More use out of shields?

I couldn't find anything on this so I thought I would ask =)

I was wondering if there has been any word on the use of shields for PoE. Seems most games that have shields, they just sit there and add armor/defense - especially for arpgs. Will we see any offensive aspects of a shield even if its a simple knock down/back/stun?

Yea i have to admit I would love to see shields have more use as a weapon not just armor.

I have not played titanquest in a long time but i remember the gladiator class had some great shield abilities that i always wished similar games would incorporate.

They probably already have all the abilities mapped out for most of the classes and maybe it would not fit the theme of the game. But i hope making shields do damage is something they consider in the future.

Giving a knockback ability with a large shield would be pretty cool. The ability could be modified to knock back multiple enemies or even all the enemies around you. Augmented to knock back farther, stun, and/or deal damage. Spiked shields can do additional damage by default.

Sounds like a str/int sort of ability to me or a pure strength character. Someone that's going to be in the melee and surrounded but wants to play a little more defensive (buff/tank?).

Thumbs up from me.

Different kinds of shields will help your character in different ways; Strength-based shields will help you absorb damage, Dexterity-based shields will help you dodge and evade incoming attacks, and lastly, Intelligence-based shields will add another layer of protection by means of an "Energy Shield".
To my knowledge, all armor in Path of Exile will work like this.

I'm pretty sure there'll be some active skills that make use of a shield as well.

I think what people are looking for are the reflecting effect like sending back magic attacks, making them immune to stone gazes, or seeing arrows stuck in their shields that they successfully blocked then plucking off the arrows off when the character is idle. I'm pretty such the active shield skills they'll do is like the ones seen in WC3 with the footmen slowing down to up their defense.

How about massive shield with spikes on it's BOTTOM used to fixate it into ground, to serve as an obstacle - doing damage to attackers or not based on gem / support gem(s) used? A lot of combat strategies can arise from that.