Off hand weapons as main hand weapons

[andreiblue.8231]

Considering they made spear both a land an underwater weapon, do you think they will make off hand weapons such as focus or torch? Or maybe make scepter be an offhand weapon too?

[Randulf.7614]

I think the possibilty exists certainly, although I think it's low given the flexibility of main hand weapons to do whatever they want them to do

I'm not sure what they could do with focus/torch/shield, although perhaps focus/focus could channel some kind of magical martial arts combination

[Teknomancer.4895]

Shield/Shield, for those Charr axe fiends who think Whirling Axe needs to be bigger.

[Danikat.8537]

I suspect that as @Randulf.7614 said it will come down to what skills they want to add and which weapons it makes sense to attach them to. I'm certain they could do it, but it won't happen unless they want to add a set of mainhand skills which fit the offhand weapons better than mainhand ones. That seems less likely in a game where they're willing to do things like make a greatsword a ranged weapon, but it could happen.

[DeanBB.4268]

Couldn't Anet just give everyone land-tridents next expansion and give them whatever skills you imagine MH focus/shield/torch would have?

[Zebulous.2934]

I have always liked the idea of casters using a focus as a mainhand weapon.  Simply for flavor reasons.

[Obnoxa.6702]

6 hours ago, Teknomancer.4895 said:

Shield/Shield, for those Charr axe fiends who think Whirling Axe needs to be bigger.

I was on the fence about offhand as mains - until I got a mental image of this... 😆

[andreiblue.8231]

21 hours ago, Danikat.8537 said:

I suspect that as @Randulf.7614 said it will come down to what skills they want to add and which weapons it makes sense to attach them to. I'm certain they could do it, but it won't happen unless they want to add a set of mainhand skills which fit the offhand weapons better than mainhand ones. That seems less likely in a game where they're willing to do things like make a greatsword a ranged weapon, but it could happen.

The problem with adding more weapons is that they have to add them for all classes and warrior has access to most weapons already except scepter and focus

[andreiblue.8231]

21 hours ago, DeanBB.4268 said:

Couldn't Anet just give everyone land-tridents next expansion and give them whatever skills you imagine MH focus/shield/torch would have?

I actually want off hand weapons because some classes like engineer for example dont have as many options for offhand as for main hand.

[DeanBB.4268]

33 minutes ago, andreiblue.8231 said:

I actually want off hand weapons because some classes like engineer for example dont have as many options for offhand as for main hand.

Except this thread is about putting off-hand-only weapons into the main hand, which doesn't help your desires.

[Zebulous.2934]

Why would they have to give all classes new weapons at the same time?  Classes get altered unevenly all of the time.  They could release one or two weapons at a time.  If warrior already has all of the weapons it will ever need then I am sure other aspects of warrior could be improved instead.

From what I have read: necromancer's spear is just a slightly altered clone of their greatsword.  Did Necromancer really get a new weapon if their spear is functionally the same as a weapon they already had? 

They could do the same with other main-hand and off-hand weapons.  Mesmer main-hand pistol could be similar to their main-hand scepter.

If Anet is going to be uncreative with the mechanics of new weapons, let them. At least we can benefit from gaining the asthetic of equipping the weapon itself.  After all; do people want new weapons in order to gain new combat skills?  Or do players just want new weapons because they think that it would look cool?

Edited July 11 by Zebulous.2934
What I wrote didn't say what I meant to say

[Super Hayes.6890]

Warrior with a mainhand focus. Hear me out! The theme would be hurting enemies due to "misfires" from not knowing how to use it. Seriously though, some offhands would make interesting mainhand weapons.

[kiroho.4738]

On 7/9/2024 at 11:45 PM, Teknomancer.4895 said:

Shield/Shield, for those Charr axe fiends who think Whirling Axe needs to be bigger.

"Whirling Shields" when? 😄

Edited July 11 by kiroho.4738

[draxynnic.3719]

On 7/11/2024 at 6:09 AM, DeanBB.4268 said:

Except this thread is about putting off-hand-only weapons into the main hand, which doesn't help your desires.

And maybe that's intended? Someone can disagree with the OP while also disliking the prospect of only receiving 2H weapons for the next few years. Thief players have been wishing for another offhand for quite a while, but ArenaNet seems to have internalised the message that players don't want new offhands. (When the actual problems with EoD offhands go deeper than 'it's an offhand'.)

