Some questions from a Returning Paladin

The Paladin class is very weak on this server. What are you hoping to accomplish with your character?

If you are hoping to 8v8 I would strongly consider a different class. With endurance regen potions being so overbearingly strong here no competitive group is going to opt to run with a Paladin. Since it is OF any pugs that accept you will likely spend most of their time dying to guild groups over and over near choke points until they disband.

If you are hoping to small man you might be able to find players that accept you, but you will find that most players realize you are bringing next to nothing to the table that can't be done far better by potions + any other fighter. Paladin damage and weaponskill is woefully low, and outside of endurance regen their chants add very little. The small man game is all about efficiency in numbers, as more people = less RPs per kill, and I'm afraid Paladins just don't fit in.

If you are hoping to solo you will likely find yourself being annihilated by assassins at and around mile gates. OF is designed in a way that is particularly unfriendly to visible soloers. Paladins do not have the weaponskill or damage to successfully defeat most of the other solo players you will encounter. Your shield is halved by ALL dual wield characters which is most of what you will be facing solo, and your low weaponskill means you will be consistently triggering their evade reactionaries. On top of these flaws Paladins simply do not kill targets quickly enough and longer duration fights = getting added on. If this was New Frontiers I'd say you have a shot at soloing with a Paladin. Well... You might not win fights, but you'd at least be able to find them more consistently. Here you will likely just get AJ'd into oblivion by stealthers. You'll be able to find and get kills from time to time, but it will probably begin to feel like quite a slog. You'll quickly realize your options are: A) Get rolled by the same small man/group of stealthers/"elite" guild group in Emain or B) Roam an almost completely abandoned Alb or Mid frontier looking for other wayward soloers or XPers.

As it stands now, without any custom changes, OF is a harsh place for all but those that fit within the meta. There is a faint glimmer of hope, however. The Devs seem to be trying to facilitate a zerg-style atmosphere. With the zerg anything is possible and you could very likely find groups that will accept you and possibly even some consistent, fun fights every night. I think the very health of the server depends on how well the Devs can pull off their custom changes, and if they do a good enough job every class can be played and casuals from all around will rejoice.

As far as spec goes-- again it depends on what you are hoping to do with your character. If you really want to 8v8 I'd assume that thrust anytime snare/slam/rest chants would be your best bet. If you're looking to small man or solo you will have to test some things out, but I'm going to assume you will want to get slam in every build. If 2H is as useless as I think it will be, I'd imagine most builds are something like 42 shield/4X chants and the rest into the weapon type of your choice.

Don't ever get 50 shield.

Twisting is still a thing.