Ships & Modules

The lore, slot layout and bonuses of Amarr ships make it quite clear that Amarr ships should armor tank, and Caldari ships should shield tank... both have ships with 5% resists to their respective tank style.

Minmatar often have their choice in tank, or have some ships that tank Armor, and some that tank Shield (example, Hurricane can do both, Typhoon is good with armor tank....), some are sort of forced into a shield tank style by a shield boost bonus.

Then we have the Gallente... quite a few of their ships have slot layout such that they could be fitted for decent shield tanks (with 4 meds and 3 rig slots, a decent shield tank can be made - which sometimes results in even Amarr ships shield tanking, such as Apocs/navy Apocs in incursions):
Brutix, Myrmidion, Dominix, Hyperion

Yet all these ships except the Dominix have this damn active rep bonus...
The slot layout gives you versatility/choices, but then the active rep bonus means if you want chose a different shield type, you throw away a bonus.
So pretty much all armor tank Gallente ships, and consider a shield tanked Domi to be a abberation.

Of course many people feel that Active rep bonuses aren't that useful (especialyl for anything other than solo work), and are subpar compared to % resist bonuses that increase buffer and effective rep rate.
On top of this, they shoehorn the best candidates for Gallente shield tankers into the armor tank role - although when it comes to incursions, this goes out the window as local rep isnt used, and I often see shield tanked Hyperions and sometimes megas LFSF.
I also often hear of Shield Brutix fits for PvP.

My suggestion is to get rid of these armor rep bonuses (and the shield boost bonus on the Minmatar Cyclone, Claymore, and Mael), and replace it with another bonus, making the Gallente and Minmatar more variable when it comes to what they tank.
Perhaps give them a -5% cap recharge time bonus (and maybe a utlity high).
This higher cap regen aids them in active tank, or it can work to power a utility high, making the ship more versatilele (could power RRs, Cap drain, MWD, etc

Just because a ship has a bonus for something, does NOT mean you have to utilize that bonus. I fly shield tanked Myrms, and I would love for the active armor rep bonus to be damn near anything else, however, I am not assinine enough to think that because I do not utilize the ship's armor rep bonus that noone else does either and call for it's change/removal.

Train a Caldari blaster boat if you really wanna shield tank, its quite fun.

You might not want to train extra, but I can tell you this; Minmatar have it just as bad. You want a fully trained typhoon the train will take just as long as getting a Gallante pilot in a Rokh. Same with Cyclone/Ferox.

I understand what you mean about throwing away the bonus, its one of my pet peaves. But if you can get the desired effect then either do it or be all OCD and ****.

They dont, they hull tank.

A realistic attitude, I like that.

The trouble it's not of the ship design but of the game evolution.

In the past armor tanking was a good choice, almost considered the Best, the only reason this has changed so much it's due game mechanics and changes.

When CCP introduced the shield/armor compensation skills the forums cried of pain under the Complains (specially Amarr players) of how inba it was run 3x EANM II and 1x dmg control for armor tanking making lasers obsolete.

The later deployed changes like the nano age (and it's current version) the HP boost wich CCP made that almost all ships had double Hp than before whitout buffing the dmg and some others led to the current day buffer tanks.
and TBH the only reason armor tank it's crappy it's because for the Nano mentality where almost all ships are aimed to be fast and maneurable to kite and dictate it's preferred range.

I put lasers on my Dominix. They are unbonused, but work just fine for my purpose.

Just because it's bonused, doesn't mean you have to use it. Just because you have it, doesn't mean it needs a bonus.

And yet, other races get bonuses which are always useful. Two damage bonuses on the Cane, for instance.

I love my Myrm's flexibility and active-rep fits, but I'd also like to see flexibility without ditching a bonus. That's why I love the Domi so much

Verity always seems to want what she/he can't have.

This, of course, is a horrible idea. Active armor ships might be niche, but they are very good under the right circumstances. Active shield tanks -- god, don't change a thing about those.

The beauty of these ships is that they really do have options. The active shield ships can easily fit a buffer instead. The active armor ships can do that, armor buffer, or shield buffer. And yes, that's a good thing, especially when all of these options have at least some appeal within the metagame.