Weapon Damage Nodes on the Tree are a mess, but they don't have to be!

The third node presented is called "Two Handed Melee Damage"

The lie:
- Damage: yep, that's good.
- Two Handed: great, can't use this with a dagger.
- Melee: lie. spectral throw will benefit from this node.

the omission:
- Physical: I'm not saying that this should be included in the title, but this sets a precedent for omitting key elements in the title of a node. The title of the node does not exclude "Fire damage" from the benefits, but it doesn't have to, the content of the node should cover those details.

Based on these two key points, here's a few options:
- "Two Handed Attack Damage" - emphasis on the damage type
- "Two Handed Weapon Damage" - emphasis on the weapon type
- "Two Handed Damage" - no emphasis, shorter but odd to read

In the same way that the node title doesn't need to specify that it's Physical damage, it also doesn't need to specify that it doesn't work with bows. The contents of the node will clarify such details. The key information of the node is that it is attack damage that only applies to a specific type of weapon.

Let me show you three modifiers:
- "Increased Sword Damage"
- "Increased Damage with Swords"
- "Sword Attacks deal Increased Damage"


Would all 3 modifiers apply in the same way? No, but I would like to argue that they should. Here's my thought process:

- "Sword Damage" is an increase to the damage of a sword. As far as I know, PoE doesn't let you do other stuff with swords that isn't attacking. You can cast a Spell while wielding a sword, but if the spell doesn't use the sword, it's shouldn't scale with this modifier.

- "Damage with Swords" is an increase to the thing you use the sword for. Subtle difference in a novel, no difference in this game, as explained previously.

- "Sword Attacks..." Once again, there's nothing else you can use a sword for. This modifier also moves the value % to the middle of the text, making it uncomfortable to read. It does however bring in the concept of the "attack", which may or may not be useful. We'll talk about it in the third part.


Most other modifiers in the game use the first example's format, but there would be nothing wrong with sticking to the second one either. This is what it would look like:
- "16% Increased Sword Damage"
- "30% Increased Two Handed Melee Weapon Damage"

Dual Wield and Shield are conditional effects that don't depend on the active weapon, and therefore are placed as a suffix, like any other conditional effect in game. The current format of "Attack Skills deal Increased Damage while Dual Wielding" doesn't bring anything new to the table, it's just longer to read and breaks established modifier patterns. The following are much clearer, and follow the game's standard format.
- "25% Increased Attack Damage while Dual Wielding"
- "10% Increased Physical Damage while Holding a Shield"

Once again, let me show you four existing modifiers. I will tell you which damage they influence, assuming matching damage type between hit and ailment.
- "Increased Physical Damage with Swords" only hits.
- "Sword Attacks deal Increased Damage with Ailments" only ailments.
- "Attack Skills deal Increased Damage while Dual Wielding" hits and ailments.
- "Axe Attacks deal Increased Damage with Hits and Ailments" hits and ailments...

Exhibit C should not exist given the existance of that fourth modifier. But I wonder, is it not obvious that it applies to both if not specified? The third option does not specify where it applies, yet it applies to both. You may say that there's a difference between "Attack skills" and "Axe Attacks", but in PoE every attack is a skill. If all this mess is simply due to the basic attack not being a skill, it's not a good reason.

However, I'd like to present another solution to this problem, which makes it even simpler, and still allows for the existence of modifiers that only target 1 of the two types of damage. Here's 3 modifiers, which stick to the convention of PoE, are clear and concise, and don't need a second line of text.
- "Increased Sword Damage"
- "Increased Sword Damage with Hits"
- "Increased Sword Damage with Ailments"

This is where I point out that MOST (if not all) weapon nodes on the passive tree give 2 different mods, one for hits and one for ailments, making the specific mods something to use very sparingly.

Before I can move on, I have to address another important feature. "Melee Damage" doesn't apply to Bleed, because "Bleed" isn't considered melee damage. The same is true for "Projectile" and "Spell". The difference between "Projectile" and "Bow skill" (which does apply to Ailments) is subtle and arbitrary. The physical mechanics of rain of arrows shouldn't influence Bleed any more than the power of the projectiles themselves. So why should these modifiers be excluded? In my opinion, they shouldn't.
Ailments aren't in a precarious position anymore, such that Melee, Projectile and Spell modifiers would make them OP. With Spell modifiers being the most extreme, items like Indigon would use the "Spell Damage with Hits" format instead. Similar reasoning can be applied to skill gems which have DoTs too, but that's for another post ^^

make the base game clean, leave the complexity to the exceptions.

The format I'm sticking to for these examples is very much in PoE fashion, with the main stat "damage" surrounded by prefixes and suffixes.

(value) (operation) (form) (type) (modifier) (limitations) (conditions)
value: flat or percentage bonus
operation: increased, reduced, more, less, to, etc...
form: spell, area, projectile, axe, two handed, etc...
type: physical, cold, chaos, etc...
modifier: damage, crit chance, cast speed, etc...
limitations: with hits, with ailments, with vaal skills, etc...
conditions: while dual wielding, while moving, etc...

Examples:
- "10% Increased Cold Damage"
- "11% Increased Axe Damage"
- "12% Increased Two Handed Mace Damage"
- "13% Increased Damage with Ailments"
- "14% Increased Spell Damage with Hits"
- "15% Increased Melee Physical Damage"
- "16% Increased Spell Damage while holding a shield"
- "17% Increased Poison Damage while wielding a Dagger"
- "18% Increased Bow Elemental Damage with Hits"
- "19% Increased Projectile Damage with Hits while Burning"
- "20% Increased Weapon Fire Damage with Hits while Dead"

Notes: the "Attack" keyword can be added after the weapon type, if a damage type isn't specified, if it is absolutely necessary to reference the Attack. It could become "Axe Attack Damage", which lengthens the text but makes it sound better. I don't think it's necessary, as I explained in section 2, but it is an option.