I shouldn't have even brought up this argument. I stirred a hornet's nest.

You are both wrong. The Assault Rifle buff was only a 3% buff and I instantly felt it. This game is full of small percentages that make big differences.

If you are not using at least one damage mod on your Gallente, even Amarr or Minmatar you are missing out on a 5% damage bonus. That's the difference between zero weapon proficiency and level 2. Don't even try to tell me even the slightest damage increase on a weapon isn't worth it.

I believe complex shields are still 66 HP. That's one AR bullet, even with passive shield skill up to 5. I mean maybe now that they buffed Rechargers it might be worth it instead of 2 damage mods but, again, if you're not even putting ONE damage mod you're screwing yourself and you are going to be killed.

It depends on preference like most things in this game. But on the other hand most things in this game can be exploited with a specific method, and in this game DPS is as much of a defensive tactic as HP itself. You can't tell me that the top-tier players aren't even using a single damage mod on their non-Caldari suits. Caldari is the ONLY one that should be sacrificing damage mods for shield mods because it has the highest bonuses to shield HP. But you can't tell me that, especially on a Cal scout, that more HP instead of DPS is going to save you in every situation. I guarantee you, if you come at me with a Shotgun that's NOT doing as much DPS as possible, I'm going to melt through your shields. And that strafing thing rarely ever works on me, even with a Six Kin Burst.

I'm sorry but when I skill into Caldari Sentinel, I refuse to not even use a single damage mod. The math just speaks for itself.

Player A has x HP and a damage mod, player B has x + 66 hp and no damage mod.
DPS before damage mod is 400, damage mod adds 5%.
Player A dies after x/400 seconds. Player B dies after (x+66)/420 seconds.
The point of equilibrium is where both TTKs are identical. By the powers of linear algebra I conclude:
x = 66 * 400/20 = 1320 hp

that's 400 DPS they're talking about.[...]

Also, I thought about it a little more and realized the Rail Rifle has a "low DPS."

But why would you want extra shields if your enemy isn't even engaging you when you start shooting him?

So I suppose yeah, if you knew you were going to instantly take damage during every engagement you have, instead of surprising them, flanking them, or taking cover... then I GUESS shields would be more important.

I guess the way I'm thinking is. Why shield tank when you can use situational awareness to avoid taking damage at all in the first place, and use the damage mods to enhance the elements of surprise and taking cover, etc?