Hahaha, shoulda seen my first time using the english bill. Felt like uninstalling the game. You get used to it though, I'd honestly suggest keeping it the way it is, swiss and bill can get away with murder as it is - and it actually used to do a shitton of damage to your teammates. It used to gore peoples' faces who were behind you, and I never do more than just a glance now, which is kind of disappointing to be honest. It helped my immersion to visualize the hook accidentally disfiguring someone's face, and I had a few wacky duels where I pulled it off as a finishing move.
Couple strat battles where we had the luxury of halberds and bills, people crowd together even moreso than usual, and it definitely annoyed the shit out of me to hear the thud of a shield from behind me when I finally had a good opportunity to strike. You're right in the sense that the striking surface is usually sitting at head level, if not slightly above, so clipping through a shield doesn't make a ton of sense. It'd actually be a bigger hazard pulling the weapon back on an unsuspecting teammate's head, rather than the actual upswing motion, right?