What's happening to the developers? The shield mechanics have been broken since the second half of September - early October, in patch 3. A bunch of hot fixes have already been released, two full patches 4 and 5, and they continue to redraw pictures of potions, musical instruments, etc. and ignore the broken game mechanics of shields. What a shame, god damn it.
My guess is that they have more artists employed than programmers, and need to keep them busy. While the new visuals are nice, they can't make up for the constant one step forward, two steps back effect on actual gameplay that these patches seem to produce.
I can confirm that Shield Bash has not had anything other than a visual effect since patch 4.
On a related note, has anyone noticed Pommel strike doing huge damage for enemy NPCs, specifically Anders at the Risen Road?
I've tested 10 times now, and EVERY time he does a minimum of 25 damage. My 22 strength character in late game never does more than 7 damage, even on critical hits. I've got no mods installed.
