Paladin are very weak early, but once pop opens, they become very viable. Shackle is a very strong spell combine with DS instant cast you can CC pulls and aggro is not an issue, never. For what it does, paladin is a very capable tank in group settings after the good AAs come out. It's not like the game is hard until later xpacs, saying SK are clearly better is wrong, because there is nothing as a group tank paladin can't do.
In at least the classic era, SK's can use their mitigation, aggro and self preservation abilities WHILE they are tanking. It's not feasible for a paladin to heal himself WHILE he is tanking. Stuns aren't really as fast casting as they should be, and most things that aren't just xp groupable can't be stunned, so it really cuts down on paladin mitigation. A level boost past the classic (ish) era would make a paladin vs. SK discussion more interesting.
