Hi paragonx9, about the shield, “face blocking” means that it relies on where the hit came from, in other words, if both players are facing each other, the shield will block the attack, but if the attaquer is placed on the blocker side, then it will hurt.
How it works? just taking into account the angle between the blocker forward vector and the attacker position.
For sure you can improve this sistem with some tweaks for better accuracy.
About the weapons, yes, Im attaching them to shockets, but you dont have to care abaout shockets cause they moves and rotates equal to the bone where it´s attached.
Well, maybe you have to care about it, but not in the editor, just when you are animating the esqueleton.