Little shield suggestion....
 

I think shields when you have them out (Holding D) that they should block missile type attacks a good amount of the time.(atleast 75% of the time or higher) Maybe even have shields block melee attacks 10-35% of the time...)
Shields don't have much use other than strafing...

They also currently block bullet-type spells.
At least they seem to, I was stopping Satrek's attacks in our Mages' Duel with my shield.
But yeah, it sounds like a good idea.
Never heard of a shield that couldn't block things. ^.~

Maybe we could have shields attuned to something? Like - "frost shield - attuned: ice, repelled: fire" meaning that it will block 75% of ice attacks but 0% of fire attacks. In addition, maybe it would 'swallow' area ice attacks, as when you try to block a fireball or snowstorm, it'll set of and still hit you, and an attuned shield would avoid that.
Also, don't shields block physical, too? I was standing there with a rex biting me, shield held out, and he hit me only twice (they usually get me every few seconds, though far from lethal).

I've always assumed shields were of only use to add stats to the player. I think they should be of some use when it comes to melee and missile attacks also, but I have a question I'd like to ask here. Why exactly when wooden arrows are shot do they seem to make an explosion? So, with blocking missile weapons like arrows, if something explodes upon your shield, there's not much going to be much blocking going along there. :|

I think it's called "eye candy" ;)

Maybe it's to prevent spamming of arrows at a single target? All those explosions in a short amount of time really slow down my computer :|