The numbers for a PBP would be like this, comparatively:
1) Higher damage, not stacked: 8 damage.
2) Lower damage, stacked: 4 damage per bullet. = 16 damage potential.
3) Incremental stacked damage: 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 22 damage potential.
Personally I'm in favor of the higher, not stacked damage. Primarily because I'm old school.
We never used a shotgun as a main weapon. In combat, We took advantage of its bare-bones function: to shoot multiple bullets simultaneously. This was primarily utilized to bust down doors, and to shake up a fight.
I feel like I've had this conversation before.
Wait, I have! 12-07-2010:
http://forums.graalonline.com/forums...&postcount=292
Spoiler
My post from Graal Forums, 12-07-2010
The only way this would work on Era would be, as Salesman already suggested, to lower each shotgun bullet to about 3 damage.
Era isn't a game where shotguns, or any gun for that matter, do damage in that fashion. It just doesn't happen. There's nothing wrong with the way they function now.
On Era, shotguns aren't supposed to be overpowered. They're not a PKing weapon. Their purpose on Era is to bust doors down, to deter or isolate a group of people, and to taunt. It's literally embarrassing to lose against a shotgun. This is the Era we know, and I see no reason for it to change. "Because other games do this" isn't very persuasive.
Clip size and reload speed are already level; and altering the bullet speed of any gun is laughable. It's been done before, and failed miserably. 65% of PKing on Era revolves around dodging bullets. This includes weaving in and out of bullets, matrix-style. This weaving is possible because the bullets move slightly faster than your player. Changing the speed of bullets would ruin this game- period.
And in case you're wondering where I distribute the other 35% of PKing:
25% of it is timing your shot, and 10% is knowing what guns to use in each situation.