I think they're fine.

Well, my advanced Shotgun can two shot just about every single medium suit and three-four shot heavies. I think that's pretty good. If I add a complex damage mod I get a lot more one shot kills.

i think operation should give it a boost to RoF, so at Op V, you have chromosome level RoF at the least. Also, range needs to be increased to chromosome levels, and damage on ADV and PRO shotguns needs to be upped, as well as proficiency being changed to 3% damage.

I disagree with pellet increase per level, as i think it would create hit detection problems, so i would prefer the shotguns at ADV and PRO level to receive an increase in damage per pellet so that it is equivalent to +3 pellets at ADV, and +5 at PRO. In other words,

ADV dpp=42
42x3=126 damage bonus to ADV shotguns
PRO dpp=44
44x 5=220 damage bonus to PRO shotguns

i believe there are 12 pellets total to be fired, so 126/12=10.5 damage increase per pellet on ADV shotgun, 220/12=18.3 damage increase per pellet, for a total of 52.5 and 62.3 damage per pellet respectively, this number will probably need to be reduced in light of upcoming rifle nerds that are occurring

So, to conclude, fixing the shotgun involves
-changing operation skill to a 5% bonus to RoF
-changing proficiency skill to 3% bonus to damage
-increasing damage stats on ADV and PRO shotguns by 10.5 and 18.3 respectively, (and scaling the breach shotgun to match)
-increasing the range to chromosome levels
-OPTIONAL:change sound, I believe the new sound may have something to do with shoddy hit detection

Agreed ... don't they realise that any buff would make them OP and the flood of QQ's that follows would be massive because it would become the WOTM.

Honestly in hands of recon boyo its basicaly running tool of death.

And this is how it's suppose to be . Pro suits have just as much HP's as a heavy in most cases and three shots atleast should be required for a heavy ... anything less is just greed and would defeat the purpose and role of a heavy suit. This is what I mean about people not wanting to work and their attempts at making their weapons of choice instakill weapons .
If in 1.8 damage is being reduced then it's safe to say that the shotgun won't get a buff and probably won't get touched still making it the CQC beast that it is . Hit detection is a totally separate issue that MOST weapons suffer from.

Why would or should a shotgun be able to compete with a rifle ? That's totally not it's intended role.

I can three to four shot a heavy no matter how stacked, two hits if I get the head. I use militia and it holds it down real well.

I've been using shotguns since beta and the only three problems I find them to have is:
- Spread
- Range
- Hit detection

A shotgun should never have a lower spread. It makes no sense and is just a last minute bonus in my opinion. Shotgunners depend on this spread, specially at medium range. As for what should replace this bonus, I think range sounds fine. The point of leveling up a weapon is to improve what it already does, NOT reduce its effectiveness.

When it comes to range, it should be improved. Why? Because a shotgun is supposed to kill you at CQC, not tickle like it is doing now. We literally need the enemy in our face to be able to have any sort of effect. If I need to have them this close then, why would I go shotgun when Nova knives would be so much more effective and are balanced properly in my opinion? Now this is where the bonus replacement should be debated. By eliminating the spread reduction and adding an increase to RoF, it will surely make a whole lot of more sense and it should take care of that problem.

As for our good friend, hit detection, it would be wise to take a second look at this. It has been improved compared to previous patches (and yes I'm referring to the patch we couldn't hit ppl that were sitting still), but it still an issue. I have had several encounters where the enemy is able to regenerate shields, reload, etc. and I'm still praying for the shot to be registered.

Overall, I do believe we are almost there with this gun. Is a matter of adding a bit more time to it. I have used it since beta and never changed to any other weapon, simply because is my style and it is a fun weapon to use. It is not meant to compete with any gun, because it is in its own tier. This does not mean it should be in the conditions it is now.

The rifles are getting a nerf in 1.8. You know what happens when CCP buffs one weapon while nerfing another. The Shotgun would end up completely overpowered, and would then be nerfed into he ground in 1.9.

Probably be better to see how it stacks up against the Rifles in 1.8, and then talk about a buff for 1.9.

But I am talking about damage there. No reason not to talk about range and dispersion now.

Edit: The biggest shotgun buff I could ask for is the ability to remove the melee ability from R3. When I tried to use the Shotgun, every time I tried to shoot it I would end up meleeing instead. I have not gotten a melee kill in over a year, but it has probably cost me over a hundred kills. If I could deactivate melee, I might actually be able to use the shotgun.

It's mostly fine, but could do with a range bonus instead of spread - or make range the ops skill and spread the prof skill maybe. To fully ensure a sneak attack works out, I pretty much have to be in NK range to begin with - they can sprint while you can only walk and shoot.

If damage isn't being increased, extra ammo capacity (total, not clip) would be nice...

Really, a spread reduction makes no sense for a shotgun? Much as real life should only be used a an influence rather than a rule for gaming, you might want to look up shotgun chokes and learn as to why spread reduction is very useful. I'd actually like to see the operations raise the spread reduction by at least 1% per level to make it more effective. And I play as a heavy so most of my experience is from the wrong side of the muzzle.

I hate that mechanic on shotguns in modern day or earlier based games, but that would work for me in the futuristic setting of Dust. Aiming down sights activates a choke. Sounds good. I'm not sure what could replace operations though.

The only thing I would want is more ammo capacity

Adopting my idea I see

+1

Point blank range on a pump action shotgun is still ten feet.
Point blank just means the bullet drop won't affect your ability to hit the target.

What good is my pellet doing 4 more damage when I could have 1-2 more pellets hitting target that do 40 damage each.
Buffing damage at the cost of accuracy on shotguns is a raw damage nerf.

Shotguns are fine and do not need a buff.

No need, shotgun is fine, the spread to LVL 5 has an only effect on the breach but the proficiency is fine... anywhere above would be OP...