I would have liked to see strength and armour weight combined to determine whether or not the shield user would be slowed down, instead of just armour weight alone.
That way, while the mage player could technically equip the shield, unless they had the strength level needed they would still suffer movement and stamina regen penalties even if they were within the armour weight limit.
Also, removing the extra stamina drain while blocking effectively makes the Blocking skill obsolete. At this point, the player could just invest in a strong shield made from high-grade materials to mitigate most of the damage, without needing the Blocking skill's shield damage reduction. The reduction in stamina drain was one of, if not the main, reason to train up Blocking.
I would ask SV to seriously consider making strength as an additional requirement for equipping shields of a certain size and above, not just armour weight alone, in determining if and how much movement speed and stamina regen penalties the player would suffer.
As well, please retain the extra stamina drain while blocking a weapon strike or arrow. We don't want the game to turn into a shield-meta where everybody will have a shield regardless of their build.