Because it's the gear they're meant to have, it's not normal that a pally can drain 400 on a bear, they need to make non-class specific gear weaker. Btw think of it, which caps was int weaker then a pally before bsm? Not many.
Of course a skilled pally should be able to kill a decent int mage but random pallies who started this cap shouldn't be able to beat some of the best int mages every time they go vs them...
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