Why leave your shield at home!?

[Lebannen]

I hope that they add the option to use dual wield and two handed sword. this way you can use sword only.

[Solipse]

Part of the problem here is the WoW-centric point of view where each class needs to have viability in a number of different areas. Instead of looking at the Gladiator class as a name, look at it (and other classes) as a concept instead and you can begin to understand how the system works with greater detail.

Gladiator - Defense and mitigation tank
Marauder - HP sponge tank and enmity generator with skills to disable.
Pugilist - Avoidance tank with good situational damage skills.
Archer - Ranged DD with high mobility and good enemy mobility impairment.
Lancer - Melee DD with great support abilities and party buffs.
Thaumaturge - Magic damage focusing on DoTs and utility debuffs.
Conjurer - Magic damage focusing on DD spells and party buffs.

Keep in mind that these are generalizations and every class has some abilities that break out of this mold.

However, the way to look at classes is to pick the generalization above that most appeals to what you want to do. That's the class you should play. Now pick 1 or 2 other generalizations that appeal to you, those are the secondary classes to level and will dictate the abilities that you want to add to your main class.

Want to be a great all around tank? Play gladiator and rank up marauder and pugilist to support.
Want to focus on amazingly powerful aoe magic spells with solid party utility and debuffs? Play conjurer and rank up lancer and thaumaturge to support.

Etc.

You will always be disappointed with a class if you are trying to make it do something outside its generalization. If you are trying to be a gladiator melee DD, you are not going to do well because that's the way the class system is designed.

[Stark_Valentine]

I hope that they add the option to use dual wield and two handed sword. this way you can use sword only.

dude, that'd be sick. like double short blades or 2 handed bastard sword, or long kitana! im with you

[Mudd]

Two handed strikes when no shield is equipped would be awesome.

[Minato]

Ya, tanking currently with GLA, but would definitely like to see it have the option for DD. As in Tactics Advance 1 you could dual wield, and do quite sufficient damage by doing so. This is more or less a change in the class for me, as of now, but knew what I was getting into haha.

[Zkieve]

Im not sure what type of dd you guys are speaking about but currently glad if used correctly can easily be on par with pugi or mrd damage wise.
If not tanking of course.
AkA: Heavy stab is overpowered.

[wind]

Heavy stab might be overpowered but it wont match up to the DoT of a pug using flurry and mrd's base hits + WS far outweigh glads even if you are using a +3 Longsword(not aeolian because it does nothing for piercing dmg which heavy stab is).

So wearing full DD gear + choosing DD stats(str/dex) and stacking all buffs you can (Blindside, atk+ modifiers, cadence) glad wont be on 'par' with the overall output that pug/mrd will dish out. This is all assuming everyone is equally geared, matching those 3 classes side by side.

[Zkieve]

Heavy stab might be overpowered but it wont match up to the DoT of a pug using flurry and mrd's base hits + WS far outweigh glads even if you are using a +3 Longsword(not aeolian because it does nothing for piercing dmg which heavy stab is).

So wearing full DD gear + choosing DD stats(str/dex) and stacking all buffs you can (Blindside, atk+ modifiers, cadence) glad wont be on 'par' with the overall output that pug/mrd will dish out. This is all assuming everyone is equally geared, matching those 3 classes side by side.

Glad can easily out dot dmg any of the above.They outdamage glad with spike dmg (weapon skills).
You shouldnt stack any abilities to use on glad anyways our ws sucks .
Spam atack is where glad shines.Add maim from mrd and you got an awsome debuf/dot set up.
The problem is people dont whant gladi dds, they whant them as tanks. and as tanks they cant do any dmg at all(well not compared to)but glad could easily be an "ok" dd.Of course never on the top 3 list.

I wont argue about pug dmg but so far i been told is well below lancer or archer.
Mrd just plain sucks.Dmg wise compared to the rest.

[Vanguard319]

I think that Gla SHOULD get an ability where they get increased striking power and accuracy when not wielding a shield. the main reason a swordsman wouldn't carry a shield would be to hold a sword with a two-handed stance, which in turn would allow them to hit with more power, while having more fine control over the blade. Also, to answer Alderton's question, people may wish to use a sword as a DD because of the mystique surrounding them. When you read stories from various mythos, the number of enchanted or legendary swords surpass virtually all other weapons.

[Alaltus]

I think that Gla SHOULD get an ability where they get increased striking power and accuracy when not wielding a shield. the main reason a swordsman wouldn't carry a shield would be to hold a sword with a two-handed stance, which in turn would allow them to hit with more power, while having more fine control over the blade. Also, to answer Alderton's question, people may wish to use a sword as a DD because of the mystique surrounding them. When you read stories from various mythos, the number of enchanted or legendary swords surpass virtually all other weapons.

^
This dual weild is such an overused concept and just dull and boring to me at this point. A trait/ability that allows Gladiators to take one handed swords into 2 hands would be a good way to split gladiator into two different entities. Tank and dd not to mention the possibilities of having 2 handed only weapons like greatswords etc.