He's just a nerd who didn't realize that he could have instead had 5 IF and 4 shield skill to be a real polepal. Like sheeeit, I've got 0 IF atm in favor of shield skill.
shields slow you down way to much, and i notice that personally. the 1 extra hit point with max IF makes a difference on head shots trust me, yes shields can help you a lot.
And this game would be way to easy with a shield and super fucking boring also.
Vanguard_Tor had shield for a long time before the free respec option, and he fucking hated it with a passion he had like 4 or 5 shield skill and never even used it, and when he did, it was useless..Rip Tor