<p>this is just nuts...I'm level 20 and it takes my ENTIRE health bar to kill mobs 1 level above me.  I look at the combat log and it is parry, riposte, parry, parry, riposte, etc. over and over again.  I have all the starter gear but none of the other classes I have played suck this bad.</p><p>Am I missing something?  The solution CAN'T be that I need MC gear to just survive.  It just seems SO out of balance.  I've tried to focus on DPS AAs so maybe there is something totally wrong with what I selected but again, none of the other classes I have played require anything specific at this level.  Something just doesn't seem right.</p><p>Any advice by some of you that have played this class would be appreciated.</p>

If everything you're doing is being parried and block and riposted then you're combat stats aren't high enough. You need to get your crushing, piercing, slashing up because avoidance checks are mostly (not all) contested. I can't say that this is unique to the bruiser but I can say that all classes have difficult spots and from my experience with them, the brawlers tend to have that at the levels just before 80s. I did very well soloing up through the 60s and only ran into trouble in the 70s. I never had trouble with low level content but I also tried to get my AAs as high as I could quickly so that may help you some.

<p>When you say you have all the starting gear, what do you mean?  How long has it been since you upgraded your equipment?  The levels pass now much faster than they used to, but yes, you <strong>do</strong> need to upgrade your gear every once in a while.  I'm not saying you need a full set of mastercrafted gear, but a level 5 staff is not gonna cut it.</p>

<p>Welcome to being a bruiser! You'll see a ton of that!</p><p>Best thing to do is shell out for full white weaponry addornments of your level and make sure your crushing/slashing/piercing skills are always maxxed out, If you just switched from a crushing weapon to a slashing at level 20 you'd probably have a terrible time hitting anything until they are up to level.</p>

<p>By starting gear I mean I went through the lvl 1-20 starter zone and finished the quests with the full set of the starter gear.  I just leveled this guy up.  I have been using the same weapon so my skill is maxed out (whatever a cetus is).</p><p>I am a toon-a-holic so I have a bunch of 20+ toons of various classes and have had zero problems with getting AAs and levels.  This toon has about 30 AAs already.  Maybe I just don't have them in the right areas.</p>

<p>keep in mind the level of your abilities also affects their ability to hit and strikethrough checks. if you're using an adept level 9 ability over a journeyman level 19 ability, the level 9 ability will be shrugged off by mobs easier.</p><p><cite>Corydonn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Welcome to being a bruiser! You'll see a ton of that!</p></blockquote><p>has nothing to do with being a bruiser...</p>

<p>It's your gear/combat ability lvl/skills. I can jack heroic ^^^ that are my same lvl.</p>