Shield and other fighter questions

[phantom268]

First post here, and hello everyone! I'm still searching for all the info I'm looking for regarding fighters in Vanguard, this looks like the place I might find some answers. Haven't seen any topics on this yet thought I'd post up. Does anyone have any insight into how shield tanks will work in Vanguard? I love playing a good shield tank, but so often come out disappointed because shield gets neglected and shield styles and abilities get ignored. I love the concept of a shield not simply being a passive defensive only piece of equipment, but also using it to smack things around a bit as an offensive tool along with a 1-hander. If you ask me your shield is a weapon, not the thing that just sits on your left arm haha.

I'm curious how shield will be implemented here. Do the shields just boost armor rating or dmg absorption? What kind of shield styles or abilities might there be, the standard shield bash or a more extensive list? Is there a shield "skill" that increases block chance so you deflect more blows the higher your skill? I played shield tanks in DaoC and enjoyed them, speccing shield up to high levels made you a defensive beast, not to mention you had some great active, positional, and reactive shield styles you could use. And I love the idea of being able to "guard" a teammate and block some hits for them.

Also I've been trying to figure out the possible weapon options for the fighters. Would there be a possibility for using sword/shield when you need the defense, but swapping to a 2-hander or dual wield for more offense when the time is right? If it is possible, is there any kind of penalty for that added flexibility? Any information would be most appreciated I'm very excited about this game, trying to get some of this information down and get a gameplan ahead of time. Thanks!

Phantom

[Lightning]

I am fairly sure that in the past it has been stated by the Sigil devs that shields would be viable in Vanguard, desirable even. I'd suspect that sword + board might be the way to go for all tanks when they want to tank and not just go all out damage.

[Tazzrin Jaegernaut]

On top of what Lightning said, I have heard that there will be shield abilites. So, on top of it being a big factor for defense, it will also have its own offensive abilities. Sword + board FTW.

[phantom268]

That is good news indeed. Thanks for the replies!!

[Kell]

Would be a welcome change, and more people would be willing to go pure tank if shields could be more than an slab of extra defense.

I'm hoping to be able to partly deflect fireballs and shit, after all it's only logical that if that fireball hits a shield the damage done to the person will be alot less than if you hit him in the face .