As per @kuro’s request I am making a forum post and pinging him~
I’d like to raise a balance concern regarding 1H and 2H weapon design.
Currently 1H and 2H weapons have access to the same number of enchantments and gem sockets. However! 1H weapons allow the use of an offhand item, which provides additional gem slots and enchantments, effectively acting as a stat stick.
Because of this, 1H setups end up with effectively double the same weapon enchant/gem access as 2H, thus creating a higher overall stat ceiling.
As a result, there are very few mechanical reasons to choose a 2H weapon outside of personal preference or aesthetic choice. If base damage is normalized and scaling is comparable, 2H users are effectively giving up additional stats for no clear advantage.
Guild Wars 2’s use of its sigil system is a good example of how it could work; its system makes 1h and offhand weapons have 1 sigil slot each with 2h weapons having 2 sigil slots; equalizing stat access.
Cheers~