[Sobx.1758]

15 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

And maybe that's intended? Someone can disagree with the OP while also disliking the prospect of only receiving 2H weapons for the next few years.

In this case it would mean OP disagrees with OP.

[Panda.1967]

Torch could see some potential use as mainhand… but not the others… focus has always been the offhand counterpart to scepter and vice-versa… I know alot of people who have been pushing for mainhand focus want it to be used as a melee fist weapon, but that will never happen. Focus will always remain as a magic weapon. We are far kore likely to receive an all new weapon type to fulfill the fist weapon roll than to ever see focus repurposed like that. Mainly because such a weapon would work on classes that already use focus as well.

mainhand shield is just ridiculous, and will always be viewed as such… while sure shield fighting techniques were a thing in mideval times, they were never a primary fighting style in any society. Shields have always been used as defensive tools first and foremost. To be perfectly honest, all classes should have had dual skills in slot 3 instead of just thief… this would have been a perfect spot for offensive shield skills too… 

torch however is logical as either a mainhand or offhand weapon… the only issue here is that dual wielding torch makes no sense…

[Vallune.8150]

On 7/12/2024 at 7:05 PM, Panda.1967 said:

torch however is logical as either a mainhand or offhand weapon… the only issue here is that dual wielding torch makes no sense…

Bruce Willis would like a word from the runway in Die Hard 2.

[Remus Darkblight.1673]

On 7/9/2024 at 9:26 PM, Randulf.7614 said:

I think the possibilty exists certainly, although I think it's low given the flexibility of main hand weapons to do whatever they want them to do

I'm not sure what they could do with focus/torch/shield, although perhaps focus/focus could channel some kind of magical martial arts combination

I find this hilarious since you're obviously thinking of some of those cool gauntlet/claw looking foci (understandably many of them are), but I am thinking of the scrolls, books, even a ship in a bottle and a tea pot. Just the thought of doing arcane martial arts with them is too funny. 😂

[Randulf.7614]

2 minutes ago, Remus Darkblight.1673 said:

I find this hilarious since you're obviously thinking of some of those cool gauntlet/claw looking foci (understandably many of them are), but I am thinking of the scrolls, books, even a ship in a bottle and a tea pot. Just the thought of doing arcane martial arts with them is too funny. 😂

Never mock the ancient art of Teapot-Fu

[Parasite.5389]

doubtful they'll ever do it for Shield, focus, or Warhorn; beyond the ridiculousness of dual-wielding Shields or warhorns as a game mechanic, the shear number of asymetrical skins would likely mean a complete rework of the games model and weapon animations.

As it is now, the game doesn't flip, rotate, or mirror a weapon when held in either hand, this can be most clearly seen on skins like the Maguuma Dagger where the swirl animation rotates in the same direction on both the off-hand and mainhand.
this means that a weapon like the Mist Lord's Focus would be covering the outside of the left hand as normal, but be on the inside of the right hand when held as a mainhand weapon, and the same would go for all shields.
then we get into situations like The Binding of Ipos where you not only have a backwards shadowy hand, but also a second floating tome in front of you, clipping through the first.

in short, it'll be a headache to trying fix all the animation glitches and edge cases.

Edited July 15 by Parasite.5389

[Zera.9435]

Focus as a main-hand weapon might thematically work. I mean you could give it to a warrior and let them incorporate a little more magic into their rage. Magical rage sounds great.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

With how they have been making focus skins look like fisticuffs, I would have thought they were getting ready to give Warrior double focus. However, after they gave him offhand pistol instead of dual pistols, the concept of "Warrior dual wields anything" was thrown in the trash.

[wolfyrik.2017]

On 7/9/2024 at 9:10 PM, andreiblue.8231 said:

Considering they made spear both a land an underwater weapon, do you think they will make off hand weapons such as focus or torch? Or maybe make scepter be an offhand weapon too?

I always thought that dual wield focus would be great for a melee playstyle, like a reverse-mesmer greatsword. Throw in a focus skin that looks like a gauntlet, pata or something for the game's first unarmed build. Open the way to Naruto mesmers or Charr clawing people to death.

[Zera.9435]

16 minutes ago, wolfyrik.2017 said:

Open the way to Naruto mesmers.

Nope. I take it back. This is a bad idea.

[wolfyrik.2017]

22 hours ago, Zera.9435 said:

Nope. I take it back. This is a bad idea.

Hah! fair 😆