Is there any reason..

..not to use a shield? Personally, I like swords, but I hate shields. I was curious if they made it where shields had disadvantages as well as advantages, and same for just swords.

You can use a focus instead, for extra energy and other mods.

Swords, Shields, and everyother item is capable of having negative effects.

That really didnt answer my question.

Do players just wield a sword without a shield? What are the disadvantages of a shield?

If my thinking is correct, which it may or may not be. Take my words with a grain of salt. Then there should be no disadvantages of the shield. Afterall, It would give you more defense.

That makes sense, I wonder if the shield actually does add to your defence.

In other words : Yes, you misawell use a shield. Upon wearing it, there is no -% speed, or -% damage to your sword.

Well, If it doesn't add to defense. It should at least add a block percentage into it. But, No classes seem to have a shield skill. So, The best it could do is add to defense.

Shileds add armor against attacks coming from the front, and they can also have some other modifier, like +HP if a certain condition is met etc.
There are no downsideds to using a shield. If you don't want to use a shield, you can use a focus and increase your mana.

Your still makin little - no sense. It has to do somethin, and your sayin it does nothing. You said it SHOULD add a block percentage, but then you said no classes seem to have a shield skill, which indicates it doesent. Then you say it doesent add defense, followed by the best it could do is add defense. Are you tryin to tell me it doesent do anything?

Thank you, :P. That makes sense.

It works like this: you have your normal set of armour, which we will assume at 80 for a level 20 warrior (note that you can actually have different Armour Levels/AL on each of the armour locations, but let's assume you have 80 across all locations), your shield adds a specific amount of AL to all locations as long as you meet the attribute requirements for it.

There are shields both for the strength and tactics attributes. Having a lower attribute than the minimum requirement seems to roughly halve the shield's effectiveness.

So 80 AL (worn armor) + 16 AL (shield, as seen with a 8+ strength or tactics req.)=96 AL

If you now consider that all sorts of damage which is influenced by armour (there are some which bypass it, a mesmer's backfire or a monk's holy damage are examples) does its specified amount of damage versus an AL of 60 and diminishes with higher AL, that 96 AL with your shield suddenly look a bit more interesting. I don't have the exact reduction ratio per point of AL at hand, but some kindly soul will undoubtedly point you towards the link.

But you should always consider what you need to do with a specific warrior build, as wielding a +energy symbol/scroll/offhand item may be what you need to use your skills effectively or at all.

But you can always carry both a shield and +energy item and just switch as needed using the F1-4 keys. Heck, that's at least what I do

Kind regards,

Bleys

current troupe:

Bleys The Blade - wa/mo
Kuhal Earthshaker - wa/e
Fiann Skybreaker - me/ne
Bleys of Amber - Wa/ra

I may've not clarified exactly what I was trying to say enough, If that's the case. I'm sorry.


If it does not add defense, Then it should at least give you a chance to block a oncomming attack. Ranged, or Melee.

If it does not give you the chance to block an oncomming attack, Ranged or Melee. Then, It should give defense.


Perhaps, I'm still working with FFXI game mechanics.

My 2 cents...

Most shields will say what they are, for example a "Tall Shield." Well you put the cursor over it in inventory and it says "+8 armour" (Or "defense," I can't remember. I am ranger in-game, but use all weapons, sword&shield not so often.). So now you know how much it helps your defense or armour.

You do need to relinquish the ideologies and thinkings of other games, likely even how their armours and weapons work, as all is melded together in that idea of balance. The schematic of GuildWars, is exceptionally different. You'll see in less than 48 hours

Hope this was helpful...em...keep the change! hehe

*Edit* In answer to the original question, as far as I know, there is only advantage to using a shield, and moreso for a warrior than other classes if the shield has any attribute relation.

No one has armor skills, does that make armor useless?

Point in fact, Warriors have some shield skills. Look under the Tactics line.

Regardless of whether you have any shield skills or not, they do add to your armor level, at least against attacks from a particular direction. The better shields, however, require a minimum score in either Strength or Tactics to be most effective.

The only disadvantage to using a shield is that then you can't use a focus. If it is true that offense > defense, that may be a more serious disadvantage than a lot of people think. Depending on your build, it may actually make more sense to use a focus than a shield (say you have lots of energy skills and few adrenaline skills).

Perhaps you didn't fully read/understand what I said. If it doesn't give the blocking percentage, then it should give defense. And, Never did I say a shield was useless. I actually tried pointing out that it would be better to use a shield, if you wanted the defense. Personally, I'll be using Foci.

Warriors have skills that require you carry a shield.

And the only other disadvantage to having a shield that wasn't mentioned is if you are not a Warrior Primary, it will require you to invest in Tactics, which may or may not be all that useful to your particular build.