Hope you learned (later in life) to be more careful with altruism during raids. Having died myself to a gross misapplication of altruism, I felt your pain. Interacted with you with another character after Msthna and you seemed like an alright guy.

Dodge - yeah, that sucks. Since you're polearm you've got distance and parry both getting checked before dodge. The trick would be to find a high-level mob that doesn't do much damge, then fight it using your hands and a shield. Or, alternately, wielding other weapons you've yet to practice.

-Msthna