My first characters weapon choice..

[Frogmander]

Well, I still say, that our opinion means squat to his gameplay. I probably would only really consider dual wielding, because I dislike two-handed weapons, but that's my own personal preference, so I don't see it helping anyone else.

Not true, I had no idea what to pick, after some debaiting and seeing peoples posts I chose on 1h axes

[Chaos the N'wah]

Well, I still say, that our opinion means squat to his gameplay.

1. Then why are you here?
2. The game isn't out and this is a good diversion to make him think of what he wants to do
3. Two-handed weapons are better for larger crowds (from what we know)

/TripleStackDisappointment

The allure of running down a mountain and hacking wildly with two axes is strong...but so is clearing a room of enemies in one swing...or doing the bullet-time shield thing...

[OblivionDuruza]

Two-handed weapons are much slower than one-handed ones, and with the dual-wielding perks, dual wielding can get even faster, so really, if you're clever in combat, you don't need crowd-control, you just need to manoeuvre and focus your fire.

[Frogmander]

Well, I still say, that our opinion means squat to his gameplay.

1. Then why are you here?
2. The game isn't out and this is a good diversion to make him think of what he wants to do
3. Two-handed weapons are better for larger crowds (from what we know)

/TripleStackDisappointment

The allure of running down a mountain and hacking wildly with two axes is strong...but so is clearing a room of enemies in one swing...or doing the bullet-time shield thing...

I decided against 2h axe because I always had troubles aiming with 2h axes in oblivion : /

[Chaos the N'wah]

Yes, but the ability to block will be god-send, especially in hairier situations where you can't "be clever enough" in your dodging

That makes me wonder if the bullet-time perk from block works with two handed weapons

[OblivionDuruza]

Sure, but if I want to block, I switch to a shield/sword combo. Blocking with your weapon is not as advisable as blocking with a shield. Besides, maneuverability is key. Place your foes so that they get in each others way, or are hampered by obstacles. Finish one quickly, and move on to the next, you might have to take a pounding at first, but as long as you focus your damage, you can whittle them down effectively. This is all speculation mind you, as I haven't actually played Skyrim, but it works for Oblivion, even with only one weapon.

[Chaos the N'wah]

Yes, but I know you (as well as my self) ascribe to the defensive combat versus the "Kill them before they kill you" mentality required for two handed weapon fighting.

All moot, but it makes me wonder on how balanced enchanting is between dual weapons and two handers..

[OblivionDuruza]

Depends, I like to move in swiftly, staggering my opponents and preventing them from landing a hit on me, fairly simple with Oblivion actually - probably less so in Skyrim, I only really block when combating tough foes, and even then I go for the stagger approach too, plus I tend to manoeuvre in an effort to avoid their blows just as much as blocking. It all depends on the situation and also the character.

Although good point about Enchanting.

[Chaos the N'wah]

I'd imagine that a heavier weapon would equate to a higher chance to stagger someone

But dual wielding twice enchanted weapons could be pretty crazy damage wise...

[OblivionDuruza]

But shorter, lighter weapons are faster, and so you can keep an enemy continuously staggered, at least in Oblivion, giving them no chance to raise a shield or weapon to block. Heavier weapons are slower, so I used to find that enemies got more chances to retaliate or block.

[ZeRoc]

I thought this was a discussion of Skyrim weapons instead of Oblivion's staggering system...

I will probably switch between a bow and a sword shield combo.

[OblivionDuruza]

It still is, we have next to no knowledge on Skyrim's combat, per se, so we are using what knowledge we have to attempt to answer the original question. It is only sequitur that shorter weapons will be able to attack faster, and therefore keep enemies in a continual loop of staggeredness.

[Chaos the N'wah]

It's unlikely that the stagger system would work so that you could keep enemies staggered the whole time without it having massive repercussions on the player.

Previously, stagger chance was built off of you and your opponents agility/fatigue competing, I'd imagine the only way to increase the chance to stagger an opponent (outside of perks) is to reduce your enemy's stamina. It would be stupid to have the chances to stagger on both two and one handed weapons the same, which is probably why they added the shield perks the way they did, knowing that having two weapons would have a similar chance to stagger as two handed ones (5%/5% vs. 10%).

[OblivionDuruza]

Yeah, the Oblivion system was flawed. Oblivion was great, because I for one almost always go Strength and Agility.

As for Skyrim, I have a feeling stamina will come into it, but it would be logical for the size of the weapon to have an effect, or rather, the weight behind the blow, and therefore the weight of the weapon and the amount of force you put into the blow, assuming that the more you hold down the button/trigger, the more force is applied, like in Morrowind.