None of this answers why you are so sure everyone is lying though, as for havoc I really don’t care that game mode is one dumbest attempts at creating difficulty I have ever seen in a game.
That’s what makes it fun.
I play every single ability and every single weapon in the game, outside of very few (chainaxe). I even play weapons like Devil’s Claw and Falchion in Havoc 40 on Vet way, way more than I do Duelling Sword or Knife.
You literary can post the same thing 20x times on this forum, and as long as it’s the hive mind cr4p of “kick the popular thing in the nuts” everyone’s got your back.
But when you suggest buffing shotguns including double barrel, or Exe Stance, or something else, people here lose their mind as if it’s gonna break the game.
Meanwhile Fatshark destroyed Agripina revolver a few patches ago by removing consistent one clip kill breakpoint on auric Crusher, and nobody bats an eye.
And I know why. Because lots of people here crutch way more on “broken OP weapons and abilities” than they’d like to admit, rather than using other weapons they think “is fine”. Otherwise we’d see more posts asking for Infiltrate cooldown reduction buff or some other sensible changes good for build diversity.
I would never object to buffing those things, so don’t know why you telling me that. IMO, ES needs to start suppressing regular chaff in close range around you until you keep up stacking up bodies and/or kill elites. So, like, generate some very short-living stacks, and each time they reach cap (or when the Ability is activated and when it ends), they are removed and you issue “a suppression pulse” in a small radius, making chaffers poking at your from behind less of an issue, allowing you to do your job.
Combat Shotguns are kinda weird right now. Agripinaa is great and I think it’s actually in a great spot. But the other two are complete miss and are overshadowed by the former, I don’t see any reason to use them over it. They need a new identity, not just buffs.
I’m not with you on the revolver’s case though, as I never thought about it as being a “crusher removal tool”, it’s always been a quick to access sidearm to remove human sized elites and specialits in my books, still is good at it (may be could use a slight damage buff, to help with one-tapping gunners and flamers, when their HP are now increased). And Crushers were buffed like that for a reason, it affected all weapons, not just revolver.
Agripina revolver that doesn’t one clip Crusher is just a worse version of Las Pistol and Bolt Pistol, even the weaker marks of those. More ammo hungry, longer reloads, less accurate, no aoe stagger.
Shotguns have an identity crisis, they’re trying to be both precision weapons and anti-crowd weapons at the same time. The normal shotguns need a reload blessing so they can be used by Zealot and Psyker more comfortably. Double Barrel needs higher damage so it’s not crit-reliant. They need a separate chamber for the special shot and normal shots, so you could combine using the two. Etc etc.
That being said, I can play any of these weapons. It’s not like they’re hard, they just don’t feel good to use. And if my auric and Havoc random lobbies to be believed, most people think so too, because even the highly skilled players do not think it’s worth it to bring them.
Revolver has an upperhand over the las pistol when it comes to cleave, so it allows you to take out specialists hidden inside a mixed crowd much easier. Also has higher burst damage. It also seems more like an issue of las pistol being overtuned, to me, not the other way around. It’s used now as a go-to sidearm everywhere for a reason.
When it comes to bolt pistol it becomes harder to justify choosing the revolver. Me personally, I prefer the former, as I’m not good at precise, controlled shots - and bolt pistol is superior to revolver when it comes to continuous fire “at a silhouette”, with bleeding closing the gaps due to you missing some shots. But it’s already a matter of taste or playstile.
Agree on the dbarrel thing, I would love it to have an extra shot chamber which delivers a much more spreaded shot helping you to cleave chaff in large area at once. Buffing its damage would help as well, I need two shots to kill a flamer in close range with it quite often.
When it comes to shotguns, I actually have had a lot of fun using Agripinaa lately, mostly in the events missions (with tons of ogryn). It makes quick work of rippers and bulwarks (when you shoot them from an angle, bypassing the shield), and alt fire mode is super efficient against almost all specialists in the game when you’ve learnt how to handle it, and even has decent cleave so you can at least stun that trapper hiding inside a crowd of chaff through it - then finish it with a few more regular shots. In most cases I was the top specialists killer on the team with it, it’s so good. But for love of god don’t make improved reload a bless, taking a slot - it’s a Combat Shotgun fcs, in hands of trained operatives. Do I need to provide a link to YT video showing quick reload techniques existing for shotguns? It just need to be reload faster or with two rounds at once, naturally, with no blesses..
The other two shotguns.. they are sad. Their special attacks are useless, damage they do seems to be almost the same as Agripinaa’s - but they have less ammo and worse ergonomics, no idea why somebody would choose to use them.
Veteran does not have any survivability issue, you need as they say “get good” 
My observation is generally survivability is the matter of positioning and prioritizing enemies which you can master over time.
So here is idea how to improve CS’s reload. As they seem to be envisioned as high mobility range weapons (a lot of dodges, rather high sprint speed etc), that’s what we need to focus at:
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If you press R once, it will start to reload it at the same speed it does today - but you can do it while sprinting, sprinting doesn’t cancel reloading it any longer too; you cancel it by either pressing R again, or aiming down the sights, or by swapping out of the weapon; if reloading while sprinting feels too much, then at least it should be running, certainly not walking at a snail’s speed like it is right now
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If you hold R though, it starts a new rapid reload sequence where you reload two rounds in one move - but you can’t sprint while at it, you move with the same speed you do when reloading it atm; starting sprinting cancels it immediately, as well as releasing the R button
Left branch is extremely easy to fix tho - it just needs Bardin ranger’s exuberance talent (with some tweaks like DR from sides aswell probably) that works with guns that have ads mode or probably with even more narrow poll - marksman archetype guns. Just as ogryn was needed Bardin slayer’s Barge (push enemies on dodge), as me and other people were telling them on this forum. But learning from your own previous games is hard i suppose.
Heaven forbid the get away from me I’m now immortal button takes 10 seconds longer to cool down.
Krak 3d printer said what now?