[Agema]

There was definitely a debate on the merits of vine versus eye shield somewhere, but not necessarily in a topic specifically on it.

My feeling is that vine shields are best when you aren't sure your character can suck up enough punishment when swarmed, usually because it's more defence-dependent rather than protection, awe, mistform or ethereality. Eye shields are good against thugs or giants, as they aren't so hampered by tangle vines, don't have exceptional MR to resist eyeloss. Against SCs likely to have MR in the 20s, eye shields aren't so useful as the attacker will almost certainly resist. A vine shield however can often tangle an opposing SC which can inactivate it occasionally, which can make for a big advantage.