Guardian Newbie Question

[Griffinhart]

After leveling My Wizard and Fury to 70 I'm looking to start working on a new character. I've settled in on my Troll Guardian since it's totally different from other characters and can wear armor a little stronger than wet cardboard.Now that I'm in my 30's I'm starting to fill in the gaps of my melee knowledge. My questions revolve around gear. Specifically Weapons and shields.So far, I tend to just use a 1 handed slash and a shield. I would guess that when I am main tanking in a group that is what I would stick with. But, I'm curious about Two-Handers and Dual Wield. What situations would I switch load-outs? When is a 2 hander better than sword and shield or two weapons?

[Yimway]

In practice, I RARELY use anything other than a one hander and a shield.  Now I rapidly change out my 1-hander between pierce and hammer to use different AA lines, but generally this is the 'guardian' config.There are times though, that you would put away the shield.  Mainly if you're roll in the group is not tanking.  Generally a guardian in a group who isn't the tank is wasted space, but if that happens to be the case, you would consider switching over to a 2-hander and offensive stance, and try to do some dps...Before I got my AA's up, I did use a 2 hander soloing, but with the new combat changes, I don't think you would want to give up the avoidance around a good tower shield for the incremental increase in dammage output.  If you parse, I'll think you'll find the dammage you take will go up by a magnitude of atleast 3 vs the dammage you deal when losing the shield.So, in short, if your planning to swing a weapon and have little or no expectation to get hit, then use a 2 hander.  I suppose Dual-Wield is an option, but in general I parsed better with the 2 hander.  Dual wield only increases your chances of being parried, blocked and ripostled.   <div></div>

[BetaMaster]

It all depends on what you can get away with.  There are times when my group is healer heavy or we're fighting things weaker than us where I can get away with going dps style and even using my offensive stance while tanking.  But in times when mobs are hurtn me a lot I need to be full defensive with 1her and shield.

[Griffinhart]

Thanks for the replies. I had a feeling that sword and shield was going to be the general response.Up until now, I've been using player crafted items. Unfortunatly it's a bit pricey now to get the rares for gear this tier. Though, I have access to rares for the next tier from a guildy. What Quested or dropped items should I be considering in the 30's?Thanks again.

[Terron]

The shiney brass shield from the training is a shield HQ is quite good. <div></div>