Shields seem to take ALOT of skill out of this game, am I missing something?

[Armstrong]

Originally I was quite pleased in that I thought I had found a skillful game to invest some time into with the manual block block system and all, however shields just seem to have a massive advantage over two handed weapons, I would be willing to accept that the sword and shield is the better choice and simply switch to those however the sword and shield gameplay in this game is just so basic when compared to that of the two hander and the manual block.

You basically just exchange hits to each others shields until someone makes a stupid mistake or someones shield finally breaks and they have to defend themselves with manual block, the parry system would have solved the lack of depth with the sword and shield combo however It's just far too risky and I haven't met ONE single player who can do it consistently, it usually ends up getting people killed more than anything else.

People have recommended 2 handed axes to me in the past, but they're not greatly effective you usually get one hit on their shield and then they close the gap between the two of you and stay close because they're so close you can't charge up the power of axe therefore it take ALOT more hits to destroy the shield.

As if that wasn't bad enough it's impossible to deal with those who have 2 of the top rank shield, you need to manually block about 20 shots or more just to face them in an even fight, it's ridiculous.
I find it realy frustrating because i'm no scrub I can consistently win the majority of my fights in duel servers and can manual block fairly well. Please tell me i'm missing something and this game isn't as broken and biased towards the less skillful sword and shield combo as it appears to be. I really don't want to quit playing this game due to overpowered weaponary removing so much of the games depth.

 

[Berserker Pride]

It gets worse than that.  Check out the shield coverage thread that explains how much of your back the bloody shield protects.  It has damn near 270 degree coverage!

 

[Shik]

Feint past their shields. Tends to work most of the time against the majority of players.

 

[Armstrong]

Feint past their shields. Tends to work most of the time against the majority of players.

Any decent player doesn't chamber an attack until they hear the ding noise.

 

[Shik]

Once you get them into the pattern of block-attack-block-attack, it becomes easier to throw them off with a feint later. You can also try pulling a kick-slash or trying to stun them with an overhead attack from a heavy 2h weapon. A weapon like the rhodok mauls tends to help against shield users as well.

 

[Puzzlepirate]

edit: hmm, now i see, you are looking for a way that is already presented in the game to best deal with people using a shield, honestly, i'm a big shield user, always have been in just about any game i play in, but in this game, the thing i notice the most is when i get kicked, it drops my shield guard and if your fast enough you can land a blow before i can recover.

('kickin! KICKIN!' the bloody hell you got no arms left! 'yes i have!')

 

[Armstrong]

Once you get them into the pattern of block-attack-block-attack, it becomes easier to throw them off with a feint later. You can also try pulling a kick-slash or trying to stun them with an overhead attack from a heavy 2h weapon. A weapon like the rhodok mauls tends to help against shield users as well.

Hmm thanks i'll give it a try, but I feel against the better shield users they won't slip up nearly as easily.

 

[Rane]

Try to kick them into submission and then hack their face up when they lower their shield.

 

[Lucan946]

I usually have no problems with shields when using a two hander. I do die often but it's not like I'm not killing anyone. When I do use a shield I will often be less successful in fact.

 

[Armstrong]

I usually have no problems with shields when using a two hander. I do die often but it's not like I'm not killing anyone. When I do use a shield I will often be less successful in fact.

I'm talking more specifically about duel servers, dieing often on those means you can't successfully deal with shield users. Winning some of the time is hardly succesful, no offence.

I can kill shield users SOME of the time in duels but not consistently like 2 hand users and it just seems kinda lame that they can kill me at all when all they do is hold block and then attack back.

 

[Dent]

Spam. Spam spam spam. It works on a lot of people. Hit their shield then immediately swing again in the same direction, and it'll connect most of the time as they're expecting to trade attacks. If they're preparing to swing before you are, though, either turn into your swing and pray or block and try again. Or you can try the dreaded sword reacharound where you spin like crazy and try to hit them in the back. That one I can't stand, but whatever works..

 

[Armstrong]

Spam. Spam spam spam. It works on a lot of people. Hit their shield then immediately swing again in the same direction, and it'll connect most of the time as they're expecting to trade attacks. If they're preparing to swing before you are, though, either turn into your swing and pray or block and try again. Or you can try the dreaded sword reacharound where you spin like crazy and try to hit them in the back. That one I can't stand, but whatever works..

