I never really considered him under powered tbh, His shield is very use and often a lifesaver (Even Compared to Mikah's Barrier). You know the Wardog Commanders, When they use there Aleph powered Air-Strike you can aim up at the sky while simultaneously fighting the commander to block his ability. Or at the end of a Low Blow where you need to make it to the Teleporter, He is one of the few the can just rush into it without worry (others being Ginebra, Doldren & Hans)
My Only problem with him (Like you guys said) is that most of his weapons often restrict him to getting close before dealing damage. The only exception is his Shit Happens alt Mode but that's soooooo slow and not that strong and his pepper pot is hardly better at mid range.
Pvp gets even trickier, if your going against:
Konstantin: They will almost always have the O.Tolchok and just push him back to hell.
Alicia: If She has the Smoking Daisy, she can shoot through his Shields ...I hate the buff lol.
Shae: Lycus could literally have a full bar of shields and Shae with her Sa-Dhu will TEAR into it and then maybe kill you if not wound you all within the same clip.
Hive, Ayana Kwena. Ginebra & Loaht: All there weapons are his Krpytonite.
Hans: If its a smart Hans player they just need to shoot it his feet for that splash damage while keeping his focus upward on you as you fly above/around him.
Dodlren: FYI you will NEVER see a Doldren use this method but, With his Patient Boy gun he can use its alt fire to drop a Mine at his foot and just ghost out over it to trigger it to blow his ass up(Or wound him) and appear to finish the job.
Iune: Using her weapon The Vortex she can shoot at his feet to stagger him at any range. Close Range she can stagger him to quickly get a guaranteed grapple, at ranged she can place shot after shot on the floor to stagger you into the next stagger shot.
Schneider: His Yama Boom Boom is much like a grenade, ergo Lycus is screwed.
Anyway, I can keep going but it just goes to show that His base ability doesn't really stand a chance against a majority of the weapons each Raider has to offer. But weapons aside, Ayana Kwena's base ability is far worse...well defensively speaking that is, but her actual defense is an offense so I guess it balances out for her.