That's kinda the point. Link is supposed to be a jack of all trades, but that class is pushing him towards "All sword and board all the time"! Meaning no bow or Skull/Mega/Great Hammer Link either.
It's not that Link is a S&Ber, Link is a shield user, he just happens to often carry a sword around in his other hand.
Like to try and paint a picture here the only item to appear in every single game is a shield. And like uses his shield with everything
that doesn't explicitly ban it. Like you auto-use your shield when targeting in TP, or impossible no to use your shield in the NES games, etc. Even when it comes to underwater which tends to disable most items Link has a record of being able to use his shield over every other item when submerged. Like take your hammer example.
Only the Megaton (Oot) & Skull (WW) disable shield usage, but in LttP, LbW, TH, the NES games, and at least one of the 4Sword games it's a one-hander and Link Shield & Hammers it
(which btw, the hammer meld is a one-hander, you can choose to THF for bonuses but it's not required to use it). So I guess what I'm saying here is Link uses shields, like almost all the time.
Anyway, misread things at 1am. It seems you're shooting for a Quickdraw extension on shields, I
suppose drawing while moving's "weapon-like" objects may not count an un-spiked shield as a RAW rules quark that needs addressed and it doesn't cover sheathing as a free action.
Annnd changed. At the 4th is treats it's shield as a weapon, wis-to-ac requires the 9th level now as AC's usefulness winds down through I may bump to the next iteration higher as I think of level filler.
A melee full attack demands actually having something in melee range to full attack. The soulmelds offer a lot more versatility, which is king in D&D.
And thinking about it, I going to add a Feat tax.
Basically it sounds like your main concern is cross-abuse, IE take Martial Study / Shape Soulmeld or multiclass and attempt to find some game breaking combination that prompts that perfect knee-jerking response. Even through neither of us can think of an actual example where that'd be an issue, just kind of look at it from a vague prospective and eyeball it.
I like the idea it can be combined through, but it is more of a standard thing to require a Feat to abuse it. As such as the Ascetic/Daring/Devoted/Swift/etc Feats, or more specifically Song of the White Raven.
Edit - Coherent changes reflective of a guy that slept in to a whole 0845 today.