Off hand weapons as main hand weapons

[Batalix.2873]

I would be okay with this, given the need to counterbalance a dearth of offhand support weapons with the reality that players overwhelmingly cream themselves over mainhand stuff. I could see:

Guardian warhorn with 3 skills (shaman)

Engineer torch or warhorn with 3 skills (bombadier)

Revenant focus with 3 skills (cryomancer or golemancer)

Necro shield with 3 skills (iunno, I just want shield necro mmmmmmmm magetank hit me)

Mesmer warhorn with 3 skills (bard/shattermage)

Ranger focus with 3 skills (pack summoner)

Thief focus or torch with 3 skills (gambler or spelunker?)

Warrior shield with 3 skills (sentinel, dual shieldmaster hype)

Ele focus with 3 skills (sure you guys can have your dual focus Avatar monk I guess).

 

I think this unlikely unless they have several other major selling points for an expansion because players will continue to whinge about longbow ele and hammer necro or whatever. But technically there is nothing stopping them from upgrading offhand weapons to mainhands. And this would help round out a lot of weapon representation in a way that is satisfying, especially for mage players.

 

 

 

Edited July 19 by Batalix.2873

[Inssengrimm.7924]

Yes, this is a great idea, i would love to use certain weapon combos like Shield+Shield or Torch+Torch.

I even posted the ideas for cool Elite Specs for these weapon combos a few months back, they really don't need to add new weapons to the game, but to give variety, freedom to all weapons equal.

The idea of "off-hand" weapon is retrograde, we need progress.

[ShadowInTheVoid.9183]

I wouldn't mind some throwable mainhand shields.

[Gehenna.3625]

Yeah, I want to create a character named Hornblower who wields two warhorns and skill 3 should be a dual wield skill called "mega horns". 

[draxynnic.3719]

On 7/13/2024 at 4:05 AM, Panda.1967 said:

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…

Heck, the only existing shield that can't be used offensively with at least one skill is revenant.

But there's a reason 'dual shields' is something you only see in games and in spectacle duels where using something weird was the point. In practice, combining a shield with a sword is usually more effective even for purely defensive purposes - people who haven't trained in HEMA or the like tend to underestimate how effective a long metal bar can be in deflecting attacks without blocking your own line of sight. A decently sized shield coupled with an agile sword that can protect areas that the shield doesn't cover is generally better than two shields. And the sword also represents greater reach and threat against your opponent, and sometimes the best defence is forcing your opponent to respect the threat of a credible offence.

In the GW2 context, it's often maces instead of swords that are the defensive weapon you pair with shield for full tanking. Historically this wasn't as effective as a sword since swords are faster than maces and usually have better hand protection (except Indian maces), but it would still probably work better than two large shields.

There are fighting styles that are essentially two small shields or one two-handed shield, but these wouldn't be using the shield designs we have in-game, and are usually employed in situations where real weapons are forbidden or when using something weird is the point. Nobody would take either into a life-or-death situation when they could have a conventional weapon and shield, unless they'd spent years training with tonfas or the like and had minimal experience with conventional weapons and were more confident with the more exotic combination as a result.