This. You people need to just accept the fact you can't block. Stop looking for mods, or saying "ESVI will change it". It's called balance foo! Just posting a possible way you might be able to avoid many slashes, and you guys are hatin'. Getting flamed over here --> :flamethrower:

In my opinion, people that think having some form of blocking or parrying with dual-wielding breaks balance have a very rigid, unimaginative, and false idea of how certain concepts must be incorporated. For one thing, success and blocking capabilities associated with the various types of blocking (with a sword or with a shield, for example) vary depending on the utilized form of blocking. A shield is inherently better for defense than a sword due to its design, wide area, and solid wall-like structure. For another thing, damage or one's swinging speed while dual-wielding can be done to different degrees. Bethesda doesn't have to pour as much damage as possible into dual-wielding attacks to somehow make additional blocking some balance-breaking feature as you think it is. I don't even understand how one's attack speed or damage would be all that significantly increased while dual-wielding. Considering the weight required to be behind a successful swing, swinging both swords at the same time or having each one deal as much damage as just one each while both are being swung at the same time doesn't even make sense. The real advantage of dual-wielding isn't this misconception of somehow killing things incredibly quickly and powerfully, it's to have an offhand weapon for a specialized parrying style.

I played a little bit of Oblvion recently and noticed something while fighting a lot. Blocking is good, but it's not need in melee situations. You can move backwards when they attack, which i did a lot. The only time i used my shield was when an archer was shooting at me. This is the only weakness i see with dual wielding. (spells hit you no matter what IIRC). It's easy to avoid a lot of hits. Surely you will be hit a lot, but not continueously. When i noticed this, i counted how many times a melee enemy hit me while i tried dodging. Basically, he hit me 1 out of 5 strikes. Most of those were power hits. Remember you have double the damage, so fight cautiously, dodging hits. Dual wielding is still a great way to fight the way i see it. Just those damn archers.

hi, im not rulling out blocking in dual wield; watch the demo, what i saw at one point was ablocking stance in between strikes
{from the draugr}. it happens pretty quick but i did see it. I'm pretty sure it'll be there Austendude.