Yep, it was wholly intentional that they made the change. In all honesty this was a stealth nerf and really pissed me off since it went live without ever showing up on any of the PTR patch notes. I had been crafting runestone shields since the update they were implemented trying for my idea legendary and selling the shields that didn’t come out how I wanted. Thankfully I kept one that is palatable but I would of put a lot more energy into grinding to craft the shield I wanted had I known this change was coming.
They can’t go back and take them away from people who have them now - the uproar would be tremendous but it’s also not fair for them not allow others now to not be able to get them as easily.
They should of just left it completely alone. I understand it’s a balancing issue in PVP but realistically legendary tower shields could of been a great bone to throw tanks as an exclusive and not allow legendries of other weights.