u/KaleidescopicSorbet

Was thinking about what would be cool to see last night (as you do) and since the mech warbond is coming out tomorrow I was thinking something mech-related.

The thought process behind this is that it would be nice to have some gear that's meant to be Exosuit-centric, something purely focused on improving Exosuit performance but doesn't affect the player at all as a tradeoff. Part of the current problems people are having with Exosuits is that they feel too weak, so I thought it would be interesting if you could improve that by taking up a stratagem/backpack slot.

In my eyes, the Exosuit shield isn't meant to keep you alive indefinitely, but increase the chances of you surviving a decent barrage of incoming fire or a big shot that would have killed your walker instantly like a Bot cannon tower (and just increase overall mech survivability over a longer period of time.) You're still punished if you stand out in the open and soak up damage, but the shield lets you survive just the bit longer so you can either use that window of opportunity the shield gives you to take out enemies or reposition yourself in a more advantageous position i.e. the Halo: CE energy shield.

I also thought it would be funny to explain the shield generator as something that's already on the Exosuits but you need to pay extra for to unlock like features on some modern cars these days, which feels appropriately Helldivers.