[greneherb]

If using two equivalent setups, one a DW and one a 2H'er the accuracy of the character won't play into how much dmg you do with one as opposed to the other.

Let's say both setups do 100 DPS against a significantly lower level monster (i.e. nearly 100% accuracy). Then when fighting a monster of equivalent level you have say 50% accuracy.

DW = 100DPS x 50% accuracy = 50DPS
2H'er = 100 DPS x 50% accuracy = 50DPS

Even though it seems like when you miss with the 2h'er you're losing out on a lot of dmg because of how hard they hit, the fact of the matter is when using DW you just miss more often and they equate to basically the same difference.

One advantage of a 2h'er is that if the enemy has some form of damage shield (thorns, flame shield, or even riposte is just a form of a dmg shield) the slower heavier hits of the 2h'er will lessen the amount of damage the hero is taking.

Another advantage of a 2h'er is when the opponents have a form of dmg mitigation where they reduce all dmg they take by a set amount (dmg soak). Say for instance if a creature reduces every hit it takes by 15 points. Less hits for more dmg reduce the effectiveness of that type of mitigation as opposed to a DW combo that strikes very frequently but can barely do enough to get past the dmg soak. If however mitigation is more of a percentage based reduction of dmg, then either combination would essentially be the same overall dmg per given time.

Weapon effects, or proccesses, can be done one of two different ways. In EQ1 and EQ2 the effects that could proc off a weapon went off as a frequency based off time. In this case weapon effects would fire off say between 2 and 6 times per minute and the rate of proc'ing was strictly based on time (and whatever frequency factor they built into the weapon) and nothing to do with the delay of the weapon or how hasted the character was. In WoW certain effects like a rogues poison and some weapons procs were based on a percentage chance per swing, so faster weapons or more haste (if WoW even had haste, IDK) allowed players to tool their characters specifically for better proc effetiveness.

The advantage of DW is that either of the two ways procs can work, by using weapon in the primary and off hands, the character will proc more frequently than if they just had a single weapon (provided they don't build in a mechanism for certain weapons that have just an outrageous proc frequency like the cleric summoned hammers in EQ1 PoP era and later). The character also has the advantage that they can specifically tool different procs for different situations by using different weapons. The more frequently your weapons proc the more reliably you can count on them to proc off the effects you need.

Another thing I can think of for whether or not to DW or use a 2h'er when DPS'ing is for the stats. If the gear tends to have lots of stats on them, then ussually 2h'er tend to have extremely good stats for a single item but they tend to fall a bit short compared to adding up the stats of two equivalently teir'ed 1h'ers.

The last thing I can think of for choosing a style is the cost. Sometimes it's a lot cheaper (either via in-game currency or guild raid points) to just pick up one good solid weapon (a 2h'er) and be done as far as a DPS'ing setup. Other people will find that they would just much rather have the look and feel, or even the analized game mechanic effects of a DW combo and will go ahead and pay the cost of having a good DW combo. Still others (like me) tend to find that different situations call for different mechanics and having a bag or two full of weapons gives you the diversity that you need when playing and exploring a dynamic MMO.