I am having a rotten time trying to play an unarmored bard character. In fact it defies belief that the hotkey system is really this bad. I think I am missing something, but 30 minutes of googling has done nothing. For starters why was it necessary to make it impossible to block with one sword when dual wielding or when spell+one handed? Could you just reduce the block% a bit more? I just think it is silly to have a weapon in one hand and to opt to get smashed in the face rather than deflect a blow. People DO block with one hand, they brush aside blows or block...it DOES happen. I only harp on this because it really makes it impossible to play a proper bard.

See I can't block with one weapon whle having a spell out. Also I can't use a shield because it is considered "armor" and destroys the meager unarmored bonus in the Alteration tree. So I am now left with the need to unequip spells in my off hand so I can block with one handed weapon using both hands....ok but one problem. I cant unequip a spell in off hand. It automatically defaults to a spell in that hand. So playing a spell sword means you just cant do it...not right anyways. You can't block, because you can't hot key an empty hand. Unless I go into the menu and manually do it over and over and over. Not exactly smooth game play.

My point being you go through the trouble to make sure dual wielders and spellswords can't block...and I mean this is roughly 1/2 of the fun in melee BTW, being able to be active in defense and offense. But anyways you make it where people cannot block, then the hotkeys are defaulting to a spell+sword combo, making it impossible to drop a spell in the off hand to access the ability to block...unless I pause the game over and over. This is rubbish. I mean maybe I am missing something here, but I have honestly looked for the answer. Dual wielders should have the ability to block, I mean it turns into a button masher otherwise. No strategy just a melee spam fest.