Maybe not go full shield skill but get 2-3?
That's reasonable and will serve you better than two more points in IF.
Even with higher shield skill you will get shot, occasional headshot might happen that is the truth, also keeping a shield on your backs will serve you against range.
Battle is not a perfect gamemode for pub playing, but that is more a matter of prefernece. Team deathmatch is closer to strategus battles mixed with proximity xp/gold could be fun
without the need to actually win a round, but a bit more based about performance, sadly this could lead to cav fest and some serious spawnraping just like it happens on Native. But if you spawn some siege stuff ( not ladders) just like in strategus battle this could work out.
What the game needs is for sure more players, but that is a bit tricky and would require more "drastical" changes, unpapular and yet still only a gamble.