Yeah I know it's dumb, it should have:

High ammo

High cap. mag

Medium damage (about 1/2 as much of an increase as the extended mags glitch did, so more than it does now, but less damage than it did before the patch)

Short/Medium range (it's range initially should suck to keep it balanced, but with the "Range" perk it should have up to medium 'range')

If they keep the ammo and mag capacities the same, then they need to add in a major (40-50%) increase in damage, just like it was before the patch. The AA-12 before the patch was honestly really good in the right hands. Since then though, it needs something, I've offered more ammo and a bigger mag, along with a SLIGHT (10-20%) damage increase to hopefully make it more consistent in close range.

Of course you don't need all the shots in the mag, but when you factor  in range and latency it's not uncommon to shoot 3-4 times and kill your  assailant in just 2-3 shots. The problem with trying to pre-determine how many times you need to shoot someone to kill them, is that if you do shoot 2-3 times and someone doesn't die, you may get killed caught trying to instinctively reload. Even if you do kill them you will probably reload anyway, leaving you open. I used to do that (shoot a pre-determined amount of times) but it just didn't work out for me. If we had more ammo (say 20 rounds) you could kill up to 5 people before feeling the need to reload.

What I'm trying to say in this thread is that the AA-12 is hardly effecient. It takes about 2-3 shots from up close to kill somone, at range it takes even more so you very seldom get OHK's, trust me. On the occassion you do though, you will still shoot more than once because this isn't the USAS or Styrker. Anyway, assuming perfect accuracy at close range engagements, the AA-12 can ideally kill 4-6 people per mag. To draw a comparison from, the ACR kills in 3 bullets at all ranges, and it has 30 in the mag, assuming perfect accuracy, you could get 10 kills per mag. Thats not accounting for headshots, which bumps that 10 up to 20! But you and I both know that this doesn't happen, a lot of people will shoot until their enemy is dead and whether it took 6 bullets, or 10 bullets, they'll reload anyway. The ACR has the advantage of faster reload, better accuracy, more range, more damage, more ammo and a deep mag.

There's also the issue with Last stand and Dead man's hand, it adds 2 shells to kill them, one to drop them, the other to finish them, making that 2-3, about 3-5 shots to kill. Even if they died in the same amount of ammo, when someone drops into LS/DMH they are invulnerable for a spilt second, and shotguns, as well as the AA-12 are frustratingly inconstistent in close range. I've downed people with the last few shots in my mag (within knifing range) and knifed them, nothing happens because of that split second immunity. More ammo and more damage could've prevented that situation.

Yeah, I gues I am, but I'm also anxious to see a drum mag on the AA-12 too though lol That would be really cool!

I'm probably trepadacious about wanting IW to give a damage/range buff because look at the USAS. Horrible, like most shotguns until you unlocked one of the proficiencies. Now, since the patch, I've seen my friend get 1 shot kills from over 30ft, a range that the AA-12 with range doesn't even get hitmarkers at. If the AA-12 were like that I could imagine it being abused and overused, and it would lose its charm to me.

The AA-12 can't stay as it is now though, I get so many hitmarkers its funny, something needs to be done.