Currently the Berserker Barbarian with his bonus action is a lot stronger than the Bear Heart Barbarian (the rest of the Wildheart variants are ... kind of ok-ish/situational) because he gets no exhaustion, has a nice ranged Prone option and most damage received currently is physical. I presume that later on with higher levels enemies will deal a lot more magical damage, so the Bear Heart could shine as a kind of tank.
Lets assume someone would want to go Wildheart instead of Berserker. Would you go twohanded or onehanded + shield with a Bear Heart Barbarian?
The damage with twohanders, GWM and Relentless Attack is ridiculously high and easy to achieve, making fights a breeze. Do you think the shield will make a difference for defense and survival big enough to matter? I'm playing without Karmic Dice, so hits against high AC are less likely (and presumable more on the normal DnD level, I read), making a shield a lot more precious than in "normal" BG3. You also could forgo using Relentless Attack more often. But I have the feeling that the higher damage is a better "defense" than higher AC as dead enemies don't do damage.
