I know your intention here Appia, but do you really think CCP gives a damn about what you just typed?

Ok I lied, I read your whole post. I see your point and I agree, the RoF proficiency is critical to it's effectiveness.
Changing the proficiency from RoF to SD damage without changing the RoF on the different tiers will indeed be a direct nerf to the weapon, as the OP stated in the last part. I hope CCP will change the proficiency back to RoF instead of SD damage as your thread proves exactly why. Great job on the stats and I hope a DEV sees this and takes this under consideration with the rest of the DEVs.

The RoF was Ok a flat damage boost would be ok as well (IMHO this would serve the SG better) but the nerfed damage boost will push the SG even more in the corner of uselessness.

It has a stupid operation skill that makes the SG weaker with every level (oh how I regret to put my points in there) it will have a weaker proficiency skill than now. And the optimal range of a SG is very bad. Honestly you would better use a NK a charged NK can OHK most to any medium suits something the SG never really could

I don't see how less dispersion makes it weaker. Could you please explain that to me. Having a more concentrated blast, at least to me, seems like it would mean more pellets scoring hits on a target than have a spray-and-pray mentality of trying to guarantee a hit but for lower damage. It also means that the blast can travel further and do more damage because of the smaller cone it fires in.
Unless the shotgun blast is a magical orb that if any of it touches you, you take full damage- which it might be- less dispersion in indirectly more damage. How is that stupid?

Regardless. I added the Breach Shotgun and the Allotek Breach shotgun, for lolz. Look at how the breach shotgun actually takes an equal number of shots, with lower RoF means high TTK. Or simply just takes too long to reload.

Really. the Breach Shotgun is probably in the running against Plasma cannon and flaylock pistol for worst weapons in the game.

I see the shotgun in the same light I see nova knives. If you're comparing them against other weapons in a head on, "fair" fight scenario, you're doing it wrong and are probably already dead.

From my own experience running the Dren Shotgun and no skills into shotgun operation or proficiency, I don't mind having the slower RoF and can still land the three or four shots to kill heavies so long as I get within optimal range without them noticing.

This whole thread might actually prove the idea further to CCP, as their priority this build is to increase TTK. It sucks that the shotgun prof wont meaningfully change engagements, but I still can't see CCP legitimately considering making it deliver damage faster as they try to lengthen engagement time.

This is all of course, assuming that the shotgun Prof is changing at all and the dev blog wasn't a typo.

The one area where I will say this helps though, Appia, is with grazing shots. With hit detection still wonky, and with shotgun spread the way it is, having each pellet peel off a little more shield makes the gun slightly more forgiving for off center shots or non optimal shots. Your analysis assumes full contact with 12 pellets in range. In the case of a bunny hopper where only 6 of my pellets land, or when the guy is 15m out and not 10m, doing more alpha damage per shot might flip the engagement.

This whole thread might actually prove the idea further to CCP, as their priority this build is to increase TTK. It sucks that the shotgun prof wont meaningfully change engagements, but I still can't see CCP legitimately considering making it deliver damage faster as they try to lengthen engagement time.

I see you have missed the point entirely.
I am not comparing the damage out put of the two weapons, but the effect of using different tiers (STD, ADV, PRO) and investing Skill Points into Proficiency.
There is virtually zero change between STD shotgun, STD shotgun with proficiency 5, PRO shotgun, and PRO shotgun with proficiency 5. That is what this is demonstrating. That the change to proficincy in the Shotgun, specifically, becomes a waste of SP.

TL;DR is in post 5
Original format, Google Doc
TTK Table

The shotgun in DUST 514 is a terrible weapon. There are many reason for this, from people having 100% movement speed walking backwards to damage profile when facing armor tanked or dual tanked suits, or how all the new maps have virtually 0 cover in between medium range complexes like long, narrow hallways... Although in the perfect settings it can be used to great effect

Coming in 1.8 the proficiency skill is being changed from +3% to RoF to +X% to shield damage per level. But IGÇÖll show here why change proficiency to damage without affecting the shotgunGÇÖs innate RoF is detrimental to this weapon far more than anything else.

Let us first take a magical place, we call this GÇ£The White Room.GÇ¥ Within the white room, all weapons are shooting each other within optimal ranges and bullets never miss. Getting into the nuances of how many pellets miss, how often people get behind cover or however unlikely, a weapon has enough dispersion to actually miss a target without error from the user >_>

But before we start firing these weapons weGÇÖll need some dummies. Consider we start with the comparison of the Assault Rifle and Shotgun, both Gallente Hybrid Blaster profiles weGÇÖll face them off against their nemeses, the Caldari.

First off, weGÇÖll pit our fellows against 2 friends in Assault C-1. Perhaps one player is teaching another and has decided to use the same tier suit but the guy on the right had just specGÇÖd into Assault and only has minimal skills, while the guy on the right has maxed out their core skills and role suits.
The guy on the right has 2 basic shield extender, a basic armor plate, and a basic armor repairer. He has level 1 in appropriate Upgrade skills to unlock the extender, plate, and repairer and has skilled into each at level 1.
The guy on the left is running a complex shield extender, a basic shield extender and 2 basic reactive plates
The newbie is going to have 192 armor and 265 shields. against a blaster profile that means he has (192/0.9)+(265/1.1) = 454 EHP
This good fellow, teaching his little buddy, has 227 armor and 359 shields, so (227/.9)+(359/1.1)= 651EHP

Lets look at a basic Assault Rifle, 30 damage a bullet with 750 RPM. ItGÇÖll take 16 bullets to kill the first guy and 22 to kill the second. 750 RPM = 12.5 per second. or 1 bullet every 0.08 seconds.
16/12.5 = 1.28 seconds
22/12.5= 1.76 seconds

The basic shotgun does 40 damage per pellet and shoots 12 pellets. each round does 480 damage. It fires off 85.7 RPM or 1.4 rounds a second or 1 round every 0.7 seconds.
Wow, though, in 0.7 seconds or as soon as the shot fires the shotgun OHKOs newbie and take 1.4 seconds to kill the seconds guy. The shotgun sounds great! Sure that optimal range may be a problem, but if I get in it IGÇÖll win!

So many numbers, my eyes and brain hurt.

Checked the 1.8 SDE values and there have been no changes to the RoF of Shotguns.
Didn't notice any changes to damage or anything else.

I see the shotgun in the same light I see nova knives. If you're comparing them against other weapons in a head on, "fair" fight scenario, you're doing it wrong and are probably already dead.

From my own experience running the Dren Shotgun and no skills into shotgun operation or proficiency, I don't mind having the slower RoF and can still land the three or four shots to kill heavies so long as I get within optimal range without them noticing.

I see the shotgun in the same light I see nova knives. If you're comparing them against other weapons in a head on, "fair" fight scenario, you're doing it wrong and are probably already dead.

From my own experience running the Dren Shotgun and no skills into shotgun operation or proficiency, I don't mind having the slower RoF and can still land the three or four shots to kill heavies so long as I get within optimal range without them noticing.

you forgot to include hit detection, better dispersion on the AR, and more aim assist on moving targets with the AR, but other than that its ok. We've had our disagreements in the past, but this is pretty good Appia, +1. I still advocate for more spread so that the shot fills the reticle, but keeping proficiency is a good step as well. Im thinking this-5% range to the shotgun per level Op, 3% RoF per level Prof. Also, the range needs a base buff to at least 5-6 meters