The Shield slot should really be called the ‘back slot’ and it would be nice to see many more types of ‘back’ pieces of gear that you could craft and use in that slot.
None of these things should increase carry weight (that should be reserved for bags) but there’s lots of thematic and functional items that could go in this slot, like;
Quivers/bullet bags: Allows more bullets/arrows to be equipped at any time, and can decrease the weight of them in your bags
Cloaks: stat sticks that weigh less than shields or have different benefits
Battle standards: Picture samurai or orc blademaster - this would be good as you can have Faction/company flags as well being carried into battles
Alechemy/potion pouches: lets you have more potions equipped at any time and increases potency too - decreases weight of potions in inventory for people who like to use lots, also should let you make different types of potions from the camp
Cooking backpack: Picture samwise gamgee with the pan hanging off the side, same as potiion pouch let’s you have more food items equipped at any time, decreases weight of ingredients, maybe lets you cook more items from a camp than normal
Bait and tackle box: for the long haul fishing trips where you sit there for a while and try to catch as much as you can - decreasing weight of bait and caught fish
Any other suggestions or ideas for what could go in this gear slot? Making the choice between a shield or something that makes non-combat gameplay more versatile is an interesting choice and adds some depth to your gear
I imagine it means we’re gonna see other weapons that can use a shield at some point, but I’m 100% on board with other “offhand” items. Spellbooks would be another cool one.
Lots of missed opportunities with the elements and weapons in this game. Loooooots of missed opportunity. Would be sick if you could somehow unlock elemental versions of the trees. Like socketing a gem, but way more. Slick way to “double” the weapons without doubling the weapons too.
Nevermind the fact that the slot is broken, you punished for playing sword and shield because you lose the stats from the shield when you weapon swap to your secondary weapon. Its so badly programmed, and could literally be fixed with 1 line of code.
Lets not also forget the durability bugs making sns expensive to play beside. Losing durability for every single block you do is insane, because its counting it as a weapon switch from sword to shield??? Something weird like that idk, but the end result is your weapons being constantly broken.
Yeah so my thinking would be that if you expand what the slot can be used for you can mitigate the losses from not using a shield in a meaningful way - almost like you use that slot to enhance the playstyle you’ve chosen (archer, fisher, alchemist etc)