I hate to say it but I'm guessing this game just wasn't what I thought it would be competetively due to the shields. Everyone seems to use them, in the none duel servers atleast and when fighting against them a large percentage of the outcome seems to be down to luck sadly :/ which doesn't work at all within a competetive game.

 

[Khantrah]

I'd be for nerfing shields in melee but not against ranged attacks. Maybe make melee strikes destroy shields twice as fast as  they currently do across the board but no change to arrow / bolt damage. The only reason I ever roll with sword and board is to counter ranged attacks, which is most of the time in most game modes.

Duels should never involve shields.

 

[Aethelred]

I haven't played online since 0.860, but I never found it that difficult to kill someone with a shield. I usually use polearms, and I found a skilled two-hander was far more dangerous than a skilled sword-and-shielder. Just remember you have a big advantage in reach with most two-handed weapons - attack them while they're trying to attack you but aren't close enough, and bait them into doing so as much as possible. It can be hard to judge since many weapons seem to have a longer effective range than they visibly should. Still, range is vitally important online, much more so than in SP. I found one handed weapons much less useful since you can't stay in range easily enough.

 

[Dent]

If you'd like to do a practice match going sword&board against two-hander, I'm up for it. It is not impossible and not even particularly difficult to beat shield users with a two-hander, unless they're Rhade or someone similar.

 

[CtrlAltDe1337]

First a thread "two handers are two fast!" Now, "shields are too good!" 

Get good at feinting and shields won't pose a problem to you.  Or bring an axe.

 

[Armstrong]

I haven't played online since 0.860, but I never found it that difficult to kill someone with a shield. I usually use polearms, and I found a skilled two-hander was far more dangerous than a skilled sword-and-shielder. Just remember you have a big advantage in reach with most two-handed weapons - attack them while they're trying to attack you but aren't close enough, and bait them into doing so as much as possible. It can be hard to judge since many weapons seem to have a longer effective range than they visibly should. Still, range is vitally important online, much more so than in SP. I found one handed weapons much less useful since you can't stay in range easily enough.

2 handers only get a single attack before sword and shields users close the range, because walking backwards drastically reduces the speed of your character any player that isn't half soaked charges you aggresively to close the range between the two of you.

 

[Armstrong]

If you'd like to do a practice match going sword&board against two-hander, I'm up for it. It is not impossible and not even particularly difficult to beat shield users with a two-hander, unless they're Rhade or someone similar.

Did you get the game from steam? if so what's your steam ID, i'll add you.

 

[Bones40]

The OP's point isn't that Sword and Board is unbeatable.  Sure, everyone can beat them some of the time, most of the time and maybe even all of the time for the extremely good blunt/axe 2hand users.  His point, if I'm reading correctly, is that it takes far less skill to use a sword and board than a two hander, and the only drawback is that the shield user will lose a bit of range (which, honestly, is not a big deal.  It's child's play to close to striking distance when all it requires is holding down the block button while moving forward...and takes zero risk).

The point, as I see it, is that for a game to truly be competition sort of game (aside from duel rules) you can't have one class that requires no skill and has no drawbacks.  And the side point, and to me perhaps the main point, is that the sword and board game-play is so boring and skill-less that it's not even worth playing.  I refuse to play the damn sword and board dance for 5 minutes waiting for shields to bust. 

I for one, am all for a revamp of sword and board mechanics.  I would like shield coverage to be reduced significantly, I would like some sort of directional type blocking to be required and I would like a significant delay between a successful block and being able to chamber a strike, at least for the big shields.  Also, it makes sense that a 2 hander can go from parrying to striking in no time because the same movements are used.  But a shield user should have a delay going from block mode to attack mode, even if no strike was blocked, simply because it's completely different movements.  Now, I would also be all for being able to stab out from behind an actively block shield as well, though not very damaging.  Just something, anything, that gives people a good reason to choose 2hander over sword and board.  I do it because I can't stand doing the shield dance, it's boring.  But there has to be a gameplay reason, otherwise that part of the game is broke.

The game is damn good, but it's not perfect.  It won't get better either unless we have discussion on things that can be improved upon.

 

[itchy01ca]

Don't care. There are so many other things in War band that are out of balance that the shield unbalance.. kind of balances things out