We're coming around to what the real problem is. It's not the FdL being OP, it's shield tanks in general being OP. So instead calling for a nerf of a ship that's just a symptom of the problem rather than the problem itself, tackle the problem instead ?
The FDL's retains the bulk of it's advantages even if reasonable limitations to shield stacking are implemented and it was imbalanced before the majority of these problems existed.
I love my OP fdl, would you all please dissappear before FD reads those cries for balancing. Yes, I want it even stronger! And other ships - made stronger and faster. And more ships added, in general, to compete with fdl’s strengths. Nothing more sad than sit here sawing wings off fdl’s because someone can’t handle it’s awesomeness. Shoo.
The problem isn't simply the FDL's relative position and the issues with the FDL and combat in general cannot be fixed via further inflation. Indeed, Frontier's unwillingness to take away, even if that was the correct solution, is the crux of essentially all issues with combat balance (as well as balance in many other areas), IMO.
The game's network and flight models are already having difficulty coping with the velocities that are achievable. Look at how much greater average engagement distances are, how boost dependent combat has become, and the decreased opportunities for maneuver this trend is responsible for. On top of that, many mechanisms just behave oddly in ED at closing velocities that regularly approach or exceed 1km/s. Small latencies that were easy to hide at lower speeds now result in many situations that are very nearly asynchronous, with every participant seeing things happen differently. This in turn makes combat slightly abstract when it should be objective and real-time, further reducing the subtly possible, as well as obfuscating what's actually happening. It's hard to tell precisely how far away opponents actually are (resulting in things like ghost rams) or how they are actually facing (which makes trying to outflank someone, or stay out of their cone of fire, even more uncertain than the increased ranges and rotational rates would indicate).
When it comes to things like TTKs and the current imbalance between offense and defense, further inflation (this time in damage) will result in even larger gaps between fully optimized and baseline vessels, or lone vessels and groups. This also will not restore prior balance, due in no small part to the increases in effective combat range many weapon mods have made possible, as the time spent within that range will greater for more opponents. Changes that do not involve reducing the effectiveness of certain mechanisms, only that augment others, might be able to bring 1v1 TTKs to a reasonable level...but would be so synergistic with multiple ships that virtually inescapable focus fire would down vessels faster than ever before.
Ships are too fast, too tough, and weapons reach too far, for the limitations intrinsic to the game we have.