And how do you know that? I mean I could see why someone might not like the sacred shield replenishing, but no one knows what Nintendo's intention was. I thought it was nice to have it replenish with such a low meter. I have come close to breaking it before during my playthrough but that's just me
When you play video-games, there are certain features that the game wants you to know is optional. Then there are those things that are optional, but the game wants the player to exploit. It's still the player's choice, but the game presents an atmosphere to get or it'd seem like you'd be playing the game "incorrectly". The upgraded shields were indeed optional, but with upgrading being a major factor in SS and shield bashing being a very distinctive and influential change (unlike in TP where it only let you do a couple of cool moves), it does seem as though the game wants us to get the best shield we can. Technically, only people who made the game can officially say whether or not they wanted something to be used, yet as human beings we are aloud to make logical deductions based on atmosphere, and based on the atmosphere, I agree with DarkestLink that the game was pushing us to get the best shield we could.
Honestly, I didn't include upgrading being "optional" in my earlier answer because...
A) I've already explained to the world why I Personally believe something being optional does not negate its effect on the game so I'd be repeating myself.
2) Everything about the shield is optional. Don't understand why I'd leave out one optional feature (upgrading the shield) when "getting the shield," "using the shield," "repairing the shield," and all other parts of the shield should be included into my argument.