Hmm, Kesh, finally someone who has something interesting to say.
Well, I won't heirloom anything without good (+/- 10 from Steel Shield's one) resistance, because I have high shield skill to make high shield's resistance even higher ;)
I am sure I won't heirloom Plate Covered Round Shield, because, well, it looks ugly and it is much worse than Steel Shield. I am sure, that with such stats:
Masterpiece Steel Shield
body armor: 82
difficulty: 6
hit points: 331
speed rating: 61
shield width: 31
even with 8 shield skill it will last LOOONG.
And I agree, that heirlooming weapons as 2gen character is senseless, I don't have time to grind it to MW in nearest 3 months ;)
Steel Shield, then? I love to keep my shield up