Two points I want to cover here: 1) Caster ability always starts higher than melee/tank ability. This is by design. Paladins are not a DPS class. They are a tank class. Their job is to maintain aggro and take hits. That's it. Casters go SPLAT if they get aggro, typically one-round of combat in current content. I can guarantee you well-played, well-geared, pure melee (Monk, Rogue, Zerker) will out-DPS a caster in pretty much any situation. 2) Beastlords use pets. Pets, again, start at a higher threshold for HP, tanking, DPS than a player melee, tank will. Even at end game, Magician/Beastlord/Necro pets can take HUGE amounts of abuse. But they don't hold aggro so well. That's the Paladin/Shadowknight/Warrior's job. I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what the Paladin's role in EverQuest is. It sounds like you want a DPS class, either a hybrid (Ranger/Beastlord) or a caster pet class (Magician/Necromancer). If you want to stick to a Paladin, you may need to accept that you will not be the top DPS in the group.
Yes paladins can generate lots of hate. I believe you're referring to the bard song aggro cap patch, to protect them from dying on raids, that happened many years ago. Bards used to get killed on raids because they had their songs playing (e.g. ae regen) when event phases started. They went splat quite often.
IM sorry Quill but I disagree with most of what you said no offense meantQuill wrote Elegant is the best gear you can wear at level 70 compare it to the the TBM gear bought in tranquility with no augs since you can not do into the temple to get flagged for augs until 75 and you will see the stats are superior by far make it through those 5 levels then do as Quill said and make sure to upgrade the augs in your TBM gear every 5 levels there after You cant do your J5 quest (the old harder one which you will need help on given your situation until 75 also you can not start gribbles until 75 like I said above elegant is pretty much the best your going to get at 70 and is more than suitable to get you to 75 Soloing can be fun to test yourself and the OP stated he has someone to play with so no sub cancellation needed Bards go great with most groups but with your friend playing a beastlord who can provide better slow, cripples, decent haste, and melee buffs + an extra back up tank if you need CC I would probably lean towards a wizard or druid as a 3rd box if you are so inclined, not only will it make getting around a lot easier but wizards & druids are capable of amazing dps Id wage with your setup that the dps of the wizard or druid totaled would be higher than the dps you gain with 2 toons getting the adps from the bardAlternatively if boxing isn't your style you can always just use a caster merc and a healer merc for a team of 4 which will get you through HAs pretty easilyanyways just my 2 cents no hard feelings I hope Myndis -Test
Myndis, there are pieces from DoN and PoR that are far better than Elegant gear. They are just not nearly as easy to get.
Casually reading the thread I noticed a few things. 1) GET BUFFS. If you're not entirely attached to Vox server, I suggest rerolling on FV or server transferring to Bristlebane, Rathe, etc. I routinely AFK'ed between sessions to acquire buffs in PoK (GuildHall) or just gave myself buffs. Is 135 with haste item only or is it you using self buffed Paladin haste? Cleric AC buff combined with MIND CANDY/HASTE/DAMAGE SHIELD/SHAMAN BUFFS is a huge difference maker in killing speed. 2) Bottomfeed (if solo/ghetto duo) - I will say that arcstone is a place that I would go 71-75 as a paladin, solo, and do fine. (Keep most skeletons down, but not waiting for repops.) However, if it's really rough for you, you can opt to go for some lesser zones like Stoneroot Falls or Katta, Buried Sea, The Hive, anywhere that is a hotzone. For level 80, I got a lot of mileage out of Fort Mech. 3) Paladin specific gear - https://www.raidloot.com/Search.asp...ponRatio&source=Bazaar&class=Paladin&level=80 So for level 80, there's a bazaar buyable weapon that's superior to what you're using. If you're so inclined, you could get a drop soon in The Grounds as well. 4) Expand your social circle - You're also capable of grouping with some of the higher level characters, which will give you fantastic experience if you are able to make some friends that are willing to give you a hand. 5) Make it a goal to get your 2.0 - I recently rolled a paladin and started leveling up, pretty much done the quest twice now, it's not that bad, honestly.
