I feel like at the moment shields are not really as strong as they could be. Compared to bows which bring an entire playstyle apart from your main weapon. Sure you could go with a block build but i think shields should be equally good as an offhand ”weapon”.
If we could slot shield specific rune attacks or even supporting runes onto the shield it would make it more usable, without making it overpowered.
It would also be great if having a shield made the parrying window slightly longer, making shields and bows more complementary as ranged and melee playstyles.