I have been fighting ground engagements sans shield for about a week now and it just keeps getting better and better. My Bridge Officers fan out and take cover as soon as the fighting starts because they no longer have their personal shields either.

The ground engagements are now much more different than space encounters. With the personal shield it was about the same dynamic as a space battle but with a floor (in 2D so to speak) shields as shields, expose weapons as beams and exploit weapons as torpedoes. But as soon as I dropped the shields the ground combat became a lot more of a fire fight a shootout. It's like in the movies. It's fantastic.

The strategies and tactics that come into play once you get over the loss of the personal shield as a crutch are fascinating and immensely enjoyable. Every fight has it's own unique choreography and a different hero emerges from my crew with each engagement.

"We've gone through death and life together."

There was a time when the ground combat missions or parts of episodes where you boarded a ship or a facility were just something I had to do to get back to the cool as hell space combat, now I look forward to each epic ground confrontation.

It's awesome, incredible, exciting, and exhilarating.

You must try this. (and I mean that in the way someone tasting a new exotic delicacy mumbles the suggestion with their mouth full of awesome)

My mouth is figuratively full of awesome.

This is my new favorite video game ...of all time.

I love this game.

...But to those of you doing that in PvP as Klingons in ground battles, quit it cuz you make my life as a pvp healer that much harder darnit =P

OK...I'm game.

I'll try this as well. I have noticed that in the past I would use more tactics than I do now, and ground combat has gotten dull where it used to be exciting.

I think this is a great idea.

Up until that point, i was intregued, then i realised you must just be high.

lol, Just kidding.

I like the idea, but presumably your still lower level, cus the rate at which some of the later enemies drain your health without a personal shield would make this a suicidal strategy.
The reman commanders that have that multiply/psych ability spring to mind.


Now, as a whole, the concept of removing personal shields entirely from the game I have NO problems with.
Atleast you wouldnt get those annoying sods that constantly recharge their shields and leave u chipping away at their health bit by bit.

And unlike space, death on the ground missions is abit more of a inconvience since it spawns u right back at the original beam down point.
Could potentially unlock a more strategic form of gameplay.
Would most definitely force teamwork in party based away teams.

You can open up new respawn points on the ground as well.

What I am finding as I advance in rank is that my bridge officers still work to keep the team alive without shields. Health re generators and better tactics. I go up against bosses with suped up shields and finish them without dying once. The difficulty increase is minuscule in retrospect and I don't foresee any problems going forward but I welcome the challenge if it presents itself.

The shields were a crutch. I am better at killing bad guys without it. Granted I haven't played through the whole game already like a bunch of players have because for me it's not a race to the endgame content. It's the journey. To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new... blah blah blah

I love this game.