I started my character as a pugilist, so I was doing her quests on that class without cross-class skills like protect and heal. It took me until my level was being capped for the duty to defeat the first one where you fight the... er... enemy you'll be dealing with for the rest of the chain. What's that... level 10? Level 15? I forget. This was before the Echo for failed duties was introduced. It may be easier now.