Are paladins who they say they are?

Iv always loved two proffesions, rangers/hunters and paladins, after completing the main story with my ranger I thought it was about time to start a paladin, it was not long after this I noticed that there are a HUGE number of "paladins" running around believing themselves to be god. Now im not saying this about everyone because it completly depends on your style of play, but arnt Paladins supposed to be the holy defenders and protectors, as opposed to the run in and attempt to hack everything up on your own ers.
Im sure plenty of people succesfully play the warrior/monk as a very good damage dealer, but surly there are much better choices for warrior damage dealing than a warrior/monk.
I no that playing the typical, if not so common, paladin has brought me many thanks, iv only got to The Ruins of Surmia, but most of my parties have allot to say at the end of a mission when instead of running in and hacking everything up I actaully healed THEM with my healing breaze and defended them.
But like I said, im saying there is anyway you should or shouldnt play your characters, I just want to know what everyone thinks about this.

I think most people that play a warrior/monk aren't trying to roleplay a paladin or anything. They're just in it for the easy self healing since you can't always rely on your teammates to do it if you're not playing with your own guild.

They might also be taking smiting skills which seems to fit into the role of a paladin to me. At least I always thought paladins were good against undead? Not a huge roleplayer so I could be wrong there.

If by paladin you just mean someone that can defend their team then monks make the best paladins hehe.

Youre one of the few good palladins out there that actually understand the game.
You can easily spot a stupid paladin: it is asking for (more) monks!

pal·a·din Audio pronunciation of "paladin" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (pl-dn)
n.

1. A paragon of chivalry; a heroic champion.
2. A strong supporter or defender of a cause: “the paladin of plain speaking” (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.).
3. Any of the 12 peers of Charlemagne's court.


So ya, the "good" guy in most stories.

I always pictured a paladin as just being as good as they could possibly be, helping as much as possible and providing leadership when required, or being a supportive follower when called for. Not so much about the specific skillset, but having a common mindset.

I play a Wa/Mo myself and I help keep who i can alive when i can. I have seen some pretty awful paladins while in pvp.. cant say much about pve b/c i duo with a friend who switches from monk primary or ele.. During pvp you'll find a ton of the "run in hack & slash, be the first to die" type of paladins. Then you'll have the "champion gladiator" type who will not call targets and not go after called targets and fight another warrior instead of the monk or mesmer.. Then the last one's that get on my nerves are the paladins who have no healing OR any type of res.. The whole point to being /monk in my opinion is to have a self heal and a few different types of res instead of just a signet.

IF you are not in one of those that I listed then your ok as far as i see it

That would be almost the reverse of the way it was, or realistically ought to be roleplayed.

Good guys? Please. A holy warrior is not necessarily a good guy. They can anything from genuinely caring to arrogant arses to bloodthirsty zealots to outright murderers. As Blaise Pascal said, "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." True, but the same could be said of good. Whatever men do, for good or ill, they seem to do it more completely and cheerfully from religious conviction.

Paladins, crusaders, holy warriors of all types: it's actually a symptom of poor role-playing if they always end up being the good guys, if they always end up kind, or chivalrous, or honorable, or even good. It would be nice if all that necessarily came with being holy, but it doesn't.

My impression of history is that our current crop of gung-ho W/Mo's would fit in pretty well with your average medieval crusader. Impulsive, bloodthirsty, and too convinced of his own rightness. Par for the course in the holy knight business...

Once you start assuming some personality type to go with a class, you've lost the thread of realism. Realistically, there are a large variety of people and personalities in any profession. It's as true for the holy knight as anyone else. Trying to force everyone in class into a particular mindset is stereotyping and bad roleplay, as well as wildly unrealistic.

(If you want to read about some good fantasy paladins, I recommend The Diamond Throne, the Ruby Knight, and the Sapphire Rose, by David Eddings. Now those were some great paladins, without all having the same bloody stereotypical fantasy paladin personality.)