Master's Touch and Unrelated Crossbow Questions?

[Ode1st]

Hey guys, I noticed a couple things from update 5 I wasn't quite sure of:

1) Edited this so many times already, but: with the new wording of master's touch, you can just use any shield now without any penalty? Was master's touch always like that and I just never noticed?

2) I have a mechanic rogue who now has the repeating light/heavy crossbow proficiency and can also add his INT mod to the damage. Has anyone done testing on this to find out how much damage it is? Is it some new viable weapon for mechanics now that you don't have to spend feats on it and can also add the INT mod to the damage? It certainly must do more DPS than the regular light/heavy crossbows and bows/arrows. Is it worthwhile to carry a repeating crossbow weapon set up on mechanics now?

Thanks in advance .