New player looking for advice

[Nalamon]

<DIV>Hello everyone i'm new to the game and decided to play a paladin, i'm level 17 now and a few questions (mainly because i have crafting materials to make blackened iron weapons) I was wondering if its better to be one handed and shield or two handed. I don't play on a pvp server so that isn't an issue, just for grinding levels. Also if its one handed and shield, what kinda shield tower or kite shield? so any help would be great, thanks in advance <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV>

[Rocksthemic]

Ok, will try to answer your questions in order. 1. If you are grouping with others, you are going to be the tank in the group 9/10 times. For this purpose you want to use a 1 handed sword and a shield. Up to about lvl 30 you *can* use a 2 hander without to much difficulty, but you will find your survivabilty increases quite a bit with sword and board. 2. Tower shield is the preffered shield if all things are equal. When you are looking for a shield what you want to look for is the protection factor. The higher the protection factor, the more avoidance the shield will give you (this number is in your persona window, used by pressing the "p" button on your keyboard) The avoidance number if you mouse over it is broken down into base, block, parry, and deflection. The only ones which should concern you are the first 3, as deflection is a brawler skill and will not apply to you. IF and I stress IF you find a kite shield with higher protection factor than a tower shield, use that one. But as I stated earlier, generally tower shields will offer the most protection factor. Shields do not effect mitigation unless there is a specific mitigation listed on the stats (such as +30 vs crushing, slashing, or peircing) Hope that helps. Good luck on your adventures ! <div></div>