In all honesty the reasons people list here is exactly why broad short swords were such popular side arm weapons.
They were sturdy and reliable weapons with a nice size pommel to both balance the weight and make it easier to keep in your grip (and absorb) during impacts from fighting.
There are those people who have vision for games like this, and those who want crpg with prettier graphics.
I think a combination of weapon stun / weapon degradation would be excellent to help balance better weapons. A trade off for example between amazing damage / speed and reliability in combat.
Next I also think that personally I think stabs should have a much longer delay depending on the level of armour the enemy player being hit has on. It was a common occurrence on the battlefield that enemies in heavy armour were often found with weapons still impaled in them because it would be so difficult sometimes to get the weapons back.
Honestly history has a lot to teach as to why certain weapons were better than others and used for various reasons, and although it is truly a challenge to translate such things into a computer game, it is the attempt at this that separates truly amazing games and children's games.
