Board Thread:Suggestions/@comment-30714040-20180529210038/@comment-29781728-20180602043837

After reading most of Sanquo's replies, I've been motivated to provide some stuff against this:

Ever wondered why digger and stalker are OP? Blame M249. Ever wondered why AI zombies come in large numbers? Blame M249. Ever wondered why PR focuses his buffs on zombies at the moment? Blame M249. Ever wondered why PR rarely nerfs the zombies? Blame M249. Ever wondered why there's lack of weapon usage variety? Blame M249

1. Digger and Stalker aren't OP. If they (in their current state) are to be considered OP, they're not that way because of M249 anyway. It's mostly due to how R2DA works - players will get more powerful over time, and the average player will get better guns over time, so over time, Place needs to add stronger zombies, harder bosses, and more stuff to grind for. Nerfing the M249 won't get rid of power creep.

2. AI Zombies don't only come in large numbers because of M249. Again, power creep forces Place to make the opposition harder for the survivors. If every survivor had a Flamethrower / SPAS + RPG / Katana, the game would still be forced to have an extremely high amount of AI zombies, and Stalkers and Diggers would still have to exist. In fact, Stalkers and Diggers provide an important check to the M249 (notably, it's not their only purpose - so obviously the M249 isn't why they're OP).

3. Just power creep.

4. Just power creep.

5. Just because it's the highest tiered gun (and obviously the most powerful gun because of that). Any M249 sidegrade would change that.

The M249 is the best gun in the game, but has its downsides in many situations - in fact, in more situations than many other guns.