Here's what a friend of ours said about the two classes he's played:

[The paladin] is lvl 54 now with 128 days played and well over 18
months of hard core gaming. Sure he died quite a few times and many of them
before anyone even heard of a lvl 49 res, but I spent days with very little
exp movement after 45 or so. [The necromancer] on other hand has officially
passed [the paladin]up exp wise. Get this in 29 days played, 4 of those
camping Pyzin. I think I may have 1 or 2 days in group time, which cutts exp
in half at least. That adds up to less than 25 days to go from 1 to 54 for a
necro and 128 hard core cant leave your pc days for the pally. How can this
be right?
*********************
It's not just bards that have issues. I will really hate the loss of mezzing
and CCing things and see it as a major impact on my ability to contribute to
group survival/success.

Brilinnia Ban'Sidhe
Excalibur, Xegony