It's completely situational as a warrior needing to block. How many foes do you have, and what type of foe are they?
If I'm going up against a tanky foe, who isn't putting out a lot of dps, blocking really isnt worth a lot to me in that situation, I'll just take out my greatsword and deal with him.
If it's magic users, I prefer to deal with them quickly, I have a large amount of health, so I can just sit there and take magic damage for a few seconds, which is more than how long it normally takes to deal with magic users. Usually dual wield these situations.
If It's a crowd of magic users or tanky guys, I'll still go with the above mentioned strats, the only time I tend to don the shield is when I'm going against a very tanky heavy armored dps enemy.
What we need to talk about is Dual wielding, Elemental fury and you. This shout takes an extended fight against several enemies with dual wielding, and reduces it to the span of seconds. Even at level 40, I haven't gone looking for the second word of this shout, and it's doing wonders. To hell with blocking, level your armor skills. I have no time for blocking with all the cutting things up I'm doing anyway.