I certainly hope Frontier does not give in and start letting the forums DICTATE to them what the game mechanics will be. I have seen the results of that over and over and over and over and over in 20 MMOs. Its always bad and the game you end up with barely resembles the game you bought. Once you start down the slippery slope of game balance dictated to you by a forum your game is OVER because you can NEVER balance a system that is inherently imbalanced. We are ALL OF US DIFFERENT in our skills, our personalities, our psychological make up, our physical abilities... and ALL OF THAT affects how we play the game. You CAN NOT balance this. EVER. This thread is a perfect example of why you keep your game mechanics changes INTERNAL to the development group. You will have people who hate your work and people who love it, you can't change that. But, AT LEAST your mechanics will stay consistent and not change on the winds of the MYSTICAL ALTER of BETTER GAME BALANCE. God, I hope this game doesn't fall down that slippery slope. My advice... Shield Cells are neither OP nor NOT OP. Shield Cells are what ever Frontier intended them to be and Frontier should never gauge the effectiveness of their mechanics by the forums. They should use mathematical data FROM THE GAME to determine what shield cells should be and how. PERIOD.