Only have a couple of minutes, so I can't say all that I want to say right now. I'm curious about which shield maneuvers you had trained, though. You mentioned a couple, but likely not all of them. Speaking specifically to warcamps, Shield Trample is very helpful as far as crowd control. Deflection is also handy to have due to the number of bow users that you run into. Prop Up can be helpful to avoid knockdowns from maneuvers, but it doesn't do anything for the RT stacking if you're getting hammered all over with maneuvers. Mstrike and berserk are still your friends, shield or not.

Is it as 'efficient' or 'fast' as going berserk with a claidhmore or a lance? No.. probably not. At the same time I never found it completely horrible either. Certainly not horrible enough that I would recommend people outright avoid it.

I'll dive in a bit more later.

Glurph

>wtrick tslice
You try to stuff your razern morning star in your ear.

The raw damage of Two handed weapons and Two weapon combat is always going to be much higher than sword and board, as it should be. Going into a warcamp and berserking with sword and board combat will not be nearly as effective as THW or TWC since you cannot set-up your strikes. Likewise, in an environment where creatures can instakill you with spells or maneuvers training for a strong offense is the most effective way to improve overall hunting success. However, the key benefits of the hunting style (defense, combat utility and most importantly control) somewhat offset the smaller damage factor with stability and flexibility. Also keep in mind that if you have very good equipment or access to outside spells some of the lines become blurred between hunting styles (good spells, armor reduce the offensive and defensive benefits of a shield while a great one handed weapon can close the gap on some THWs).

Offense - This is the largest gap for the combat style. Particularly seen when using open Mstrikes you just will not be incapacitating or clearing a room on an open Mstrike as you have noted. However, if you are facing creatures that are immune to stuns, crit resistant or turtled and you cannot reliably feint/warcry them what then? Shields provide some of the best Crowd Control in the game for regular melee combat(non-invasion or warcamps) in this instance. Shield bash, Shield Trample are undoubtedly useful here however its important to note some creatures are immune to shield attacks and some will only get RT instead of knockdowns/forced stance/stuns. THWs do not have any disabling CMANs unique to the combat style and TWC has hamstring (OHE only) which is fast but does not cause RT, force stance and often requires two uses to sever a leg/cause a knockdown. This means if you happen upon a group of 2-5 turtled or dangerous creatures as a TWC or THW warrior your options are symbol of sleep or warcry growl all to force stance or run. These are limited (or not-so-limited depending on your favor reserves) by their respective resource pools and society choice. A shield using warrior however can do all of that as well as shield trample up to 5 creatures or shield push one critter out of the pack to control the engagement. Both of those have high success rates due to the ability to 3x shields. One-on-one the gap is smaller between the three combat styles outside of the e/b/p and crit randomization advantage TWC has due to two swings: feint/warcry/bash/trample/etc, focused mstrike/ambush head. You will need more MOC training however for creatures that are crit-resistant/non-corporeal to offset the lower damage factor of one handed weapons.

Physical Defense - Shields give you access to Prop up, Adamantine Bulwark, Protective Wall, Steady Shield, Deflection Mastery etc which are incredible assets for dealing with CMANs and other status effects. Deflection mastery also happens to be one of the only skills that directly helps with Creature Manuever Rolls. Ranged weapons and spells can also be particularly devastating for both THW and TWC and will be even more so after creatures with the ELR changes. This is not a factor in all hunting areas or if you have enough spell defenses but its common enough to consider. Redux is a great bonus but will not save you from being plinked or flared to death in some cases. Block mastery, tortoise stance and guard mastery are also fantastic for helping your friends or lost children and escorts for the guild.

Magic Defense - The improved CvA with shield focus and additional platform for further improvement through ensorcell is great for long term spell defense. I would not consider Shield Mind a staple for dealing with warding creatures and due to its limitations there are better ways to spend your shield points. Its an option that some might find worth it. TD is the main weakness for warriors so having the ability to offset this in the slightest is useful.

Full disclosure, my warrior is 3x shield, 2x OHB, 2x TWC with a fully unlocked splitting war hammer so I have the improved control and defense from my shield but also the stronger mstrike and reduced impact of e/b/p and crit randomization of two weapon combat. However, I would not give up my shield for those times I need to have complete control of the battlefield through shield trample, improved guard for escorts and friends, or the piece of mind its less likely I will get maneuvered into death just walking around a hunting area. This is TP intensive but prior to reaching the level cap, however, I was able to maintain a 2-2.5x shield, 2x THW or TWC training plan JUST so I could have access to shield trample or carry my shield for the extra CvA and maneuver defense. I made the choice to reduce tertiary skills but it was worth it for how I envisioned my character. If I were solely a shield user I would definitely have a morning star instead of a warhammer for the highest damage possible and prioritize MOC to get enough ranks for a 4 strike focused mstrike if not more.

Berserk kills: sometimes your foes, and sometimes you. It should not be your benchmark for success in combat. Sure, you'll be a killing machine... until you run up against something you can't hit. Then you'll just be a comic side show. Real warriors use tactics, of which berserk is just a small part of a good arsenal.

Berserk is useful situationally, and those situations come in three forms: when up against a large number of foes that you KNOW you can hit, as a last ditch maneuver, and to get out of stuns of 3 rounds or longer. Once you get into places where hunting is difficult, you'll likely stop berserking in all cases except for the last. In the first case, if you know you can hit them, you probably aren't any better off berserking with a THW than you are berserking with a pair of OHE/OHB, perhaps less so, since you'll get 2x the hits with the pair of OHE/OHB. In the second case, if you had a shield, you probably wouldn't be in that last ditch situation. The last case applies no matter what type of weapon(s) you are using.

One of the beauties of the warrior class is that there are MANY ways to be successful. Sword and board is just one of those, as are polearms, THW's, TWC, hurling, brawling, and ranged. Your definition of success with sword and board is going to be different than it is with the others. If you value brute force over finesse, then THW's and lances are for you. If you value the dance of a series of aimed blows, parries, and blocks, then perhaps sword and board is for you. But the beauty is that they both work, and some value the former over the latter, and so on, through all the various builds. In fact, I would say that the biggest advantage that warriors have over other classes is that they flat out have more melee combat options that can be successful. If you're not enjoying what you are doing currently, you can always try something else.

Kerl

>>I'm level 45 and in plate, taking a 200+ physical hit is meaningless due to REDUX + plate. I would imagine at 70+ levels for a warrior with max redux, this portion becomes even more meaningless.

I think you are mistaken with this statement. Go and get yourself mstriked by a destroyer, radical, or anything else carrying a heavy weapon. It isn't as easy to shrug off as you make it sound.

>>The problem with MELEE intensive classes are swarms, swarms of mobs especially with CMAN abilities that can set you up for another mob to kill you. Shield+X is very inefficient here.

No idea which shield skills you were using but several of them are designed specifically to help in these situations and they do help quite a bit. Shield maneuvers are the only reason why I even have shields trained at all. I don't always have my shield out while hunting but I don't always need it either, how useful it is depends on where I am hunting. I've also found using a shield during invasions to be of great help at times.

>>I can MOC but my OHB isn't dependable as a claid in neutralizing the critters (read as stun or legged etc.) Invariably, what occurs, is a lucky manuever attack or warding cast eventually gets me (since it takes considerably longer to neutralize mobs with a morningstar) and then the slow stun + chip away begins.

Is this happening in warcamps or some other place?

While I didn't level up using a shield for a good while I was using a fist-scythe, bastard sword, katana, and a maul as my weapons. What I was using depended on what I was attacking. You don't always need the raw power of heavier weapons and at times using something quicker can be more beneficial.