Since you totally screwed up crafting shields, let's negate them and fix crafting
You already have the ground work in place, simple suggestion.
Take 2 NQ and synergy them into +1 just like we already do for cosmetic gear.
It fixes the shield problem, and fixes the horrible crafting system, and gives people a reason to synergize again. HQ rates are completely unreasonable even with shields. It's far too "boom or bust".
It doesn't have to be 2, it can be 8 if you want, just make it happen. Easy solution to an obscene problem... multiple problems, actually. And it doesn't fully negate the shields, they still have sole power to create NQ due to KI requirements.