Based largely on the game discussion thread by @FatWhale (just in an actual suggestion)
Essentially this is a balance suggestion, but I’ll lay the issue out front and center so its easy to understand.
Currently, shields give a defense boost to those who have them equipped, regardless of their class. This was meant to be remedied by the fact that it, in turn, offers a mobility nerf due to the heft of the shield. Sounds fine in theory, however what was unaccounted for was the Ardent enchant, which halves the weight, and as such, halves the penalty. This allows classes that, despite not having invested into weapons, gain the full reward that shields grant at essentially little to no cost. (Which is currently being abused with the new Dragonscale shield, which gives 440 defense)
There was a lot of arguments that happened in the thread about whether the shields should keep their defense or not depending on if you’re a weapon class, but I personally think they should. Afterall, it’s a shield, regardless of who is using it they should get the defensive boons. What I do want to address with this suggestion, however, is that the penalty can be circumvented. Therefore, I propose some changes, not all of them but at least one should be put in place for shields.
First potential Change
Shields are now given a scale of how much weight they have depending on your weapon investment. They’ll get a maximum of 1.5x their weight down to the base 1x that they currently have. At 0, you would obviously have the maximum 1.5x weight, logically because you wouldn’t be good with weapons so a shield would be very unwieldy to carry around. This makes it so that, even if you apply ardent, you are still getting the intended mobility penalty. The scaling would be gradual and stop at 40% of your weapon invested, so as long as you’re a hybrid you would be unaffected by the scaling. Therefore, Weapon classes do not get penalized for using a shield, but Non-Weapon classes that try to sneak by with the defensive properties get a genuine downside to having it, forcing them to be more tanky.
Pros:
- Weapon classes are unaffected by this change and remain how they are currently
- Non-Weapon classes can no longer bypass the weight penalty with ardent
- Realistic and logical
Cons:
- Ardent now becomes a requirement on shields for non-weapon classes, or else the penalty becomes too much
- Doesn’t address the actual issue of ardent on shields
Second Potential Change
Change how Ardent works on shields. Since ardent decreases their weight at the cost of blocking power (which doesnt matter to non-weapon classes since they don’t get the blocking power boost in the first place), I think ardent should give a defense reduction rather than a blocking power reduction. This makes shields much more viable as a weapon for weapon classes rather than a no-cost defensive tool for non-weapon classes.
Pros:
- Non-weapon classes now get reduced defense from shields if they choose to use ardent
- If they choose a different enchant, they have to suffer the weight penalty in greater force.
Cons:
- Technically a nerf to Weapon Class users too, disincentivizing shield use
Third Potential Change
Shields now offer no defensive boosts nor weight penalties to non-weapon classes, only giving beast defense.
Pros:
- Weapon classes are unaffected since they’ll keep the current shield system
- Non-weapon classes can no longer use shields defensively
- Shields can now be used freely for vanity and beast defense, without having to worry about the features that come with it
- Works more like pre-full release shields
Cons:
- Doesn’t make sense (having a shield that offers no defensive benefit)