Alright, this is by no means extensively thought out, so I'm hoping for discussion more than /agree or /disagree.
I think that the Paragon's potential is limited by the ranged-only Spear attack arsenal. With 80 AL anyway and the excellent ability for personal or party-wide support, Paragons are/could be perfectly capable of frontlining. Strategically speaking, in PvE or PvP, a frontline Paragon still using many of the shouts that the class and the Warrior class have could be excellent. However, with the ranged-only spear attacks, Paragons are more likely to use Aggressive Refrain, knocking their AL down to squishy level, and spam ranged spears plus adrenal skills for support.
Spears, realistically, are more likely used for close combat anyway. The spear is a fine weapon and Spear Mastery a fine attribute, so adding attack skills could be done under this category. Spear Swipe was introduced in GW:EN, making Paragons using it have to hustle to the frontline (or even to the middle or back of another team's setup to daze a caster), but without sufficient other melee ranged spear attacks, they're going to move back to midline.
At any rate, I think it would be a fun way to play and I think it would not only make the class more diverse, but would give it an option to play in settings where a "party support" player is not desired or needed as well as making it generally more versatile.
Thoughts?
). But Kobey is right-nothing is really stopping you from throwing your spear at close range lol.
