Ischaldirh wrote
In short, lighter weapons never become truly obsolete. In fact, in a way they get better: with enough enchantment, even an iron dagger can do as much damage as a valpurium two-handed sword. But, the sword does not train your dexterity nearly as much, and dexterity is (arguably) a better stat to have a lot of than arm strength.
Sweet! I was usually trying to push my character to duel-wield two-hand weapons as soon as I could. Maces are my favorite due to the fact of their great blocking and low strength requirement compared to the other two-hand weapons. I should give daggers and short swords more of a chance.
red_kangaroo wrote
Shields were already buffed and can be pretty good now. In early game, especially if you have no armour, shields can provide the much needed AV, plus will block some blows. Later, you can get huge AV from metal shields, and shields of light metals are extremely good at protecting you, at the cost of some offense. I'd say they are at least competitive now, unlike before.
It felt like they must have been rebalanced compared to the amount of disdain they get, for the most part.
I actually use them a lot, but I never got far enough to see if they got worse in the end game.
The only reason I think tanking doesn't work well is that heath raises the danger level far too much. Thus tanks have to have low heath, making them flimsy once their armor is penetrated.