Why would you NOT use a shield? Dev response would be great...

[gn0m3r]

Ok, in beta I remember that there was a post about weapons and damage, one in particular of the 1000's like it on those boards. The poster was asking if it was better to dual wield or to use 2h sword for big hits or something to that effect. Now remembering back, the dev said something to the effect that weapons were balanced so that you would do the same damange no matter what you had equipped. So, if you had two steel stilettos equipped you would do the same damage as if you had a steel 2h sword equipped, or even if you had a 1 handed sword and a shield. He then went on to state that the damage would be the same, but you'd get increased stats from dual wielding as opposed to the single weapon stats of a 2h weapon.By that rationale...if I do the same damage with a good 1handed weapon and a good shield (both with good stats) as I would with two good dual wield weapons, why would I ever want to dual wield? I get a huge AC boost from having the sheild equipped and do the same damage. Based on the information in the first paragraph, and assuming I am not mistaken (entirely possible), I fail to see the benefit of dual wielding. There is no reason to ever equip anything other than a good 1h weapon and good shield from a gameplay perspective. I'm not talking about "cool" factor or how it looks, I'm talking about the stats and abilities that increase our abilities as a scout class. I understand switching to a 1h wep/shield to do some tanking, equipping a shield does loads for helping out when taking damage, but I still can't see why I should switch back to dual wield or even 2h if my damage is the same no matter what weapon is equipped.Now, I have not done any testing on this...I should parse log files to see damage numbers so that maybe some more sense can be made of this. Perhaps poisons work better when dual wielding or something crazy like that..dunno. I just wanted to post here to get some thoughts and to see if perhaps someone else had already tested dual weild vs. 1h and shield. If I find out more I'll keep this post up.

[Sir_Vo]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <P> <HR> <P></P> <P>gn0m3rcy wrote:<BR><BR>By that rationale...if I do the same damage with a good 1handed weapon and a good shield (both with good stats) as I would with two good dual wield weapons, why would I ever want to dual wield? </P> <P> <HR> <P></P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>I think he was say that (1handed weapon and a good shield) and (dual wield) would be equal in a fight, not that they do equal damage. and I my add with some mobs one may be better then the other, but all considered they are equal. I like to use one pierce and one slash weapon, but I know with some mobs that may be a bad tactic.</P> <P>Good luck<BR></P> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>P.S. I other games (and maybe in EQ2) 2H Weapons often have better range but slow speed, also with DW you hit more often and those have a beter chance of interubing and magical attack. all in all equal IF the devs done it right.</DIV><p>Message Edited by Sir_Voor on <span class=date_text>01-03-2005</span> <span class=time_text>03:21 PM</span>

[Zygwen]

As far as I can tell, Combat Abilities deal the same damage regardless of what weapons you use. However, Two handed and dual wield weapons have a slight dps advantage over one handed. So if for some reason you run out of power, you will do more dps dual wielding than using a one hander. The dual wield dps advantage is mitigated by the increase proc rate of poisons when using a one handed weapon though.The next issue is with stat bonuses. When I use my one handed weapon I get +1 agi. When I use my steel stilettos I get +8 agi. Some have claimed that agi plays a big part in our damage avoidance so the stat boost from dual wielding may be giving other bonuses we don't fully understand yet.From my experience soloing, I've concluded that its better wearing a shield if I know the mob is gonna hit hard. However, if the mob can barely hit me I prefer dual wielding for the faster kill.

[Sabatini]

The way I understand it from something I read from the developers on it once, Dual wield offers slightly better DPS overall and greater proc rate on special effects (like poison) because of course you're hitting more often. The disadvantage is the lack of shield block/defense and much higher chance of Riposte damage from your enemies.Those advantages/disadvantages reverse for single weapons.

[Akurei Sens]

<DIV>I ran a loose test couple days ago dealing with this, used 2 of the same DW weapons, then equivalent shield/1hander.  Now this wasn't a dps test just a durability test.  Sadly I forgot to log it so take this with a grain of salt.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Pretty much I found as a 27 brigand, that the shield hurt more than helped.  When soloing the same mobs of the same level with same resistances DW always left me in a better standing for the next fight.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The main reason for this in my case was regen.  Having the passive regen trait + tier 3 food, healing after fights isn't even an issue.  However power sometimes is.  I found that when using a shield I had to expend more power to kill the mob.  So while I may have ended the fight with a smidge(Was never more than a 7% diff) more health than with DW, it took a lot more power to kill targets.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I found with shield I could go about 3-5 fights before needing power break.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>With DW I can go 7-10 (have had some lucky streaks of up to 20 in a row b4 sitting) before needing a power break.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Again sorry I don't have hard numbers for this, but this is what I experienced from testing DW and 1handers.</DIV>

[Manwo]

<DIV>I carry a shield in case I am in a lower level group playing the tank. Mind you, I would never tank anything really tough....but there are times me and 2-3 buds are out cleaning up some quests and we are tank-less. The shield gives me a few more seconds of life fighting stuff 2 levels up.</DIV>

[Erasm]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Manwolf wrote:<BR> <DIV>I carry a shield in case I am in a lower level group playing the tank. Mind you, I would never tank anything really tough....but there are times me and 2-3 buds are out cleaning up some quests and we are tank-less. The shield gives me a few more seconds of life fighting stuff 2 levels up.</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Same. Although they dont need to be lower level.. just tankless <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> We actually do ok vs yellow ++ with good gear. A shield REALLY helps in the tanking area. </P> <P>I have also tested between shield and DW. For me, the fights are a bit longer, but I end up with the same HP and less power. I take less dmg over time, but there is more time so it balances out dmg taken. It takes longer to kill the mob, so more power is used. </P> <P>DW does about 125% more dmg than 1 handers over the same amount of time. Im not sure about 2h, because we cant use em <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <BR></P> <DIV>So other than tanking, I stay away from sword and board. </DIV>