Fuck that! Hiding behind your OWN shield should mean something!
Yeah, I'm pretty disappointed with all of the changes that have happened to shields. You're better off without one.
1. They are easy to hit around.
2. They are easy to shoot around.
3. They slow your movement speed a lot.
4. You block slower than if you were manual blocking.
5. A friendly standing next to you with a shield can block your attacks due to the new collision detection.
6. They aren't a good counter to archers because you won't be able to catch the archer anyway, unless he is a complete idiot.
Not to mention how easy they are to break. Oh and before all the 2h start crying that they can't break them with one swing of their sword, a shield will go down in about 2-5 hits from an axe.
The only good time to use a shield is if you ride a horse, since a shield provides magical protection to multiple areas of your horse.
As they stand now, they are more of a liability than anything.