Going Oathbreaker is 100% optional. There is nothing that stop you role-playing a slow descent to "evil" in the EA. The tools are there. The Oathbreaker is filling in the role for the confessional that a GM controlled cleric/paladin of the same order would fill in a table-top session to keep your oath. The game doesn't force you to pick Oathbreaker after breaking your oath, it's a choice done via dialogue. You can also choose to atone and it comes with a cutscene where you say your oath(again).
People act as if breaking your oath is the end of the world, it's not, the PHB suggest ways to cause Paladin to oath break by accident. Managing your oaths is part of playing the class like learning spells are for Wizard. It's supposed to happen and your supposed to feel repentant about it unless you want to change (sub)class.
Totally Agree, and people are losing their minds after having committed what we would consider "actual war-crimes" realizing that they broke their oath. I just did a single player complete playthrough with a Paladin and a Multiplayer playthrough with a Paladin and didn't once break my Oath in either game by sticking to my Oath and simply turning on Non-Lethal Damage for safety.
Paladin is a hella powerful class both in terms of Offensive, Tanking and Healing capabilities. That power comes at a cost and there is no "friendly" DM to look the other way while you violate your Oath. This is why we have all these people complaining about Oaths all of a sudden. Yet it's funny that when everyone was begging for Paladin to be implemented no one ONCE mentioned the challenge of maintaining your Oath.
