I am a returning player from years ago (slightly passed the PoP era). I would like to roll a tank class that is mostly looking at doing group content and casual raiding. In off time I enjoy camping old content for alts and good times. I like the idea of warrior dual wielding and throwing out some mean damage, but I also like the idea of a paladin with his holy shields being an unkillable force to reckon with. What do you guys suggest, Warrior or Paladin to fill this role? I want to add, I am open to the idea of rolling with a SK as well, but all the doom and gloom talk of the incoming nerfs along with the fact that it feels like an overpopulated class makes me want to try something else.
Contrary to popular opinion, SKs are not being nerfed into the ground. They are simply losing the ability to swarm. All tanks (including SKs post nerf) are currently beasts. You're enthused with the idea of a paladin? Play that. The main difference will be warriors have better ae agro than paladins (And so do SKs).
If what you want to do mostly is group content and casual raiding, a paladin would fit this role more. Knights are better than warriors in group content, they have more utility and self healing. Paladins can solo for example some group content with a DPS merc, something that warriors cannot do. Also, warrior don't DW now when they tank. All tanks use shield and board now to tank stuff, including warriors. You will spend more time with a shield than DW with a warrior in current content. So if it's something that isn't appealing to you to see a warrior stopping DW most of the time, then paladin would suit you more too again there.
All three tanks are good currently, however I feel SKs are the easiest to explore and do group content on because they get self invis,invis undead and feign death + super fast mount to get around zones on. Paladins don't get self invis but do get invis vs undead and mount. Warriors obviously get none of those. As far as casual raiding most guilds have some need for paladins but paladins jobs on raids is pretty involved, spot healing, splash curing add tanking makes their role on raids pretty intense but does mean you are more likely to get a raid spot as one. Sk's are not as versatile as paladins on raids but are/were good at picking up multiple adds so had a small niche they could perform on raids. Warriors obviously are the primary raid tanks but you do need good gear to tank raid named so they are a little harder to get into pick up raids with if you dont have decent gear, saying that the new EoK tier 2 is almost as good as last expansion's raid gear, it has significantly more AC than TBM gear but slightly less health and heroics. I have a SK and a Paladin at 105 and I find the SK to be more fun overall for the above reasons, been able to run through Chardok or Kor'sha lab and FD off a see invis train is very useful for instance. Saying that Paladins are fun too but the different tool set seems to shine more in a raid setting.
The truth is they are all viable classes now. I have argued for a long time that warriors were by far the most gear dependent class in the game. However, with the current AA sets I've seen group geared warriors tank very well in Tier 2 EoK.
