Hello, all! So, I’m not sure if this topic has been mentioned recently, but I figured I would start a thread discussing the possibility - and potential uses - of in-combat weapon swapping, after seeing some of the class-wide baseline abilities being given in Shadowlands.
The two classes that made me think of this were the Warrior and Hunter; specifically, the DPS specs of Warrior and Survival Hunter. Currently in the Alpha, they have access to abilities that, under normal circumstances, they simply won’t be able to use - such as Shield Block for Fury/Arms Warriors, and Arcane Shot for Survival Hunter - without having the specific weapons equipped.
To remedy this, I think giving certain classes the ability to swap weapons in-combat could give a lot of variety and versatility to their gameplay. For Arms/Fury warriors, it would allow them to function as emergency, albeit subpar, tanks if they can swap to a 1hand and shield - and for Survival Hunters, deal albeit smaller but still present DPS from a range when forced to in encounters/chasing foes. Heck, you could even give BM and Marks melee baseline abilities if you wanted to with this (wingclip, anyone?).
To make this functional, Blizzard could introduce two “weapon sets” for specific classes, which give you their stats when you have them CURRENTLY equipped. And then a button you can assign to your hotbar that’ll let you swap (with a CD, or simply being on the GCD). This would allow these classes to change tactics on the fly, but not let them be overtuned in terms of stats.
What do you folks think? Would this be a good idea for Blizzard to implement in Shadowlands for classes like War, Pally, Hunter, etc? Share your thoughts and let’s figure the kinks out.
I don’t think this is necessary, OP. You can already do this.
All you have to do is create a pair of equipment sets with the desired weapons, and then drag those sets out of the Character pain and place them on the hotbar.
It’s been a hot minute since I tried doing this, but IIRC, it works.
You can swap to a different weapon while in combat? I thought that you couldn’t do that, just like how you can’t change out trinkets/gear while in combat.
In either case, I referring to, say, a Arms warrior swapping from a two-handed axe to a one-handed sword and shield during a boss fight if the tank were to die - allowing them to function as a temporary/clutch tank of the situation calls for it. Which would make sense, if they’re going to allow a spell like Shield Block to be used by both Fury and Arms…but how can they use it if they will never enter combat using a 1-hand and shield under normal circumstances?
Yep, only weapons can be swapped in combat. I used this all the time when I couldn’t fly. If I got dismounted over water, I equipped my artifact fishing pole for the swim speed buff to avoid combat.
You’ve never been able to change armor/trinkets in combat but you can switch weapons. I just tested it on this character and it’s still doable.
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Well, if that’s the case, then I suppose this thread is pointless then! Not sure how functional the current weapon-swapping is, but if they made it smoother/more intuitive, that would be a welcome change at least.
Nah, we got to share some good news with ya!
https://imgflip.com/s/meme/Close-Enough.jpg
You cannot swap in/out a corrupted weapon. 
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This thread made me nostalgic for the time when I had both a ranged and melee weapon equipped.
Back in classic you used to be able quickly swap your dagger for a sword, as a rogue, and get some pretty insane ambushes.
The good days.
But yes you can swap weapons in combat. Just not armor. Which kind of makes sense.
You can swap weapons but NEVER gear while in combat. Unless they have changed that.
I think this could be useful, especially for fury with shield block.
Just create a macro friend.
Use a /equipslot macro for the slots you want to change with the names of the items you want to equip.
You can even add the ability you want to cast with it such as shield block or spell reflection and hitting it twice will first equip the item and the second cast the spell.
It’s easier in retail. Classic/Vanilla has a gcd on weapon swapping whereas modern WoW is off the gcd. (I does have it’s own cd though so you can’t hammer it to spam equip weapons lol)
The CD used to not be there and it calculated the damage when you hit not when you cast.
So swapping to the sword amped your damage.
Now it doesn’t matter.