Welcome!

Thanks for coming to the grand opening of The Sohothin Courier! As the weeks move on, I'll blog about everything from armor dyes to the lore of near every race on Tyria. Even if you have barely heard of Guild Wars 2, you should stop by every so often for a fresh perspective on why this will be the game for you.

I'll start off with everyone's favorite part of an MMO experience... Smashing things with a hammer!
There are many different types of weapons in Guild Wars 2, some of which are limited to certain classes.

One-Handed: Axe, dagger, mace, pistol, scepter, and sword.

Two-Handed: Greatsword, hammer, longbow, rifle, shortbow, and staff.

Offhand only: Focus, shield, torch, and warhorn.

For instance, a Thief can only use certain weapons:

Main Hand: Sword, Dagger, and Pistol

Off Hand: Dagger and Pistol

Two-Handed: Shortbow

In most MMORPG's you would use whichever weapon had the most DPS and/or best stats for your class, right? This is not quite the case in Guild Wars 2. Whichever weapon you use will change which class skills you are allowed to use. For instance if you're using a dagger in main hand and a pistol in your off hand, your first 2 skills will be dagger based, 

 Twisting Fang

 Backstab

3 will have to do with using both simultaneously,

 Shadow Shot

and 4-5 will use the pistol.

 Retreating Shot

 Head Shot

6-9 will be self healing and utility type skills,

 Withdraw

 Shadow Step

 Caltrops

 Scorpion Wire

There are also a few profession specific abilities, such as the Thief's

  Steal

You an catch some of these abilities in action by checking out the official Thief skills trailer!

It is worth a note that the thief is the only class where 3 uses both weapons simultaneously. In other classes, 1-3 will be main hand and 4-5 will use your off hand weapon.