Well i didnt say get rid of parrying, and just do shield capping, just do both. The discussion is getting confusing, because we're talking about several things here. I'm saying dont penalize someone for holding thier shield up/buff someone who puts it up at the last second, as Cmp was suggesting, but yes, work on parrying as he suggested. Play w/ parrying, AND test a shield cap and adjustment.
And shielders have a chance to shine - by getting better at the offensive side of things, and learning to protect their shield, (footwork, dodging, instead of turtling) and by learnng who they should turtle against and who they cant afford to against. The only thing that 'shines' in this game to most people is KD. Your not going to increase your KD by extreme turtling.
However, a shielder can be VERY satisfying to play, if you dont totally obsess on the KD. Your a line breaker. you can be a line pusher, the' point taker' on an offensive move and an ankle biter, your an arrow magnet, you can be an archers best friend, (or worse nightmare) you can be anti cav and create a bubble around your side (if you carry a cheap spear)...
So lets get to the REAL problem:
Wth is this 'huscarl shield' anyway? I've never seen a Huscarl anywhere else, but this game, that has a shield like that....
I'd say replace the Huscarl w/ a new shield called champions heavy round shield, with new stats, more simular to a heavy round... Or maybe something else historical with a new look? heavy, but slower? and maybe not 'quite' as resolute, because of the aforementioned new shield cap?
And i kinda like what your saying about directional, but THAT would be a huge adjustment I would think, in item by item balancing.
Shields last about as long as they should really, (I think) accept for the huscarl (especially loomed), that things silly. Its also too fast for its size