Description

The Paladin is a tank class that can cast divine direct damage magic as well as holy spells to heal their group members and themselves. The Paladin has access to a lot of protective magic (buffs) and can oftentimes survive battles that a regular tank could not due to his healing abilities such as Lay of Hands.

Solo-Play

The Paladin is a very efficient soloing class. The Paladin is capable of healing himself in and out of combat which makes him hard to kill and have less down time out of combat. The high hit points and armor combined with healing and protective abilities makes him a very good soloing class. The downside of the Paladin is the lack of damage output. The damage output can be increased by using a 2 handed weapon but you will be sacrificing defensive capabilities by removing a shield. The Paladin is probably on par with the damage output of the Guardian, the lowest damage output of the tank classes, because it only has the ability to heal itself; unlike the Shadowknight who drains life from the opponent(causes damage while healing) to himself. You will find that unless you like to play slow-paced that there are far better choices out there for soloing then the Paladin.

Group-Play

The Paladin is probably one of the best one-group tanks to have in play. Not only does it receive the ability to heal group members directly and at the same time, but it also gains aggro on the hate list by healing group members which makes up for the lack of taunting it receives compared to the guardian class. The Paladin also has a unique variety of buffs that it can use to enhance the group. These group enhancements could be the difference between life and death for the group. Lay of Hands could be used in vital situations because it can be used fairly quickly and restore a vast amount of health to the targetted ally or itself. The Paladin is the only non-healing specific class that could be capable of healing a group if other healers cannot be found (assuming they use their achievement points in healing areas). This makes the versatility of the Paladin a bonus. From Main Tank to a heavy armored Cleric in the blink of an eye.

Summary

The Paladin is probably not the class you want to use to solo but if you like being on good faction, helping your allies, and tanking this is probably the class for you. You may not find yourself main-tank on a raid but your group enhancements and versatility will always be welcomed as a secondary tank or utility class on many raids. If any of the above interests you, then the Paladin may be your class.