Shield actually is always up. All defensive shield skills trigger guard when you use them so you don't really need to constantly use guard. I wouldn't mind it being removed if it wasn't going to f'up with both SEN and GLA mechanics. Because the base of SEN id the wield rate x block rate...if you remove the wield rate, the block rate will also be nerfed, which leaves the possibility of all the shield mechanic breaking apart.

But its bvious this will happen...the copycat team will turn self-preservation into shield mastery and then just bring all the shield mechanic from FFXI...and we will lose the 2 points that actually define SEN (block rate and wield rate) here because shield will become, just like in FFXI, an extra defense gear only.