My opinion, mkay

[Macropus]

Shields difficulty should be removed.

Dedicated shielders would put skillpoints in shield anyway to get decent speed/coverage and resistance.
And others could just pick up something to cover themselves.
Honestly there's no reason to restrict shields usage.
Mkay.

PS: to ranged players I say: no u!

[//saxon]

bold statement, interesting.


can be a good idea though, these days if you play melee you are overwhelmed by ranged players and forced to just wait, dunno about CHN or NA but EU had a dramatic increase to ranged class, i don't mind it at all but i notice it having a toll on melee classes. not really fun tbh 

[Sandersson Jankins]

Would rather see some more shields go to 0 or 1 shield skill requirement rather than all shields go to 0. Would look goofy as shit seeing anyone in the server pick up big-ass heavy heaters and huscarl shields.

(I have 1 shield skill on my main so I'm one biased-ass motherfuck)

[Admiral Ballsack]

Shields difficulty should be removed.

Dedicated shielders would put skillpoints in shield anyway to get decent speed/coverage and resistance.
And others could just pick up something to cover themselves.
Honestly there's no reason to restrict shields usage.
Mkay.

PS: to ranged players I say: no u!

Lol, this would be a huge fuck you to ranged. Though lets be real here, if I could play without shield skill and put points into iron flesh that would be OP. There are already a few 0 skill shields already to choose from, that last a few arrows what would be the difference if you changed more shields to 0 skill requirement other than balance issues?

NOT TO MENTION ALL THE HEAVY CAV WOULD HAVE SHIELDS AND NEVER DIE

[Panos_]

Make all shields to require 0 shield skill, but add Strength difficulty to them.

[Macropus]

The point is - having a shield causes enough penalties (upkeep, weight, unability to fight with anything except 1h and spears) by itself, no need to requre skillpoints on top of that.
Shield skill should be used for those who fight with a shield, not those who just use it as an antiarrow barrier.
Just like it works in Native. Everyone can pick up a shield, yet not everyone carries one all the time.

It might requre some balancing with shields stats though.

[San]

It would make more sense to just make them like weapons: Difficulty based on strength, shield skill has more tangible effects on speed/coverage/shield bash than all of these hidden values with a slight general buff to the skill. The prices would need to go up considerably more than what they currently are, maybe up to 9-10k, just so mid-value shields can get used a bit. Final damage mitigation is crappy for a skill all by itself (with unknown speed/coverage where we don't even know if even works the way we believe). I also thought that shield stats may need to be changed, but maybe not as much as previously thought in its current condition.

People are going to hate what I say next, but the offensive shield bashes with high shield skill should deal a decent amount of damage and have a better passive block effect against projectiles. Currently, it's foolish with little reward to try a bash in front of a held shot, and worse than most of the other nudges. I'd rather use the 1h nudge for offense and the polearm nudge for defense.

The disparity between not being able to pick up a shield vs. the nature of shield skill conflicts with eachother gameplay-wise. Shield makes sense for agility, but it doesn't make sense as a difficulty requirement based on the current shield animations. This game doesn't have any techniques or the like that makes me believe that you have to be well versed in the way of the shield to hold up a Huscarl's, unlike being properly trained to ride an arabian warhorse.

Even so, doubt much will really happen in the end.

[Sandersson Jankins]

Currently, it's foolish with little reward to try a bash in front of a held shot.

That explains why I do it so much when I carry my dinky 1 skill shields, then.

Nah, it actually doesn't seem TOO bad, but it's really a non-issue to most people, since most on the battle server aren't even aware you can knock people down with offensive nudges if they are holding. Most shielders seem to think the only nudge you can use with a shield is the defensive nudge while holding down the s-key.

[San]

You can knock down ranged with a nudge, but you can also just walk into them while blocking and achieve the same effect for being just a few cm closer. If you miss the nudge, you can still easily get shot it seems. I got punished for it once, and I'm not in the mind to test it that often. Maybe someone well versed in nudging against ranged fairs a better chance

[Sandersson Jankins]

You can knock down ranged with a nudge, but you can also just walk into them while blocking and achieve the same effect for being just a few cm closer. If you miss the nudge, you can still easily get shot it seems. I got punished for it once, and I'm not in the mind to test it that often. Maybe someone well versed in nudging against ranged fairs a better chance

Sorry, I thought you meant "swing" instead of what you actually wrote. Assumed you were talking about offensively shield-nudging an s-keying held swinger. Poor reading comprehension hnnnngh.

Yeah, there is little reason to nudge down a ranged player with a shield. I do it quite a lot when I'm shieldless, though. I can generally get 2 swings off rather than just wailing on him and getting 1. Plus, I just like being able to say in TS

"I just put that motherfucker in the dirt!"

I do agree that the offensive shield nudge should have a better shot at catching an arrow or two and do a small amount of damage to unarmoured opponents.

[Rebelyell]

We have to bash resonable topic for two years sooooo... Maybe..... Nah next year

[Dionysus]

I almost totally forgot shield skill was not required to use shields in Native. I'm for changing it to a Strength requirement or just reverting it back to what it was like in Native.

[//saxon]

you should add a poll yes or no agree or disagree.

[Macropus]

you should add a poll yes or no agree or disagree.

I'm not asking people if they agree or not, I'm just telling them how it should be. 

[Sparvico]

Make it so you can hold any shield in front of you to block ranged, but if you don't have the required skill points to use it make it automatically be put on your back when you try to swing with it out (maybe make it give extra penalties to speed and wpf when on the back of people with no shield skill). This would simulate the idea of any old idiot being able to pick up a piece of wood and hold it in front of them, but only trained people actually being able to fight with it effectively. Maybe even make it so it auto drops the shield when they try to swing.