Will anyone be using a shield?

[DeluksZ]

As I was making my HC solo barbarian build (with 1H + shield) I just realised that there are no active or passive skills specialised on shield using. How can that happened? Also, I don't even know hot block will work? Anybody can give me a fast course on that?

[galzohar]

All I managed to figure out so far, is that block gives you a % chance to take X less damage every hit. How effective that will be - Only time will tell.

It does make sense that there are no skills/passives that are meant for shields. It gives you a choice whether to use a shield or not regardless of build, which I think is nice - As long as shields don't suck on their own. Making skills/passives that use shields would eventually make you fell like they are "required" when using a shield, limiting the number of good builds you can create with a shield. There's no real way (I think) to make such skills decent without making them "required".

[DeluksZ]

All I managed to figure out so far, is that block gives you a % chance to take X less damage every hit. How effective that will be - Only time will tell.

It does make sense that there are no skills/passives that are meant for shields. It gives you a choice whether to use a shield or not regardless of build, which I think is nice - As long as shields don't suck on their own. Making skills/passives that use shields would eventually make you fell like they are "required" when using a shield, limiting the number of good builds you can create with a shield. There's no real way (I think) to make such skills decent without making them "required".

Using a shield makes you quite dedicated towards a certain playstyle. Of course not having "requied" skills as a shield user makes you able to choose from a wider range of skills/passives, but I think if you decide to use a shield you don't mind having skills/passives for it.

[galzohar]

The problem is that if you choose to use a shield and there are shield skills/passives you will basically be obligated to use them - Otherwise, why are they requiring a shield? If they weren't that great, what was the point of limiting them to shield users? And if they're good, they have to make shields suck for those who don't use them. Therefore including such skills narrows down the build options for those who choose to use a shield, instead of giving them the exact same options that non-shield-users have.

With the current system, all they have to do is balance the survivability of weapon+shield with the damage of 2h, without making a mess with the skills.

[Youngtimer]

I belive Bilzzard will do a lot with the itemization to make shields interesting to wear. Bonus on Set Items can out-shine complete skills like in this armor: http://d3db.com/item/i/2504

Greetings,
Sar

[Torr]

I keep feeling like I might make a shield Barb so that my Barb feels different than my Monk. Light damage dealer versus heavy tank, that kind of thing. I want them to feel really different. I wonder how defensive you can go without gimping your attack too much? I was thinking that you might be able to build a fairly defensive shield barb with skills like:

Leap/Iron Impact- slow movement 60% for 3 seconds, 300% additional armor for 4 seconds upon landing
Ignore Pain/Ignorance is Bliss- reduce damage by 65% for 5 seconds, 20% of all damage done to life
Revenge/Provocation- since you are getting hit more, you take this to give you an attack that capitalizes on that
Call of the Ancients/Duty of the Clan- Increase the duration to 20 seconds, which means more time where other targets are keeping your enemies busy, instead of hitting your barb

Bloodthirst- 3% of all damage to life
Superstition- reduce non-physical damage by 20%
Tough As Nails- increase armor by 25%

Would a shield barb be able to use all of these skills and still be damaging enough? Notice that I did not include a primary or secondary attack. I left the mouse button attacks open to interpretation. If you made a barb defensive like this, would you be required to have more offensive skills in the primary/secondary position? How defensive can a shield barb go?