This is.. all pretty much wrong. Shielders don't really kill archers, they can defend against them. Cavalry is the true counter, along with other ranged. Shielders don't have an advantage over 2h, definitely not in cRPG. Spear kills cavalry... but what's the counter to spear, then? Polearm has longer reach than what, shielders? So does 2h. Lots of polearms also have bonus vs shield, which is the real thing here. 2h is faster than what? 1h? No. Polearms? Nope.
Nope, this is pretty much all about who you ask really. As far as I am concerned than you are damn wrong. Shielders yes defend, but they also attack archers. In the real world 1 vs 1 yes, cavalry is the true counter of a archer. But most archers are camping on the roof tops or are guarded by shielders or polearmers. So in C-rpg, it should be cavalry, but its really not. Shielders do have an advantage over 2h, again, they shouldnt, but they do. Very constantly in spectate I see, how a noob shielder who presses RMB to block and only comes out from the turtle stance when he hears a bump overwhelms quite decent 2h player, who just eventually cant keep directionalblocking correctly forever. ....And do i really have to explain to you what counters a spear, use your brain man, its not so hard to figure out you know, I dont have to spell out everything so oblivious -.-. 2h is faster than polearms, yes, totally true, again seen it, can clearly say it. And the bonus against shield for polearms, is still spamming a shielder to death, only shield breaks faster.
Not complaining, mind. Rock-paper-scissor is a retarded way of balancing.
I dunno man, again, depends uppon who you ask. In my oppinion atleast, it keeps a game nicely balanced and removes the option of everybody just spamming 1 class and this way every1 can be of use. Again, its really the matter of oppinion, but ive played Warband evesince it came out and ive really examined......true, it doesnt show from my skill of combat which is just moderate(mybe even below
).