Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-26274215-20160617155453/@comment-26172435-20160621152323

I fancy the notion of having a shield item that can be used as a normal piece of equipment, in any of the normal hand slots, but that only blocks attacks. So, no dual wielding stuff, just simple one-armed combat, but you can use a shield in time of need, like when you're trying to approach ranged units with only melee weapons on you. If you wanna block effectively, switch to the shield you have and cover yourself. Besides that, weapons should indeed also have some blocking effect, but much less effective as a shield. If possible, the shield would be effective when it's in your hand and you're searching in your inventory for better gear to use. Durability and effectiveness of shields could be material (and thus faction) dependent. Finally, it would be most fancy and convenient that when you have the shield item in hand, the mod shield that the player model carries in their left hand or on their back, will dissappear from view.

Eh, might it be better if I'd make this a separate suggestion? Just thinking out loud with accumulated insights here ...