Last night I faced a shock spammer. I saved the replay and this guy literally on his build order did not make any infantry but maxim and shocks, lol. I screwed up bad in the early game, so I was at a disadvantage for that. This guy had at most 3 shocks to make assaults. The maxims weren't brought along, it was just 3 shock blob. I stupidly took waaaay too long to get an mg, but an mg is needed. Grens get wiped scary fast. It felt very similar to fighting the first Sturmpio squad with cons. Even retreating, they die on retreat. I'm just talking about 1 on 1, not the 3 shock blob all shooting 1 gren. It sucks to lose the vet I had, but I can accept them losing. What really left a bad taste was pgrens vs shocks. Pgrens get eaten alive and they are just a little less in cost from the shocks.
I don't think anything should be done to the shocks, in my case I could have done better with an ostwind to deal with the blob, but I do think pgrens need a little more durability. Pgrens should likely still lose 1:1 but it should not be so overwhelming unless their cost and pop are reduced.
PG + Pio/Gren/MG: you need another unit to support it or soak up damage.
I wouldn´t touch PG stats rather than maybe a tweak on reinforcement cost/price. Thing is that you are just better saving 60muni and getting an LMG gren which is a way safer option and less micro demanding. PG will still remain an excellent option for wiping squads on retreat, clearing support weapons and a potential AT platform.