4Game

I was kinda confused at first as to why axes seemed to just be straight up worse than pretty much anything else as weapons. Of course, damage type is situational, but swords just straight up outperform axes in combat. Then, it became obvious: of course axes can't be as good as the other weapons, because they are the only weapon that is also a tool.

In real life, tool axes and battle axes are two different things. Now, yes, there are examples from history of axes that sort of blur the line, and could ostensibly be used for both purposes, but generally speaking, a tool axe is much thicker and more robust than an axe made for combat. A great example is the so-called Dane Axe. They've got huge blades and they look really heavy, until you look at the cross section and realize that the blades are really thin. As a result, purpose made battle axes really are not heavy or cumbersome weapons. They are somewhat less nimble than swords due to where the balance is, but even so, the image of unbelievably heavy axes in battle is a myth.

For this reason, I kind of wish the devs would make tool axes and weapon axes separate items. There are some potential downsides to this, mostly that you would theoretically lose out on some inventory efficiency, but for me at least, the benefits would outweigh the costs.

This way, you could give axes legitimate pros and cons purely as weapons without having to take the fact that they can chop down trees into account. Perhaps giving them split slash/blunt damage? Just an example.