[Micah]

"Vine Shield >> charcoal shield, lantern shield, gold shield, etc... This isn't even really a point of discussion. There is also no counter for vine shield, so who cares if you're predictable?"

This is not true. Shield utility is highly situational. Char shield is better if you're running into skel spam or air magic summons (especially these, with 0 prot and 1 HP), since you need them dead, not entangled, to get to the mages at the back. Awe is better to stop damage from lance charges since the vine shield doesn't work until after you get hit. Higher parry shields will stop magic bows or massed crossbows from owning your face. The better damage soak and parry values on many of the larger shields also help your defense out more than the vine shield.

Oh, and there's certainly a counter to vine shields, I believe it's MR based on my testing with some eriu thugs. They have crap strength but don't get tangled often.