I talked a bit about a/b/s on my farewell, but I'll repost it here.

I had a very, very easy sleek aura source. I pretty much had aura up 24/7.

I found my sleek barrier source pretty early, but I couldn't really get it without a lot of pain until I was about 45th level, and then only with Empire powers. Even after I heroed, it was a pain in the ass, and wasn't what I would call easy to get.

I didn't find my sleek shield source until like 2/3 of the way through Khar's life, and it was so far out of the way that I didn't go there very often.

So I think I fall under #1 above, or maybe #4, depending on what "in quantity" means.

As for fights, if I was raiding or defending, I'd usually (always in raids) have aura and barrier up - I'd make it a point to go get a sleek black as soon as I logged in if I didn't have one when I logged out. If I was fighting a RBW, I'd usually have aura and barrier up. If I was planning on fighting what I considered a "tough" opponent, one that I'd fought before and maybe had trouble with, I'd usually have aura and barrier up. If I was taking on multiple opponents by my choice, I'd always have aura and barrier up.

Shield was a rarity, and I almost never used stone skin.

But I fought and killed plenty of tough opponents without barrier; I wasn't afraid to give it a go, see how it played out.

Not saying our current system is perfect, but I think it plays out pretty well. I would agree that it isn't newbie-friendly, and I think that might be one area we should address.

Kastellyn the Devourer of Magic, Lord of Legends