I dont know if thats possible to accomplish, but...

What if blocking with the shield was client based? ( Instead of it depending when the enemies strike at the server, it considers the player's screen ) ?

As someone who stays at 2 bars of connection half the time, its a pain to block like that. Usually you just up your shield and still take a hit. Maybe that could be made client - based, so shielding which is the main way of defending yourself would be reliable with poor connection.