Hey there, had to inquire on this since its BFA has been through 3 patches or so, wanted to hear some thoughts and opinions on my idea here regarding the artifact weapons in Legion and how they work in BFA.
Legion Artifact Appearances
Regarding the Artifact Weapons that we received in Legion, if you were not aware before, you had the ability to transmogrify it to something else completely. Regarding this, concerning dual-wielded weapons, you could transmogrify one part of the weapon to a normal weapon, while leaving the other half of it intact and untouched. As an example, switching the shield of Truthguard to a random shield and keep the sword/mace/flail (Depending on the Appearance you had) and vice versa where you could keep the shield and transmogrify to a different main-hand weapon, this went for all dual-wielding weapons, Rogue daggers Shaman Weapons, Protection warrior, fury warrior, Demon Hunter weapons and so forth.
Battle For Azeroth Transition
When transitioning to BFA these appearances were put into the Appearances Tab, and then the issue I have started to occur. The issue in question is that, when transmogrifying over to the artifact weapon, you are forced to have both the main-hand and off-hand appearance. As explained above, you were not forced into having both weapons hold the same appearance in Legion, and could transmogrify off 1 or the other at will. I took to reading around and figuring out what was the case here, but didn’t see anyway to revert to how it was done in Legion. While it was sad to be seen taken away, I feel that this feature should be re-added to give us freedom to choose the choice of having an off-hand or main-hand separate.
Creativity from Choice
While I realize that some people might say “If you want to have this specific weapon, you must pair it with this other weapon” I feel that our ability to mog one of the weapons and still have the other being the artifact appearance added (And can still add) a ton of fashionable ideas that you could use for your Transmogrifying.
One example being a Vengeance Demon Hunter who would use the Hidden Appearance for the Aldrachi Warblades, called the Iron Warden. They switched to the appearance and took it as a Psuedo looking shield, and in the other hand they had a sword transmogrified in place of the other warglaive. Demon Hunters couldn’t and can’t wear shields of course, but they found a way to creatively give themselves a shield look, adding a ton of flavor to their Transmog.
On the other hand, some Enhancement Shaman preferred axes instead of maces like Doomhammer, and liked the electrical off-hand axe that comes with the Doomhammer look. So he switched to the appearance with his off-hand of choice, and mogged the Doomhammer to an axe that he liked, so he could keep the “One weapon only” appearance until he unsheathed his weapons and the bolt of lightning sprung forth as an off-hand. This would also include the Flame Off-Hand, Ice Off-hand, and so forth that came with the different appearances.
Every dual-wielding class had the ability to do this with their weapons in Legion, bringing forth a great deal of designs that could expand our looks.
While not all classes get the option of dual-wielding their weapon as their chosen Artifact Weapon was either a 2 hander, or just the weapon itself. Holy and Discipline Priest, Arms Warrior, and many other classes to name those who didn’t. The classes who did were able to go in directions of creativity due to the freedom that they were allowed.
Closing Thoughts/Comments
I realize that I may be speaking for a very small community when it comes to this subject. Maybe this has been said before, and I know people won’t all agree that this should happen.
However, what I’m asking for is the ability to once again transmogrify these weapons to specifically a main-hand or off-hand, rather than being forced into both, to once again give that creativity.