Shield question General/Specific

[Heshinar]

General Question...

How far do you train shields if you hunt with a weapon?

What are the pros and cons of whether or not to convert an older tower/wall shield from medium to current?

[Kitsun]

Eh. Shield ranks would depend on profession and how much you want to rely on shield use compared to say dodge.

Warriors are typically the only profession that would consider going 2x or 3x shield use.

You only want wall/tower shields if you have a lot more shield use than dodge and want to leverage that aspect. Most people seem to prefer smaller shields to minimize dodge hinderance.

[Latrinsorm]

The heavier armor you wear and the higher your shield to dodge ratio is, the larger shield you should get. For instance, my warrior 3xs shield, 0.5xs dodge, and wears metal breastplate, making the decision for tower a no-brainer. You can find the formulas on play.net if you want to actually do the math out, and they might even be accurate to what's in game.

[Heshinar]

hrmmm,

Reason I asked is my Bard which comes from GS3 when I re-activated the account has a 5X Wall Shield that inspects as medium.

I am not sure the training path as I am at work but from your answers sounds like I want to stick with it being medium.

Also since I saw someone selling a 5X on the net for 650K sounded reasonable nowadays.

[AnticorRifling]

If it's an old shield it will be medium in base until you convert it. I say leave it at medium until you're sure you're going the rogue (buckler) route or the warrior (tower) route. Medium is a safe place to be as far as shields go.

[Sidrik]

Or, as a bard, you could pick up 50 air lore ranks and get the best of both worlds, a sonic shield that defends like a tower but hinders like a medium.

[Bobmuhthol]

Large shields have an inherent -5 DS.
Tower shields have an inherent -10 DS.
Your dodge sucks.

Only cons of using a large shield.