To address the elephant in the room - I stuck this in Mess Room because I was just curious about what everyone’s idea on this instead of going headfirst into a suggestion.
There are many reasons why and why not to do this. On one hand, it is pretty stupid to have a BR II weapon in Research Tier IV, given the awkward progression and overall research costs for the weapon (cough cough Axis SMG progression). On the other hand, these weapons were once a higher BR, so maybe it is better to have them significantly later down the line in an act of pseudo-balancing.
One of the most notable examples is the M1A1 Thompson. It used to be BR IV (very early on I believe, I only knew it as a BR III weapon), so obviously it’s far stronger than something like an M3A1 Grease Gun. It has been nerfed in soft stats by considerable margins so that it can be a BR II weapon, but it begs a question. Does it still belong as a BR II weapon, or should it go back to being a BR III/IV weapon?
A lot of veterans use the M1A1 when they come back to BR II, which many deem unfair (and realistically it is) compared to other SMGs at their disposal. Same damage, but almost 200 more ROF than the M3A1 Grease Gun, and more damage than the Lanchester and Sten. The Reising is surprisingly close, but the 20-round magazine really kills it.
As should be the case with pretty much any Research Tier, all weapons should have equal or just about equal tradeoffs, whether it be a sight picture you hate / like, higher damage but lower ROF and vice versa, or something else (like bullet velocity or wanting to go for a certain look). However, the M1A1 Thompson has no trade-offs.
So, do we just bring it down to Tier II along with the Lanchester, in order to improve the research flow and the power discrepancy between newbies and veterans, while making the other SMGs obsolete, or do we revert it back to its BR III version to help remove the power creep in BR II?
This applies to other nations too, like the Axis with half of their BR II SMGs in Research Tier III and IV, but the difference in power is much less between them than compared to the Thompson and Grease Gun (especially between the MP34 and MP38/40, where literally only 50 rpm separates them). The only nation where it should be reversed is Japan, where the Type 100 should actually be placed higher in the research tree, or changed back to its original stats, but I digress.
This post is already too long, and as such, I applaud those of you who read it fully.
- Make BR and Research Tier the same
- Leave the weapons as they are
- Revert the weapons back to their original BR and stats