The other day i was thinking it should be awesome to make a battlemage that converts as much as damage to eather as possible with devastation as boss nuke. The damage would be not as high as a pure caster but still oke with the right gear. (think: Mindwarp (MADE for this), will of the living, fateweavers etc…)
And suddenly my dreams where shattered again but that stupid requirement for a caster offhand. I mean i get it lore wise & i agree. But a shield like will of the living should really be able to act as a caster offhand… I mean you can channel powerfull spells tough a shield with runes if you wanna make it stick lorewise…
TL:DR make certain shields count as caster offhand or remove the req from some skills like devastation. My Eather damge battlemage weeps with such great gear and no supported spells…
I find the idea pretty neat. The whole defense system is kinda “soldier”. But why if there could be a max block sorc…arrr…canist. Some game we all know had this before and I liked the idea the block chance comes with stat, and you had to decide if you go this route or other defense to survive.
But to keep it short, I fully support the idea of casters with shield. Great, love it.
Maybe Id finaly play one then 
Its not really game breaking there mate. Cause you have to mix caster gear with heavy defence gear to get the damage you want and it still wouldn’t be to high.
Also you don’t have enough skill points to to heavy damage skills besides one big nuke if you want to max block also.
- The devs can cherry pick the shield that count as caster offhands !
That prevents to OP hybrids to pop up by default. (i mean sets are also restrictive)
for example: http://www.grimtools.com/calc/lNk3B4NJ
This build wouldn’t be OP with a shield but yet AWESOME to play. Goiing full Ham close rage with devastation all around sounds great. But you would still be squishy as hell…
Guess what the best caster offhand in crucible? Siedgebreacker 
yes and my point exactly… its a hybrid caster shields are made useless cause the melee counter part is always better.
Actually S&B battlemage is fine for gladiator purpose (~24 mins average clear), if i could use devastation or some other offhand restricted stuff (like iskandra relic) it would probably be too strong and slightly nerfed. :rolleyes:
Switch, nuke, switch, tank?
True, I was thinking about devastation.
Though AAR with shield might really be unbalanced.
And yes, I generally agree it’s sad to equip certain item types for some skills to be usable. Even if it based upon balance, it feels somewhat limiting.
You could mod out the off-hand requirement to use those skills. Again, weapon swap for Devastation would work if you’re really want to use it as a nuke.
I’m hopeful that they’ll do some really interesting or wacky things with some of the Mythical Legendaries that set them apart or make them special like how Vortex of Souls now is the only Legendary rifle that innately pierces targets.
So, something like “requires shield to Devastation” for a Mythical Will of the Living or another shield.
I would also like to see the reverse, using shield skills with a book or doll or what have you. 