I say it! I like to see the little moon buff. That's it.

That said, TD and CO should affect the shield you get from Nocturnal. It feels so wrong right now it smeels like a bug even if it is not.

To add to the OP first question: there are situations where while a HoT seems convenient a shield would be better if not needed. Like everytime there's a tankbuster and everytime you can prevent a damage from happening instead of healing it through. If shields are strong enough you can even prevent some casts to be stopped or some some pushback to affect the players.