Why leave your shield at home!?

[AlphaDragoon]

See, my problem with Gladiators being "THE tanks" is that SE themselves made it look like you could choose to be a DD with Gladiator only to find out "Oh, you can't. Sorry." If they were going to make Gladiators pure tank they could have left out things like "or, some may choose to forgo a shield, focusing solely on their sword arm" that make it sound HIGHLY like you could have chosen to be a DD Glad if you wanted when really that's not the case.

For folks like myself who wanted to play a sword wielding class and not be a tank, that was kinda what we were hoping for only to get told "LOL no go use an axe or punch something if you want DD". And no, "go play Lancer" ISN'T a valid response for folks like us. I don't want to use a spear, otherwise I would have went Lancer from the get-go.

[ThugHunter]

I sympathise, I too wanted to DD Gladiator when the game first came out, and was dissapointed with it to the point that I stopped playing Gladiator after the first 20 levels Pre Nov update.

Then I decided to give it another try and now love my Tank Gladiator. I would still like to see the option to have a DD Gladiator aswell.

[Vanguard319]

I sympathise, I too wanted to DD Gladiator when the game first came out, and was dissapointed with it to the point that I stopped playing Gladiator after the first 20 levels Pre Nov update.

Then I decided to give it another try and now love my Tank Gladiator. I would still like to see the option to have a DD Gladiator aswell.

I feel the same, just because a job may be optimized as one role, it doesn't mean you can't choose to play as another role.

[Chione]

This is why I don't do much partying aside from duo fighting with my hubby the MRD. People in general will always expect you to do things the way they think you should, nevermind what you want. It's why I play XIV more than XI now, because solo play is more of an option here. I don't want someone telling me I'm playing the game wrong because I don't have PUG and MRD ranked up to support my GLA so I can be a better tank.

I play my GLA as a Redmage type with thm/con support skills and weapon skills from LNC and GLA. I seem to do just fine solo. And my better half ends up tanking on his MRD more than I do when we fight together. We might not be breaking time records or winning the DPS race, but it works well for us and we have fun.

Anyhow, on the OP: I too wish there were a benefit to not wearing a shield though, even if some find the original description of the class invalid, I like the 'focusing on the swordarm' part a great deal. It would add an interesting twist, even if it's just quicker stamina refill or something small. I do like smacking baddies in the face with the shield, but it wouldn't take much to convince me to stash it.

Anyway, I just like swords. I didn't start leveling GLA as a tank. I'm not keen on starting to do so either.

[WilyKat]

This is why I don't do much partying aside from duo fighting with my hubby the MRD. People in general will always expect you to do things the way they think you should, nevermind what you want. It's why I play XIV more than XI now, because solo play is more of an option here. I don't want someone telling me I'm playing the game wrong because I don't have PUG and MRD ranked up to support my GLA so I can be a better tank.

I play my GLA as a Redmage type with thm/con support skills and weapon skills from LNC and GLA. I seem to do just fine solo. And my better half ends up tanking on his MRD more than I do when we fight together. We might not be breaking time records or winning the DPS race, but it works well for us and we have fun.

Anyhow, on the OP: I too wish there were a benefit to not wearing a shield though, even if some find the original description of the class invalid, I like the 'focusing on the swordarm' part a great deal. It would add an interesting twist, even if it's just quicker stamina refill or something small. I do like smacking baddies in the face with the shield, but it wouldn't take much to convince me to stash it.

Anyway, I just like swords. I didn't start leveling GLA as a tank. I'm not keen on starting to do so either.

My spouse & I do this also ^_^ It's great fun. We have specs for traditional roles- but we have fun doing what we like in duo/small group stuffs. I like debuffing on my GLA (b 'o')b

[Stellarkitten]

I don't see why GLA HAS to be a tank they do decent damage. I think that's why they left it as equipping a shield as an option. Maybe equipping your shield/using shield abilities takes away from your DPS? Anyways I'm only 38 GLA theres alot of stuff I don't know but its definitely worth some time on the battle field comparing.

[Boricua]

An idea could be a future trait from the guild that would allow 1 handed weapons to be wielded with 2hands for an acc/dmg bonus.

[Grimwood]

An idea could be a future trait from the guild that would allow 1 handed weapons to be wielded with 2hands for an acc/dmg bonus.

I like this idea. I'm surprised that it hasn't been suggested more often.

[buritoslicer]

I would like to see a two hander sword one day. I've always loved hacking people with a huge sword :P

[wind]

I would like to see a two hander sword one day. I've always loved hacking people with a huge sword :P

You make me sick sir. :P