As much as I have loving and sentimental feelings for PLD and really try to convince myself not to stop playing it I share the general sentiments of the OP. I do love the thought behind paladin because I love traditional sword classes (DRK and their very fantasy-like swords are cool too but I prefer the PLD way), the idea to focus on defense and the knight theme but the playstyle seems very bland and unchallenging to me; the well-established state of the art that they also lack the viability of a WAR in some departments aside.

(I also have the feeling that they are not very self-proficient because their dmg is relatively low which makes solo content take quite long. Also, in solo play their defense can be broken when their buffs are on cooldowns and you don't spam stoneskin to keep a damage sponge up (cross class heal is so minimal on me that I just drop it in soloplay - clemency is ok but not available for anyone lower than 56?) which makes everything take even longer. Though the damage is my main focus here. I mean it's not that solo content is not doable but it is certainly less fluent and prolongued and becomes somewhat draining.)

I would welcome some kind of overhaul as long as the defense theme is not completely dropped. Just something to make the playing experience more fun and make PLD as effective as WAR in its own way. The shield GCD seems like a nice idea already because you have two timers to keep in mind and play accordingly. I know it's unlikely but one can dream. :/