Can the Devs allow Dual Wielding Shields?

[Alerith]

While I wouldn't be opposed to the idea of dual wielding medium/small shields, I don't really see the practicality, other than turning your PLD into a MNK with Block instead of Guard.

Now, what I think would be more useful would be to treat sword and shield as two weapon fighting. Just like dual wield, you would strike once with your sword, then one with the shield. Give the shield a delay for attacking purposes.

Break Shield Mastery down into tiers like Dual Wield I, II, III, IV and V. Give PLD Shield Master I, II, III, IV, and V. Shield Mastery acts as PLDs Dual Wield by reducing delay.

[kingfury]

While I wouldn't be opposed to the idea of dual wielding medium/small shields, I don't really see the practicality, other than turning your PLD into a MNK with Block instead of Guard.

Now, what I think would be more useful would be to treat sword and shield as two weapon fighting. Just like dual wield, you would strike once with your sword, then one with the shield. Give the shield a delay for attacking purposes.

Break Shield Mastery down into tiers like Dual Wield I, II, III, IV and V. Give PLD Shield Master I, II, III, IV, and V. Shield Mastery acts as PLDs Dual Wield by reducing delay.

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Well ironically, that's exactly what the concept would be although I think you underestimate what kind of a torn that kind of PLD would be to a monster. To merge the damage of a MNK with the defensive capabilities and magic spells available to a PLD would be a new battle tank class indeed for FFXI, so that would be the goal with these weapons.

• The 1st goal would be to create a weapon that would be most intuitive to a PLD, so what would better than a melee shield that can cause damage and still process a block. I stated in an earlier post that a PLD would still have the option to use a sword alongside these melee shields (though it might require the "Dual wield" job trait should they choose to do so depending on how they're programmed) and it would work exactly as you're suggesting, "to treat sword and shield as two weapon fighting. Just like dual wield, you would strike once with your sword, then one with the shield"
  
• The next goal would be to create a new and diverse list of weapon skills that would cater to a tank's need to generate high amounts of enmity. That would be possible with a new option like this since sword wasn't really designed with this in mind.
  
• Lastly, attach some really helpful stats that would help greatly when tanking. Everything that would be absolutely amazing to have attached to a melee weapon that hasn't been available before.

In the end, such an idea would help solve some big issues with tanking if developed just right.

[Kristal]

Well ironically, that's exactly what the concept would be although I think you underestimate what kind of a torn that kind of PLD would be to a monster. To merge the damage of a MNK with the defensive capabilities and magic spells available to a PLD would be a new battle tank class indeed for FFXI, so that would be the goal with these weapons.

Why would this be a PLD weapon though? I'd peg it more as a PUP weapon, given the weird H2H weapons they tend to use. It would be working off Guard skill, which gives MNKs and PUPs an easier route to skill it up.

Perhaps it's the imagery you've supplied, but I simply cannot see it being used by a PLD just because it has 'shield' in it's description somewhere. PLD is a shining knight in armor with sword and shield in hand, not a bare-chested tattoo-covered berserker punching with shields. MNK I can see fit that image better, but you practically need to be a circus freak to wield such an odd weapon effectively, which pegs it as a PUP weapon, along with adargas and sainti.

Perhaps you could do a side-by-side comparison of PLD, MNK and PUP, and see who pulls off the most iconic look

[Daniel_Hatcher]

Why would this be a PLD weapon though? I'd peg it more as a PUP weapon, given the weird H2H weapons they tend to use. It would be working off Guard skill, which gives MNKs and PUPs an easier route to skill it up.

Perhaps it's the imagery you've supplied, but I simply cannot see it being used by a PLD just because it has 'shield' in it's description somewhere. PLD is a shining knight in armor with sword and shield in hand, not a bare-chested tattoo-covered berserker punching with shields. MNK I can see fit that image better, but you practically need to be a circus freak to wield such an odd weapon effectively, which pegs it as a PUP weapon, along with adargas and sainti.

Perhaps you could do a side-by-side comparison of PLD, MNK and PUP, and see who pulls off the most iconic look

Ultimately it'd be a new job in itself.

It's certainly not something PUP or MNK would use though, you're fighting with shields, you know those things neither job has skill in.

