to focus mostly in 2 stats (as a tank) which are Defense and Critical Avoidance.
This are followed by HP (Health Points), which you can get from companions, enchantments in defensive slots etc.
To hold the aggro is also important to cap at least Armor Penetration.
But these are problems you need to take care when you'll be higher level (70/80).
The only things you need to focus now it's to level up and enjoy the game
Definitely read the doc kors linked out. It's very helpful.
Also, you shouldn't be healing. You're the tank. I never run heals of any type except Shield of Faith IF i feel like some extra heal help couldn't hurt.
Divinity on Justicar is hard to recover so you have to be very scarce with using it.
Without knowing what feats you run this may or may not be helpful.
For mobs, I run Relentless Avenger to lunge into mobs from a distance and get there faster. Burning Light to stun mobs and grab some aggro and Bane (I have the feat for Baneful Strikes, if it procs you can cast a free Bane which is very helpful with divinity management).
On bosses I usually just swap Smite in for Bane with the feature that puts you at top of threat list. A smite or two should grab boss aggro for awhile unless you're in there with DPS beasts. If it's a tougher boss I might switch out relentless and burning for Binding Oath and Absolution. Just play around with different combinations.
As a tank, your focus should be on survivability so hit points, incoming healing, and hitting defense caps are a must. I would worry about armor pen as you go. Early on, I wouldn't worry too much about the gear you get. Save up for companions and bonding stones to help out with stats. Buy some cheap comp gear on the AH if you need something to get going. That will go a lot further than the gear you get right now.
And the last thing I would say is work on your timing with blocking. Spend too long blocking and you'll burn through divinity/stamina.
As for Oathkeeper, that's the heal path so unless you want to be the healer instead of a tank, I would avoid it. It's a different beast altogether (still fun though if you want to try both).
Since every character has two "loadouts", I've had some suggest setting one for when you run solo and another for when you are in a party for your specialty (DPS/Healer or Tank).
Some people claim there are specific ways to allot a character's powers to properly play that character, but I've always thought what works best for you, the player, what you personally find more productive and easier to use is (or should be) adequate. Don't feel bad about running a healer and not being to heal worth a spit, there are a lot of characters out there with really high hitpoints and most "healers" have been nerfed to the point where they don't put out sufficient heals and the recovery time is such that few of them can adequately heal party members especially in an environment where so many players tend run from one encounter to the next without giving themselves sufficient time to recover, you can't heal stoopid (my observation).
Just play as well as you can and as your experience and item level (along with better enchantments, companions, mounts and boons) increases you will find you will probably be doing better.
Primarily do your best, listen to constructive suggestions when offered and ignore brow-beating and personal insults always and just have fun playing your character. Remember "respec" tokens are available should you feel you need to make some alterations in the way your character's powers, stats and boons are allotted at a later date.
My 2¢