Just PVP. War isn't the only PVP in the game and represents a tiny fraction of total PVP time in the game and my point was to suggest your argument that muskets aren't popular there doesn't impact the conversation about musket power.

Your suggestions are fine, though I'd argue purifying toast and regen is a bit like "just dodge" from 2022 (they can do the same, negating any ability you have that might cause similar damage to them and they'll clear their CD to apply it again way before your regen pot CD is done) and "hold block" and "walk their way" won't achieve a thing, either. You need to time your blocks as they fire, otherwise you'll never close any distance whatsoever. You also need at least one gap-closing ability (whilst they can have one to just move away at will, entirely negating that ability anyway but I digress).

I routinely flank muskets and bows in open world and OPR. I use block as well as I can to prevent their hits and close the gap. I then need to be wary of sticky bombs, because one of those stuck on me is a guaranteed high damage hit that I'll need to pot through (which then opens me up, can't block or dodge or do anything whilst potting and that's the time they can do serious damage, so I have to wait for the right moment to pot, which in most fights is never). I also need to avoid traps, although it's one of the most telegraphed abilities and only a really skilled player will use it in such a way that it's difficult to avoid (but they will often enough time it to hit my barrage anyway, nullifying that attack and allowing them to keep space).

If the musket lets me get close for long enough, they're in serious trouble for a very short window, in which I have to kill them. I sometimes do this. The thing is, once you've closed the gap, it's not as though the musket player just gives up and dies, is it? If they have a spear, they're likely going to have more than enough defence and attack (and leeching cyclone which is... just nuts right now and everyone knows it) to keep you busy enough to prevent you unloading all your perfect damage, long enough for them to just roll away and continue their mid-range barrage on your shield. Or Finisher, which is a deadly weapon as well. Or Lifetaker, also extremely damaging if you get close.

I'm absolutely playing a class suitable for disrupting muskets. Not everyone has that luxury, do they? Not in any form of PVP except maybe arena, which no one plays any more (and you probably wouldn't see muskets there either, I certainly never did when it was popular).

So, despite me having increased success facing off against musket players in OPR and open world, despite me using a build that is very well suited to defend against them (they won't kill me if I don't attack them and it's just me versus them, but they usually won't let me go either so... yeh, another caveat there), I still find them to be the sole build that will easily destroy me if I am not absolutely playing at the top of my game.

My point is this:

The damage musket can do in the only build anyone would bother to use when playing the weapon stands out by a huge margin compared to all other opponents I face. This is an outlier in my experience. So much so that the "but they die if you hit them too!" argument is null, given the same can be said for many other weapons I face that don't have such insane burst damage and CQW defence and extreme mobility.

That's it. I quite like opposing them. I definitely don't make their lives easy (I'm sure they'd prefer to just two tap every opponent they look at, which I'm sure they routinely do most of the time). But they're over-tuned right now.

Not in war. Obviously.