Does anyone know the difference between armor and hitpoints for shields? Which stat translates into being able to take more hits: a higher armor rating or a higher hitpoint rating?
Depends on the weapon. So if you fight against a low damage non shieldbreaker, e.g. a knife, it will never break a steel shield cause of the high shield body armor. But if you fight against a shieldbreaker, e.g. an axe, the body armor will be more or less ignored (dont know exact value) and the hps will be reduced.
So against non shieldbreaker a high body armor would be best, against a shield breaker a high hp shield. I would choose a high hp shield.