Try dual wield. You will be impressed. Turtle up with the shield if something is particularly harsh but unless you're running with a strong dps group your dps will matter. Dead things stop hurting you.
I hear what you are saying brother! It went from fun and being able to gear up my box group so that I stood a chance against these heavy hitting new expansions to spending days looking for a ore drop when 30+ is needed to gear out each toon. This makes it impossible for a player like me to have any chance of getting T3 group gear and about a betting +5000 underdog of ever gearing out my 15 plus toons on my 11 paid accounts. I hate to say this, but it seems like the people making the changes are probably raiders and do not "SEEM" to care about the little guy. Turned something fun in a time where this is no fun in this world into just another in the armor of the deplorable Walmart shoppers.
