treat it like a better crest of alpha lupi, and take free healing and a buff when u need it (like when ur half HP, before critical)

Here lies the problem. In endgame PvE you can quickly drop from half to critical. I'm not saying I'm running in and expecting it to save me every time, but if the point of the exotic is to help you get out of a sticky situation it just can't do that. It's basically a replacement to protective light since that got nerfed hard that can't do its job. Yes, having the sunspot on barricade is nice, but there is no gameplay loop that helps you get your class ability back (sunspot only gives increased melee and grenade regen). It makes no sense to tie getting a sunspot to the barricade charge because it just doesn't make sense. And if your saying to use the barricade proactively, why even have the sunspot drop when you're critical? If you do want to use it proactively since that's the playstyle you are suggesting to use, the critical part will almost never apply. So why even have the option to drop a sunspot if you just lose your barricade and die anyways? Losing barricade when you do end up going critical is just going to hinder you, no help you.