But it'll be a nerf against Shield Tanks as well.

Not quite as big as the nerf to armor. Armor values are inherently higher than shield values due to the nature of the modules. It should be -5% / +5%.

But it'll be a nerf against Shield Tanks as well.

*pulls out scrambler pistol* Real heavies aren't afraid of shields.

Why do you believe that the Minmatar Projectile Weapon should have a damage profile of -5%/+5%?

Hybrid Weapons are supposed to be the most balanced of damage types. And those were even divided between long range affecting armor and close range affecting shields. By all accounts, there's no reason a Minmatar Weapon should have such a balanced damage profile.

I agree that -5/+5% is much more reasonable. The DPS of projectile weapons is large enough that it can handle a 5% nerf to armor.

All the other damage profiles have a net of 0 except projectile:

Hybrid - Plasma is +10 / -10
Hybrid - Rail is -10 / +10
Laser is +20 / -20
Explosive is -20 / +20
Projectile is -5 / +10

See the issue? This makes projectile the all around best by far. Couple with the fact that the current meta typically favors high armor and you get a damage profile that is mathematically superior to the others.

If they changed it to -15 / +15 I think it would be a buff to CRs, SMGs, and HMGs. Shields are never really an issue, but that last bit of armor after I've spent my clip can be. An extra 5% damage to armor would be more significant than a 10% nerf to shield damage considering that these weapons' proficiencies already provide an extra 15% damage to armor.

The profile for projectile weapons should be -15% shields + 5% armor
This will only reduce max bonus against armor by 5% while bringing it closer to a balanced state.

-5%/+5% allows projectiles to continue to ignore shields and yet do +20% damage to armor with proficiency 5. It is in no way a balanced profile as it has *zero* penalty, it's problem now is that it overperforms and with -5/+5 it will still overperform. with -15/+15 it will have something that it's actually somewhat weak against while still performing incredibly well vs armor.

I'm laughing at the people who think -5/+5 is a bad idea

You do realize that the current damage profile is -5/+10 right?
Your argument for why -5/+5 is bad doesn't make any sense because projectile already has a -5% efficiency against shields. By changing it to -5/+5 it's a NERF to projectile weapons, and won't make them any better at destroying shield suits. It just makes them more difficult to destroy armor suits.

I personally want the damage profile to be -15/+10 because +10% to armor is perfect, and projectile damage needs to be reduced against shields.

This will be a buff to HMGs, CRs, and SMGs. Even if it comes at a cost of damage to shields.

All of these weapons have been complained about as being OP.

If you're going to buff the Plasma Rifle, take that into consideration, as well as rebalancing the SMG and Burst HMG.

And changing projectiles to completely assrip armor and be reduced to shields significantly will make shields less UP and will decrease the attractiveness of raw HP tanking with plates.

In short it will make your choice of tank + weapon far more meaningful.

If projectiles are +5/-5 then there is only a 10% DPS difference between armor and shields. The RR/GAR have a 20% base efficiency gap. If projectiles only have the 10% gap then they are the obvious choice from an efficiency standpoint.

But bringing the projectiles to -20/+20 or -15/+15 makes shields more viable by far and reduces the overarching efficiency of always running a high armor buffer. It makes every Caldari and Minmatar fit more viable as opposed to being "why bother? Every weapon is efficient at murdering us."

Because there is no racial armor-cracker profile shields suffer massively marginal utility to begin with, especially given the amarr shieldshredder profiles.

Explosives are pretty much the outlier, being used by most of the races anyway to a greater or lesser extent, and besides RE they are rarely used. Swarms dont count as they have zero efficacy versus dropsuits.

Mass drivers are only used by a few rabid bastards given that it is not particularly efficient as a slayer weapon and it is derided as a "noob tube." Hilariously it is really only efficient as a commando weapon.

The profile for projectile weapons should be -15% shields + 5% armor
This will only reduce max bonus against armor by 5% while bringing it closer to a balanced state.