When I first acquired the dual wield skill, I used it for a while, but
found myself taking a huge amount of damage and often having to zone in the
middle of a battle. So I switched back to using a shield for several
levels. Later, when I had better weapons, more armor, and a higher defense
skill, I went back to the two weapon approach.

I think a lot depends on the party mix. In a caster-heavy group, the
monsters will be beating on you a lot and the amount of extra damage you
can do with the second weapon is small compared to the nuking that's going
on -- your primary job is just to soak up some hits and provide utility
songs (especially, if you're 32nd level or above, to act as a mana
battery). So you're probably better off with the shield. In a tank-heavy
group, if the tanks are good, they'll keep the monsters from pigpiling you
and you won't be hit much. In that case, by all means, go for the extra
damage from the second weapon. At very high levels, you'll have access to
various nifty magical weapons that definitely outweigh the benefits of a
shield.

> On another note "Elf skin gloves" !!! eeuch! Isn't that a bit
> grisly. Don't know if I could bring myself to wear them, I've
> adventured with too many elves, I would feel guilty.

As a Wood Elf myself, I figure I've left enough corpses scattered about
various dungeons to equip my whole guild with elf skin gloves, so I feel no
guilt about wearing them. ;) (Though we did get into a discussion about
the quality of pelt needed to make gloves...mine would tend to fall into
the "ruined" category, being generally riddled with claw holes, scorched,
frozen, etc...)

- Windsong Wanderer, bard on Solusek Ro