[Kristal]

Ultimately it'd be a new job in itself.

It's certainly not something PUP or MNK would use though, you're fighting with shields, you know those things neither job has skill in.

Neither does PLD. Remember, these are BATTLE shields, not shields. There is no reason why H2H or Guard skill cannot be used to wield them.
Besides, if MNK or PUP can wield 'swords' or 'axes' , they can wield 'shields' in the same manner as well.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

Neither does PLD. Remember, these are BATTLE shields, not shields. There is no reason why H2H or Guard skill cannot be used to wield them.
Besides, if MNK or PUP can wield 'swords' or 'axes' , they can wield 'shields' in the same manner as well.

Battle Shield it's in the name. The only difference is they would equip two and hit with them, which they do with Shield Bash already.

lol, you can't call it a sword or axe simply because it is slightly pointed or rounded, also the Battle Shield goes on the wrist, not gripped in the hand.

[Kristal]

Battle Shield it's in the name. The only difference is they would equip two and hit with them, which they do with Shield Bash already.

Kriegsmesser is a greatsword. What's in a name? Let's call it Grappler's Guard then.

lol, you can't call it a sword or axe simply because it is slightly pointed or rounded

Adargas and sainti are not 'slightly' pointed or rounded... these are full-blown piercing or slashing weapons designed to put additional thrust behind them by changing the way they are held. Sainti in particular are almost identical to these battle shields, minus the wristmounted guard.

also the Battle Shield goes on the wrist, not gripped in the hand.

Actually, it does both. Go back to page 4.

As a new kind of H2H sub-type, they would automatically be dual-wielded as well.

[kingfury]

Why would this be a PLD weapon though? I'd peg it more as a PUP weapon, given the weird H2H weapons they tend to use. It would be working off Guard skill, which gives MNKs and PUPs an easier route to skill it up.

Perhaps it's the imagery you've supplied, but I simply cannot see it being used by a PLD just because it has 'shield' in it's description somewhere. PLD is a shining knight in armor with sword and shield in hand, not a bare-chested tattoo-covered berserker punching with shields. MNK I can see fit that image better, but you practically need to be a circus freak to wield such an odd weapon effectively, which pegs it as a PUP weapon, along with adargas and sainti.

Perhaps you could do a side-by-side comparison of PLD, MNK and PUP, and see who pulls off the most iconic look

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I can understand how the "punching" imagery in the animation could mislead you to thinking that these weapons would be primarily used that way, but that was just one of the many ways these weapons could be used to cause damage As to the question of why a PLD would use these weapons, the simple answer would be because of the native affinity and A+ skill rating PLDs have that would really bring the "shield" functionality coupled with these weapons to life like no other job could. One can't help but to be jealous at how often a PLD's shield can actually trigger versus any other shield wielding job, so with this weapon in hand, the weapon's design would be fully realized during combat. That, and it was designed concept wise to be available to jobs that have a native shield skill rating, so that's PLD, WAR, WHM, RDM, THF, and BST.

Since conceptually these shields could have blunt, sharp or spiked edges, everything from punching to slashing to bashing attacks would be used to cause damage to an enemy. I tried to capture those attacks in the second animation where the weapon skill used each of these types of attacks (the Galka starts with a punching/piercing attack, then uses a rising bash attack to the enemies face, jumps back to use a charging slash uppercut that transitions into another bash to the head). All of these types of attacks would be used in combination, so it would be far more than punching shields.

As far as the gritty and primitive look of the bare chest tank look, that was created to be the foundation of where the fighting style originates based on the back story I've attached to the style itself. It indeed is an opposing image of the "Knight in shinning armor" concept we've come to know up to this point, but I figured a more brutal concept could be used to match the brutal style of fighting with these shields. I wanted the style to feel primal and raw compared to the very "Conservative" fighting style of the Knight-like PLDs. A WAR would be a perfect match imagery wise since they are based on a similar "Raw" foundation as damage dealers, so I tried to offer that option to a PLD. If a new job was created to wield these battle shields, I could easily see PLDs subbing that new job to gain the benefits of this fighting style while maintaining their polished look lol.