Shield suggestions

So. In dawn I have played 8 characters thru to act 5/6. I don't like end game. But that's not important here.

For all the characters getting a decent weapon was easy enough. Gamble worked. Picking off ground with trans/Aug/regal was successful. Getting good rolls was good. That was even with the 2 handed warrior.

Now. I don't play melee. But I understand melee in Poe. Weapons have to be upgraded every few levels to keep up with monster life. Etc. Casters have it easier as plus levels gives most if not all the power. Ok.

With a shield mace, I got to lv 33.and gambled a %armor shield. Auged it and got flat armor. Nice. Got armor up to 341. Cool. I rolled every shield I found. Gambled shields. At lv 50 I found One. As rumor 380 after Aug regal. Exalt. No flat armor :( with armor improvement it's 400..

I'm not sure, but it feels horrible to know that shields WILL suck.

What is a suggestion? Either make shield skills ALSO scale off weapon (which would be weird) but making the affix percentages of, god forbid, the implicits on shields armor and %. Shield skills hit like to trash until you get a good shield. They seem to be rare. Maybe I've had terrible RNG. It's a shame though. So much potential.