>>64144868
IIRC the in-universe reason personal shields are exceedingly rare is because it became semi-lost tech. Only 1 corp still knows how to make them and they're expensive. Too expensive to equip regular infantry with them. STAR WARS as a setting has been in a technological dark age, slowly sliding backward, for thousands of years. The near zenith of technology in SW was the Infinite Empire. Over 25k years before ANH. Tech potency has ebbed and flowed since then but it's had a general downward trend since KotOR.