Honest curiosity as to why certain weapon bans are in this list.
1.
Sure, they can be 'annoying', but that's not a reasonable explanation as to why the entire category is banned.
DMR: Sure, it will two shot you from 88+ meters away, destroy vehicles at an above mediocre rate, and is otherwise a stun gun when people duck in an out of cover too frequently for you to kill. Can this be annoying? Sure, but being two shot from that distance away is basically analogous to getting two shot by a shotgun. Getting killed less than that range would have been done significantly easier with a CR762, and let's be quite frank --is the more common situation.
Why not just pick up the CR762? 8 STK at 100m, has about the same vehicle stopping power as the silenced variant, and undeniably more versatile <88 meters comparatively.
I was going to break down the rest of the sniper rifles, but they all have the same issue. Their situations where they would have a competitive advantage (so aside from the player being outright better than you) is so niche that the argument for that rule starts to sound instead like, 'well, they can be annoying'. Why are these even banned on the basis of 'annoyance' when OPGL's, OSMAW's, and Rainbow Launchers aren't banned?
All of you have been around for a long time and I'm sure you can break down how other sniper rifles compare to basically any other 'weapon category' that could be used in the exact same way. Except the HVR, which was probably the reason why this whole category was banned.
2.
Has something changed while I was away? Am I missing out on the 'current trends'? Is this rule here because you can't have more than one N-Tec? Or do people simply not use Raptors anymore?
My clear bias here is that I use rifles. Alot. They're the meta. They're ideal for exploiting the defender's advantage in nearly all situations and have a very good chance against 'specialized' weapons like sniper rifles and CQC weapons. I've never had a problem where a guy with an OCA was just ripping through me and my entire team consistently. You can consistently see entire teams of "just rifles" for a reason.
OCA-EW's are definitely the most 'safest' option out of every CQC weapon and strong in it's own right, but your reasoning stated is inconsistent with the fact that something like the Raptor or N-Tec isn't banned.
The Troublemaker was overpowered because of it's versatility. The OCA-EW is just strong for it's category. I wouldn't confuse the two.
3.
... Has APB took a drastic change while I was away? So basically as I see it 3 people can cycle the cooldown of Spotter. This feels like something that sounds incredible on paper, but nonviable unless you consistently have your points on the open streets. Doing this tactic assumes that all three people will have line of sight, the reaction time, the coordination, and the aim to 'spot' every player on the enemy team at all times. This sounds like a niche tactic that you just outright ruled out for whatever reason. And honestly, if they pull it off, they deserve it --it's not exactly as easy as outright killing the other team as you see them.
Which if you couldn't tell already, is my strong preference.
I wouldn't be surprised if the meta team that came out of this was just packing loads of ammo packs, lobbed concs everywhere, had a "semi-auto", a "rifle", and a "LMG" or "Explosives Weapon". Because that's basically how the game is skewed.
