guess you fail to take into account WHO is asking for advice. telling a new player to put his shield on his back to fight 2h'er is about the stupidest advice you could give.
the advice is..dont chase fast 2h users. Keep your shield up and look for teammates for help or just rope-e-dope until help arrives. practice on duel server how to fight agi whore 2h'ers
Quite frankly, this is the worst advice for a new player I can think of. What you're advising a new guy to do is turtle up -- He learns nothing from that and dies constantly for his pains. You're setting a new guy up to become someone who moans on the forum about how unfair it is that the speed isn't right.
If he tries manual blocking and doesn't crutch on his shield constantly to block when he doesn't have to, then yes, he absolutely will die to more experienced players. However, he will learn to manual block in the process and will get a much better grasp of how the game plays out. As a 1Her you need to block a 2Her twice to get into their range and be able to actually swing -- If you have a shield up too, you're looking at 3 blocks before you can hit back and remember you'll be chasing them as you do it and giving up your swing turns to move slowly after them.
I would say out of any class, ironically, the shielder is the person who should be most adapt at manual blocking. Axe users and 2H sworders will lay waste to you if you think it's a good plan to go attempt swinging back with anything lower than 6 athletics behind you. Your shield's going to disappear pretty damn fast and you're going to have no clue what to do.
And as I said above, the advice "lol well avoid 2H / axe users then! HUAEHAUHE" is completely infeasible -- They make up 70%+ of the melee population and you're absolutely a key target for them to lolspam with impunity. You move slower than them and a turtling shielder moves even slower, he's looked at as a free kill and they will swarm from all over to kill you.
I mean, I agree, ideally you should avoid them and run away to your team but that's simply not possible a lot of the time. The longer you leave it to learn how to deal with people like that, the more pain and anguish you're going to go through. Sure, practice with the tutorial how to manual block, and practice on the duel server how to chase AGI whores too.
A shielder doesn't have to get kills to be a valuable part of the team, distracting people is handy too or taking an arrow or a melee hit to the shield to save another guy is awesome as well. At the end of the day, your team wins by killing the other team. Not to mention... You know, actually enjoy the game somewhat.
I also agree with other people that 2H is the easiest class for a new guy -- In fact, the easiest class for anyone to play. A good 2H takes a lot of skill, however the average retard flailing with a 2H sword can quite easily top the scoreboard. You move fast, hit crazy hard, have the longest reach and can swing quite fast too. You've got a wide array of variously priced weapons and you're able to wear heavier armour. dodging arrows is something a monkey could pick up after a week and while you might be more prone to die if you're aggressive and don't know how to block, you're also able to get out of dangerous situations easier. Not to mention a 2Her can carry a shield too if he wants.
I started off as a 2H -- I played every class and have been playing 1H for ages now. Out of all the classes, it's one of the trickiest to play well.
