So it sucks because it serves a slightly lesser purpose than it might in another game? Hrm. That doesn't actually make any sense.

It's a different game, and different mechanics function differently depending on how the abilities are intended to be balanced around each other. Blocking may not mitigate a huge chunk of damage, but aside from the block canceling the chance for a critical or crushing blow (both huge advantages in their own right) shields obviously offer a clear advantage for damage mitigation. Now if you were to say change the block mechanic just so you saw a higher number blocked, then the balance would be to probably reduce stats on the shield or overall increase damage.

I don't see how re-balancing so we end up at the same conclusion but just with a bigger (xxx blocked) number counts for. Tom-ay-to to-mah-to really, you know? As far as in relation to other games, the mechanic is just different. Just making huge block numbers pop up for the sake of seeing huge numbers isn't really necessary, especially in an MMO when you have to design with future scaling in mind.