To be honest, I couldn't care less if they flat out removed slay and refunded the AA... you won't see flames from me on that one.
There's generally four subsections to EQ that people fall into... Tanking, Healing, DPS, CC/Pulling. The ONLY point we lack as a class is DPS. I see plenty of reason why we should have to sacrifice healing for DPS... that just makes sense to me. One could argue the point of SK self healing is fairly potent... but their healing is just that, self only. Our healing power CAN rival priests if we are in the role of a group healer... and anyone that has to ask how or why... really needs to pay more attention to their spells.
Our tanking does rival Warriors, in all situations, except those which require final stand to tank. As for CC/Pulling, it's an art form, and the new target window changes sound like they will make it easier. Yeah, root immune mobs exist, and FD splitting is going to always be a better means of pulling (avoid adds, versus deal with them)... however, it does work, and Shackles is quite a potent tool still.
Our DPS is abysmal, even in undead situations (which is only becomes moderate, unless really lucky).
What kind of surprises me is how often people complain about Paladins and their "role" in raids. Our role hasn't really ever changed since Luclin. We've always been a back up group healer, combat rezzer, offtanker, curer class. I'll admit, I am jaded as well... too often I've seen Paladins that were created because they wanted to pwn undead and win parses. When I hear complaints of DPS... it's nearly an immediate assumption I should try to cure myself of. Too many years as a raid leader watching unskilled Paladummies make me, and my class... look absolutely pathetic.