So there was I with my 402 HP and 40 AC (no shield, I use greatswords) human female paladin. I know there are better values for a lvl 16 pali, but this is my toon, and I must say I DO use action points in toughness feats, str, wis and cha improvements, and I'm always looking for good armors and greatswords. I would say I am not entirely noob, having in mind however, that there are many players who like to take their toons where I simply cannot. Mostly because I don't have the adventure packs often related to good items out there. I have a few items from normal drops, some with natural armor bonuses, others with dodge bonuses, so I'm assuming I can't improve my AC much more (I use to search AH often for better versions of these items, FYI).

Still, I have done some quests 1 or 2 levels higher than my own level (including Servants of the Overlord and Delirium, and others). My toon dies, other veteran and TR's die too, but we manage to get to the end. Sometimes my toon doesn't die at all. Luck, good heals, other tanks and melee to get aggro for me? I don't know.

Ok, so there was I with this pali in Acid Wit. I have done that quest before on this toon and it would be just one more 5,000 xp run. I like to play for fun, of course having better items and a few basics on character abilities, but thats all for me. I don't grind, I don't farm, either for items, ingredients, whatsoever. I play for fun mostly.

What happens then, you ask? My toon died on the first few earth elementals. After my 2nd death, people start asking about my AC, and if I had a ranged weapon... I was guessing the outcome of this, but I tried to be cordial. I answered them with "40", and then I said "I have done this quest before and with no problems dying" (maybe it could be some update bug? Maybe not, but we know things with Turbine's updates and patches). Then the fav soul, party leader, started ranting about "Are you saying its my fault?". Of course I didnt tell him that, actually I was in a peacefull mood, trying not to argue with a single person. Still, I end up leaving that party because they were not in a so peacefull mod to me.

I ask: why are people such nerds?

Problem is, most people may say my AC is bad, my HP are bad, etc., but they DO NOT give me a solution for that. If they are such good players, they should know how to help others. Plus, I didnt said anything whatsoever about the healer abilities. Yet, he assumed my comment was about him. At a time, he even told me "drop the party and never speak to me again".

Things like these tend to ruin a day. Anyway, I like my toon as she is. In all her 16 levels, this was the 1st time somebody made me quit a party in the middle of a dungeon.

I use this topic to ask then, is there any other different ways of improving AC?

I have a dogde bonus ring with natural armor bonus too, I have in average a full or half plate with armor bonus of 20 ~ 22 (with U14 new armors; before that, my AC was even lower). I don't use shield because I'm a greatsword user, so what more can I do to raise the AC?

Thank you.