You really have no idea what you are talking about.
Please, feel free to enlighten me, all-knowing one.
Shields do have less lateral coverage in melee than weapon blocks, and they are noticeably slower (even the 100+ speed shields). They also seem more prone to block stun and crushthrough than weapon blocks, despite the higher weight of shields (I suspect that shields are treated at half their listed weight for these calculations). Not to mention that shields really slow down your movement speed, so it's harder to get in position to attack. Shields are great when fighting multiple people or approaching ranged enemies, but in any 1v1 situation, they are a serious liability.
In my personal experience, just using a long weapon and backpedaling/kicking a lot to avoid blocking is much easier to master than overcoming all of the shield shortcoming above.
Only time I had ever suffered from block stun with a shield was when a great maul DIDN'T crushthrough... in my experience shields almost never get block stunned. Could be because my shielder has always had mroe str than my non shielder. However, I will agree with you 100% that crushthrough affects shielders more often than someone with a weapon of decent weight (I feel like a whimpy 1hander won't be any better than a shield). It could also just be because you move slower with a shield, if you are backpedaling they get less of a negative speed bonus, and therefore they will crushthrough more often than when against someone unhindered by a shield.
Also, I highly recommend not going shielder if you are not too good at blocking as of now. While a shielder you will never learn to block properly, and when facing anyone with a bonus against shields weapon, you won't be able to block after just a few hits since your shield will be gone. If you want to go shielder, at least practice blocking extensively (at least to become moderately proficient at it) beforehand. That way you can still fight after the shield breaks. There is nothing an opponent hates more than someone who becomes more deadly without their shield weighing them down.
