by Dr. Doom » Mon Feb 15, 2016 9:51 am
What you'll be told here is that you should ninja all the warrior gear you can, as the way to tank as paladin is to be a poor man's warrior, going for the same items so you mimic it as best as possible, but always having lower avoidance and mitigation.
Lightforge is an eclectic set. It provides intellect for a non pathetic mana pool, some self dispel, some off heals, while also adding in some strength for auto attack damage. It's not meant to be the main tank pieces that are str/stam/def meant for warriors, it's meant to be a more hybrid set.
The reason why Lightforge set, along with all D1 sets for that matter are disliked here, is because we now relish in the era of specialization, where you essentially stack defense if tank, stack + healing if healer, and stack +frost/+shadow if dps. Hybrid ideas get sidelined.
This being said, I actually play my paladin as a hybrid healer/offtank with largely positive results so far. Doing so with a friend going holy priest dps (smiter that I help with JoC). SO if you feel like trying a Lightforge oriented build, go for it. Free game, do what makes you happy, not hurting anyone other than PvE rats who think they're the elite.