This is more of a poll than a question, because every person i talk to in gmae says one or the other would completely pwn the other. So please give me your opinion WITH a reason, not just "Dark Avenger win mwhhahaha"
Dark Avenger seem to be an alright tank with more offence, and the Paladin is just a brilliant tank. Depends which you would like to do, given that tanks have a role in PvP now.
Your not going to find many folks who have leveled both cause they take forever!
The DA has the patk of an elpy. He is a good solid tank. His panther is tough but relatively expensive.
Good toon in a group--solo kinda bites.
Now for the good news regarding DA: he is resilient (fair hp and fair pdef with good gear). He can recover a fair number of hitpoints through spells. His shield stun lands fairly often. The panther friend keeps him from being lonely.
I'm not sorry I picked DA over what I've heard of pally. Except when tanking (which I like to do) the other toons I play seem more fun.
+1 vote for DA (admitting I know nothing of playing a pally and with some reservations).
I've been in quite a few groups where a quick sacrifice saves the healer, while increasing my Patk simoultaneously.
Paladins are awesome PVPers as well. We get that awesome Angelic Icon (think Prophecy of Fire buff). We also get omnidirectional shield defense for mass PVP.
I think paladins make better PVPers overall because we only rely on ourself for our damage, and not a panther. We know how to survive much better than most tank classes, and it is a VERY surviveable character.
Another perk is the ability to shield stun, and then heal about 900 damage right after, and then shield stun, rinse, and repeat.
thats just no true... Say a huge spawn appears while ur prophet or WC iws buffinf. and she/he pulls all the agro. A sacrfice might give the tank enough time to hate the mobs off of them.
Most DAs don't use their main advantage (kittycat) during standard levelling - after that, the paladin might take less damage (depends on the spot), and can crowd control better.
Personally, I'd prefer a DA with kitty for controlled Pv1, and a paladin in any situation where adds are expected.
You know though, for the last 30% of this level I've been alone in game and have taken the panther with me into EV. I'm still getting 13000 exp for the trees and the cat and I kill them relatively quickly (13k is DA's share WITH the cat up).
The liele elders and fline elders we go through pretty quickly too. All are white to me though those last two the DA gets about 5400 exp for his share of exp.
I've been pretty happy having the kitty along. He doesn't heal or anything but he pays attention better than lots of players you pick up in duos (haha).
Except for some c-crystals (generously supplied by my WS from a formerly useful SLS that went boom), I don't have to share anything with the cat either.
I'm beginning to think the kitty's not a bad leveling partner.
I've been using my kitty since lvl 40 continuosly and really really help. As a tank you hit like a girl but that cat can really do some seriuos damage.
Its true that it eats up quite a lot of exp from you but it also makes you kill monsters fasters so it compensates that issue.
I mainly hunt solo so having a more offensive tank is the way for me.
If you like to party more perhaps a pali is your best choice.
Either way a DA is a fairly decent tank on partys too...