Hearthpwn

Perhaps this has been touched on before but I haven't seen any posts on this yet. I'd like to see the addition of shields and offhands as substitutes for weapons (or perhaps even a separate slot). Both would be like weapons in that they would have durability but they would have no attack. Instead they would have effects that reduce durability

Shields would have defensive effects. You might have the ability to reduce damage dealt to you by 2 for three attacks against you or perhaps a spell shield that protects you from 1-2 offensive spells targeting your face. There could also be perhaps a "spiked shield" that deals damage to each attacker and reduces durability when you get hit.

Offhands (or wands or staves or something along those lines) would have offensive effects. A mage offhand could give you +1 or +2 spell power and have three durability. The durability goes down each time you use a damaging spell. A warlock offhand could negate three/four battlecries (either yours or your opponents) to add demon synergy or prevent BGH on your giants.

I feel like there's a lot of cool ideas that could be implemented through these. In a way pallies already have this idea with sword of justice so I feel like the coding wouldn't be too difficult to do. Anyone have any other cool ideas that could be implemented with offhands or shields?

I liked the idea...

As a clarification, these offhands and shields could just be classified as weapons if creating an extra slot would be too difficult or too unbalanced. The upside of classifying as a weapon is that its easier to balance and can be countered with Ooze or Harrison. The downside is that they could benefit from Upgrade, Deadly Poison, Pirate effects, and Captain Greenskin. My preference would be a different classification for them and a rewording of Ooze and Harrison to include them.

I believe ideas like these have been touched on before, but I don't know of any details. It's a good concept and can give weaponless classes a third edge that they wouldn't have otherwise. But I'm not sure about how it would work, not only interface-wise, but also gameplay-wise if shields/offhands were to be used alongside weapons instead of instead of weapons. But maybe that allows for some nice combo's. Imagine a warrior shield (3 0/3) that would allow you to draw a card everytime you took face dmg (through a weapon for instance).

Quote from ShadowSpectreX >>

I believe ideas like these have been touched on before, but I don't know of any details. It's a good concept and can give weaponless classes a third edge that they wouldn't have otherwise. But I'm not sure about how it would work, not only interface-wise, but also gameplay-wise if shields/offhands were to be used alongside weapons instead of instead of weapons. But maybe that allows for some nice combo's. Imagine a warrior shield (3 0/3) that would allow you to draw a card everytime you took face dmg (through a weapon for instance).

And imagine the tavern brawls... like that weaponfilled one we just had some weeks ago...

I haven't touched upon your ideas last comment. I feel most of them are good (the warlock might be a bit too strong? but depends on stats ofc), but the one I have the most problems with is the spell shield: it feels somewhat like a secret to me. I think the strength in shields/offs lies in the durability: tiny effects that spread themselves across board and time, unlike secrets which happen in one go. That's my only (small) issue with this.

As for the slot choice, yeah, there's indeed a problem with deadly poison, upgrade etc. Maybe only durability buffs will be applied? Not sure about this one... Shields/offs should have support cards too. A simple thing like 5 5/4 battlecry: gain health equal to the amount of durability you have (weapons/shields/offs).

How bout something like this? 

[img]http://www.hearthcards.net/cards/df1927fe.png[/img]

Or these

[img]http://www.hearthcards.net/cards/e0bab72c.png[/img]

[img]http://www.hearthcards.net/cards/a25d0f16.png[/img]

[img]http://www.hearthcards.net/cards/5d6b9ea7.png[/img] 

Sorry for the shitty art and/or lore sins, I'm neither a competent editor nor a WoW historian

So is the assumption with your card ideas that it would be specifically for a mage class? I like the idea but actually find some of the abilities underpowered.

Well no, it's just one for each of the classes that don't have weapons. Mage gets a freezing hero power, which could be quite good, priest gets permanent buff/debuff from hero power, warlock gets daemon synergy for non daemon minions etc. The point is that it's a tempo loss for some value which increases with synergy. Also, the mana cost/durability are pretty arbitrary at this point and could easily be changed for balancing purposes

Good point about shields. I agree with most of what you said. I like that shields can be destroyed by hitting your opponent. However, with something like an offhand, I think you should be able to sit on it until you get the conditions you like. Ooze should still be able to destroy both shields and offhands but they still take up the same slot as a weapon.

 This does sound like a good idea! It would bring life to Harrison and ooze, not just anti warrior and rogue. Another advantage would be is a long term ability. A spell staff for a mage with spell damage +1 would be nice as it would make spell mages less gimmicky