Originally posted by Zep Tepi:

I use them for archers in the swamp and that's pretty much it. If you can parry use the smaller shields. If you can't, then dodging, moving around, or atgeir secondary is usually the better choice. Tower shields slow you down too much to have out all the time.

So, I guess the answer to your question is "yes."

i just wanna hunker down and be a tank while looking awsome with the tank shields, but im also not going to put myself at such a disadvantage since the tower shields barely block more, and that really is barely more XD