So Paladins, how are they?

I'm not the one hyperfocused on damage. I talked about convenience, expenses, range (attack distance), and then damage. There's even smaller things like how easy it is for a sword user to switch between 1h-2h sword (each have different moments to shine) and how there are better and more various swords in the lower levels compared to blunt weapons. This doesn't even take into account that Crushed Skull has a higher level requirement than the Pyrope, Claymore, Flamesword, and Stonetooth. Guardian is a good point for 1 handed users, but if you want to make this towards inexperienced players, they won't be considering it until 170+ and I don't think they would be very inexperienced at that point. Shields and Bw aren't expensive compared to swords, but you get more out of a sword for the time and price vs a bw when considering: damage, range, and convenience.

I didn't disregard 1h bw because of it relying more on SI, I said it's a lot weaker compared to 2h Swords because of 4 factors: Convenience, expenses, range, and damage. I didn't tell people how to play their class and what to choose, I gave small piece of my experience regarding this matter and I am willing to expand on it. I don't understand your point of ST and Claymore, they're both 2handed swords and are easily interchangeable in a class that is too difficult to play hybrid. I also played this class to 200 before buffs. I got to play through it as a sword bw hybrid and have my own insight on this matter. People can play to 200 with a 2h bw if they so wish, but some people want more clarity in their decision. The person above proclaimed that he made a mistake choosing bw over sword. Looking through the thread that was referred to him, he seemed to have wanted an experience using swords, rather than bws.

I constantly used an ST, a Pyrope, and a Crushed Skull during my levels to 200. Eventually, I resp my dex and gave up the ST altogether. I still chose to use a Crushed Skull the majority of the time when I was at Oblivion 4, because I like the numbers that the Crushed Skull put out relative to the other swords, even though grinding was slower. Sometimes these choices don't have to be a tangible benefit and that's fine, but how I feel towards a Crushed Skull can be akin to how someone else feels about an ST so I would rather offer a more general view on the pros and cons.

I'm not focused on pure dps. When it comes to a single bosses, certain swords are less reliant on SI, which not only allows them to produce more damage, but it also allows more flexibility in movement. On multi-targets like Zakum arms and grinding, the extra range that 2h swords provide acb is very helpful. By the time a player starts to max Guardian, they'll be at a dps range where SE and high-attack potions start to hurt bw's more than swords. Swords are also more varied and dedicated players can switch from 1h sword to 2h sword based on the situation, whereas Crushed Skull is the only good choice with bw's.

 

I like this answer much more, thanks for elaborating on the pros of sword. Not for my sake, but for the rest of the community!! Keep owning out there bro.
However, I would just like to address some issues. In terms of range, I think that the only tangible effect I can notice here is zak arms. You hit way more arms with a 2h sword, on every other content I feel like its the same. Your comment on lvl 170+ is great. Paladin is skill starved and it might take a while before the benefits of guardian kick in! Convenience, I agree. It is much easier to purchase many swords and have the benefits of each in different scenarios (could be expensive though).
Cheers,

 

u can hit 4 arms permanently with skull with jumping, its even better than swords because people will go like "wtf is this pally doing"
so giving people smile irl>2h swords i rest my case

 

Ahaha yeah the erara technique (see my guide got.reference) is amazing but requires quite a bit of work. I wasnt even aware myself that it was possible to do. Just to show how versatile our play style can be. !!