I don't remember if it was actually in a Live Letter, but it was brought up on the forums last month.

Quote Originally Posted by Grekumah View Post
From a World setting and story perspective, not having a visible shield would mean that you couldn't use shield bash or shield lob, and as such we have no plans to introduce an "Emperor's New Shield." However, we may be able to make a small shield so that it doesn't stand out too much, so we will look into that.