Originally posted by Kauldric:

If you want to block exclusively you need a tower shield. The small does work but it’s for occasional blocking of one enemy near your level.

The AI is so dumb it’s much easier to take a small step back, let them swing uselessly, then bash them with one or two swings until they are staggered.

Even better is to use an upgraded bow and fire arrows or slate arrows, switching to melee as needed.

no, i don't want to block exclusively, i liked having options as i explained before. The rest is what i have been doing and it had been working well till the changes. just shut down 5 dedicated servers since that doesn't work at all in CQ combat any more and we now have to do much more of that with under equipped new characters since BCs seem to contain less cores too now.

I am also not seeing any arguments from you or others about why the new system is an improvement. A healthy discussion needs both sides represented rather than just trying to invalidate one side.