I still don't understand why they did this change to begin with.
Shields break. Yes, the Huskarl shield was a giant force field but mine, with 6 in shields, breaks regularly enough. Put me in a situation where I'm having to fend off three 2H spammers and my Huskarl shield will break pretty quickly. Longbows and throwing axes are threats to shield health as well. Even with the previous coverage, you could still hit shielders in the side or back. It was perfect frontal protection, but not side or back protection.
So.... why the change?
Shields were not overpowered. Shielders were not topping the kill charts on battle or forever blocking all entrances to the castle on siege. "Tavern Keeper" (a character with 13 in shield and thus a completely unbreakable shield) is one of the most useless people you can have on your team -- whereas someone with 13 in power strike is a serial killer.
This change has caused problems and I don't see the point of why it was done to begin with.