Oh no they weren't. I began the game all those years ago with a paladin, who could tank circles around any shadowknight. But a guard or zerker was a much better tank. It turned out that, at the time, Crusaders needed BOTH tons of WIS and INT to be effective, because they had both spells and CAs. For the longest time, Crusaders were restricted to Kite or Round Shields and couldn't use Tower Shields. Also, Crusaders started out without the ability to use a bow, which made pulling a PITA.
Now they are. But not back in the days when the game started. The point was that classes change, sometimes quite dramatically, over time.
