You can talk about skill gap all you want, the games RNG already makes skill a joke. Before a player with high level shields could stand in place with poor positioning and misd 25% of thier shots and still win because RNG. Idgaf who you are, if you land and have a Mozambique and a level one shield you are going down to the player ho landed next door with a level 4 and an R99.
The shield nerf, however minuscule it is, lessens the luck factor. The game will never be balanced because of what it is, a battle royal game with RNG.
As for the servers, I have not had very many issues, a hiccup here and there. It might be dependent on where the player is located and I'm sure needs to be fixed. And yes the sound issues can be god awful at times.