I just returned after a long time of not playing. Recovered my 72 paladin and forgot everything about it. I am looking for some hints/help to get back to group play. Thanks
Play the toon for a while and ask meaningful, specific questions. Don't ask for everyone to do the work for you.
Welcome back. Before giving advice, I want to point out that a number of things have changed, particularly in the aas, over the years. My experience leveling as a 70-75 paladin during TSS is just a different experience than you will have today. I'm not even sure what aas are available at 72ish... You are IMO in a tougher zone for paladins than you will be once you get into the SoD/UF/HoT expansions (80-90). My first advice would be to look at your Franklin Teek dailys (he's a quest dude in PoK near the lobby entrance) and do those as much as possible every day. Before you know it, you will be at least 75 (which lets you group...well sponge xp...up to 105). Gear starts transitioning from the defiant line to actual drops. The good news is that generally the early zones in each "level current" expansion drop attunable gear, which you might can find in the bazaar. Gear and weapons are really important if you enjoy playing at the "level current" expansion. If you have not purchased TBM/EoK or the new RoS, on Dec 12th...you should get access to TBM, which has gear starting at 75 and assuming you get the augs, pretty much the best gear you can get for your level (note - you may have to do some questing to see the gear and augs, but 2 are easy and the last you can probably find someone to take you through if you cannot do it alone). For advice, there have been a number of heroic paladin guides in this forum (search heroic paladin or 85 paladin) which may have things (spell lines, aas) that you just don't have yet, but can give a basic guide to what the current ideas are for playing a paladin. Don't be afraid to try out different spells or combat abilities. The good news (depending upon how long you have been gone) is that PoK now has every spell till 90. Your ac numbers are going to look very different as we now get a true ac number (well 2 actually) rather than a calculated amalgam. Sword and board still rock (love shield ac...cuddle with it) but as you advance some levels, our 2h aas start kicking in and can really be a true trade off between damage vs survivability. Even if things are slow going at the start, do know that paladins are in a great place at 105...and the EQ journey is still the best! Good luck to you.
