ok..so..my Pw has an evasion of 98....and ive heard ppl saying that a shield is a good idea for usual grinding....what yall think? so far ive began to try it for a lil bit with a square shield i got as a drop...but im still not sure...
I never used a shield on my PW, but then again one of the reasons I subbed it, was for the evasion.
If you're hunting greens, then it's definatly not a good idea to use a shield. You should be evading a fair amount, depending on your build. The amount of damage you prevent by dodging should be higher than that prevented with a shield.
However on pink or red mobs, I'd say evasion is kind of worthless. But then again you shouldn't really be trying to tank pink or red mobs, at least not alone ;).
if you are running around with a one handed weapon
then hell, buy urself a shield, it wont hurt ya that much
i would not suggest switching from a 2 handed to a 1 handed just for the shield tho
just my opinion
Pretty much what Larielle said - in a group you don't need a shield since you oughtn't to be getting hit, on your own or at least in a duo with a buffer, you shouldn't use one because you ought to be evading. Unless you have EE buffs, the shield simply won't block often or hard enough to compensate -8 Evasion.
Does using a shield bring your evasion down?
Like if you have a scout using a dagger, does it actually hurt your abilities to use a shield?
If not, then why not use one?
Yes, having a shield equipped does lowers your evasion. You can use a shield as well as any other class, aside from tanks, but you'll be killing your evasion. But I hear that some daggers keep a shield in their inventory for pvp against nukers now.
Related question: is the shield block rate the same for blocking magic the same as for physical (no indication on the shield, last I looked)? I've never noticed that I've blocked a magic attack - but then again physical attacks are far more common than magic.