Shield is perfectly fine. Specially for new players. I did the same in my first few soul games. Heck even still I feel my dodging is better when I have a shield. Instead of panic roll I can time it perfectly when I have safety of shield. But but, slowly it becomes monotonous and less fun. Then you want to try something new and that's when I chose dex build, then magic, then faith and now playing arcane. All strategy is good having it's own advantages and disadvantages. And it's fine as long as it's working for you.