Damage vs. Speed, by Paul Drye (Edited by Den Dragon)

Well, I've noted two things from playing around with some numbers.

1. People underestimate the importance of weapon speed. You know those big Halberds everyone runs around with? They are actually not the best Swordsmanship weapon because they're so slow. Each hit does more damage than the faster swords and axes, but those other weapons can be swung much more quickly and actually do more damage in any fight that lasts longer than a few seconds because they're getting in more attacks.

This is a similar effect to the King's Sword of Haste in Diablo. While there were weapons that did more damage per hit, the KSOH turned you into a human Cuisinart because you could get so many swings in so quickly.

2. The top end of your weapon's damage per strike is important because of creature armor. After I came to conclusion #1 above I started playing around with the extremely fast weapons (no matter how poor the damage) and came to the shocking conclusion that a weapon with high speed and fairly low damage is one of the best weapons in the game in terms of damage inflicted per second. You can just swing that puppy so fast....

Then I realized that I was assuming my target had zero armor, and that all the damage I inflicted with a weapon was actually being subtracted from a creature's hit points. In fact, lots of little attacks are useless against creatures with high armor. Inflict ten points of damage twice against a creature with ten armor and you've done very little "real" damage. Inflict twenty points once over the same period of time and you've done ten to fifteen points of "real" damage. (See Combat for more details on damage vs. AR).

So, for situations involving an opponent with an extremely high AR, a weapon with a high top end for its damage on one attack is better than one with the same average over time, but a lower top end on each individual hit. It gives you the ability to "punch through" to heavily armored creatures.

Heavy and Light Weapons; an Addendum, by Nakoruru (Edited by Den Dragon)

A "heavy" weapon, with high damage and low speed, is so abysmally slow that in most normal situations, it is inefficient. However, there is nothing better for punching through thick armor. I have seen "heavier" weapons do 20+ damage through Plate (actually, Bone), even after the recent damage updates. Also, the one who initiates combat always swings first. With the evil blow a "heavier" weapon's strike causes, the battle could be decided with the first blow.

Weapons with an even balance of speed and damage are pretty much equivalent in terms of performance vs. different levels of AR. These weapons have a fairly strong punch and an adequate speed; they represent an even balance between the "heavy" and "light" weapons. This makes them overall the most useful weapons against Ring or Chain-armored opponents. First strike is not as impressive, but impressive nonetheless, and doesn't come at the cost of great disadvantage if you miss.

"Light" weapons, with a high speed and low damage, can be quite impressive defensively. While not very powerful in their bite, a successful hit has an excellent chance of interrupting an opponent's swing. All else being equal, fighters with these weapons have an impressive ability to defend themselves in a prolonged battle. The catch here is that if your opponent happens to be wearing full plate, you may not be able to do enough damage through the armor to put the battle in your favor.