Eh, shield is more of a sidegrade than an upgrade IMO. When I have to choose between 7kg more weight of armor or a shield, that becomes difficult which is truly better.
I used the spathion (+3 has 29p stab, 34c swing, 97 speed, ~103 reach) for a week and the stab was quite nice, but it's just so clunky. I switched back to the stabless liuyedao and performed much better (astonishingly so). I think it's safe to treat stab and swing damage equally for 1h since they seem quite balanced now. Because of the balance of damage types, side sword may overpower a few other 1h swords a bit now, but 29-32 cut is still mediocre. I think the espadas and the shorter stab weapons are in a good spot.
Overall, side sword and grosse messer seem balanced, but the swords in-between seem a little underpowered now compared to those two.