all depends on the shield My +3 Heavy round shield with 7 Shield skill gets shot through virtually every time (which makes me rage hard as it deals tons of damage still) huscarl hardly at all, Now i cant really close down an xbower head on because i just know he will fire though my shield and take half my hp. but heavy round does look badass
wow really? Not my experience at all.
I have been using a +3 heavy round shield (19 armour) with 4 or 5 shield skill for ages and hardly found myself in that situation, and even when it happens, it takes about 10-25% health, with 51 body armour.
Something I do is, whenever I charge into a crossbowman head on, I move my mouse slightly around in every direction fast so that the bad spot does not stay in one place long. A bit like those spasmic shieldless infantry dodging but with smaller movements so that my shield is always in between me and the crossbowman.
Personally, I do not think it is a problem.