Ferro usually has a new set of items every 24 hours. I didn't sleep there, but set a portal, and came back sometimes to check for new stuff. Since i wanted to have enough XP for several level-ups before my class change, enough time had passed.

I didn't avoid melee in general. My party was fighter, ranger, bard, mage, priest, and alchemist. I changed the casters to the corresponding hybrids to use the helmets, but i continued to play them as pure spellcasters. The fighter however used melee, and bard and ranger used missile weapons.

It is possible to play without melee at all. I had an archery party (5 missile-only rangers, and a pure spellcaster bishop/priest). And i played a pure spellcaster party (without melee or missile use). However, in this one, i needed to summon elementals in three fights to melee for me.

Thank you for all the help. Finally got through the pack of 7 Beserkers and 2 Warlocks. The beserkers resistenses were 8o Water and 90 everything else except Fire which was 115. The warlocks were 90 Water, 140 Fire, and 115 everything else. What seemed to work best was using the Element Shield (thanks Sultan and Wereboar) and running to get behind a corner so the beserkers could be taken out without gettting hit to often by the warlock spells. The other groups since then seem more "normal" and perhaps it was just something like what happened to allstargoali with his party of four. Again thanks all.