the Paladin doesn't get a 3rd-level Divine Smite until level 9. I can do that right now, at level 6. And since you're a Hexblade, you can focus on bumping up Charisma instead of your other melee ...

Now, Divine Smite is a spell that is always prepared ... Some multiclass builds like a Paladin/Barbarian would also potentially be affected by the change. Generally speaking, there was a consensus ...