Problem: Shield bash currently has a higher risk/reward ratio that makes it less usable than dash.

• During the entire animation of the bash, you are not protected by your shield at all (despite you holding and thrusting yourself shield-first into enemies)
• It consumes half your shield bar
• Stun is very brief and area of effect is limited, having a very niche use in stunning very packed enemies
• Puts player in a bad position, in the middle of a mob with half shield remaining and not having any weapons charged

Constant brandish charging provides a better "shield" than shield bash - the knockback keeps enemy mobs at a distance and applies damage as well.

This is not a post to change the shield bash mechanic altogether - it is to build off the custom shield bash that came about when the Tortodrone shields were introduced into the game.

Solution: Because the Tortodrone shields proved that different shields could potentially perform different actions with the shield bash, why not cascade this down to a variety of shields and allow shields to perform a shield "ability" at the cost of half the shield bar? This would add a bit of variety to gameplay especially if you leverage existing shield actions from Lockdown (Striker jet, Guardian wide shield, Recon cloak) while taking into account adding an 8 second or so cooldown before the ability can be activated again.

Possible ideas:

• Swiftstrike Buckler: Shield ability should trigger Striker Jet mode. Allows the player to consume the remainder of the shield bar (recall it will still cost the user 1/2 shield bar to trigger this ability in the first place) as Striker Jet. I see potential for some very flashy, fancy blitzkrieg style attacks or hit and runs (like dashing quickly behind a Trojan for a quick 3 hit flourish combo). Recall Swiftstrike does not even have a lot of shield HP to begin with, so actual distance it can be used to travel will be very short.
• Plate Shield line: Shield ability should trigger Guardian shield (activates immediately and lasts for 3 seconds). Cooldown extended to 30 seconds. Just like Guardian shield in LD, it will protect other party members from damage (depleting shield HP instead) and heal party members within the shield radius too, approximately 1.5 pips during this effect period. Yes, I understand it is possible to constantly heal yourself to full via this method, but understand that 3 pips per minute will take quite a long time. In a party setting, a team of 4 Plate Shield users would be pretty cool and viable option for attempting to tank their way through a difficult mission.
• The Bitter End: As part of the Recon Rangers set, it should inherit the Recon shield effect of stealth and deathmark radar (activates immediately and cloaks user + emits radar; consumes the remaining shield HP at the same rate as Recon shield; press Shield action or attack to cancel cloak prematurely (to avoid completely draining the shield)).
• Firebreak Shield: Should perform an AoE knockback that causes weak Fire (Fang of Vog animation) and same damage as regular Shield Bash

You get the idea. Shield abilities can leverage existing charge attacks (with severely reduced damage/status infliction) to add some additional depth to fighting enemies while hopefully making the risk/reward of using a Shield ability (and sacrificing 1/2 shield HP) a better trade off.