Got a brandish on my Dark elf fighter, and planning on going blade dancer
Should I be useing a sword and shield combo till i hit dancer and start using duals?
I don't really plan on taking the shield masteries as a knight, but cna see where a shield might be highly useful.
Or should I carry both a good 2-hander and a sword/board combo and use them as needed.
and thinking of picking up a bow and the first power shot skill, since if i read corectly on some sites it doesn't need arrows (mainly to pull a mob mixed with others)
The de fighter can use any weapon that you feel kills quickly.
There are some skills for sword/shield that might offer an advantage.
To me it comes down to what I am doing in-game. I solo a LOT (rare party).
I wanna kill quickly AND survive when I have too many mobs around me--I think the ELS + Brig shield is a good compromise.
I did the whole dual thing (never did the 2 hander) and the ELS/shield imo is better than those on the DE fighter.
(duals are fast, eat a lot of dss, and land for almost no damage for a DE without dual skills)
After about level 32 the mobs can actually hit back so it's nice to block once in awhile.
A number of people have chatted up the value of 2 handers and even daggers and bows in the past. I'm happy with the solo power of the ELS and the defense from the full brig set.
A DE fighter gets aggressions skills to be a mini-tank before lvl 40. If you are in some duo's or groups hunting (not RB) it might be nice when you pulled aggro to keep it off party members if you could actually survive the encounter.
"don't worry about dying..."
I think advice should generally include ways to avoid death while playing.
All players should learn the nuances of the game to be successful in PvE. It's the ONLY way to level a toon. Someone who is casual about death and sloppy with their hunting techniques at 30-40 is going to have some bad habits at 52+ when you almost always ARE partied and your silly mistakes negatively impact playing companions.
The more you die pre-40, the less you die post-40. And the less you count on your PDef in your survival, the more you count on your skills of pulling (or not pulling) mobs.
If you can get your hands on good duals (OEd 107's) go for it. That's what I did.
If not, depend on what you like, I guess. My brother has an SK and leveled pretty fast in raid groups. He said it was very easy to get groups needing for tanks with his PK, he used swd&Shield, but that was C4, even DE could tank RBs with live SO/EO in the party.
I tried a 2 handed sword for some time but didn't like it, too slow and I did more damage with my duals anyway (but that was an unfair fight OE duals x +3 2 handed)