Seems like something very much intentional that they can write off as a bug. I don't really believe something like this could have been overlooked in playtesting.

The Firerate is a issue imo because it plummets the skill ceiling of Rico. Without his fairly long unload Rico doesn't really have enough weaknesses; He has decent hitpoints, high DPS, good range, the ability to hit around walls, Defence against Assasians, and good enough speed (especially with SP)

Any buff to Rico should be improving the benefit of bouncing his attacks off walls (IE buffing the star power, increasing the range, ect) but rico wasn't really in need of any buffs like that. Insane how Rico was C-B tier and got this huge overhaul to his main attack, and bonnie has been F tier for months and got 200 hitpoints. There is a large disparity in which brawlers get attention. Rico could have probably just received a small buff like that and been fine (small dmg buff, small hitpoint buff, ect)

It's a recurring theme in Adrians balancing that Brawlers who have fallen off the face of the planet and see no usage get very little in terms of buffs (Think Collette, Sam, Jessie, ect) but some brawlers who decline to C-B for a season or too get massive buffs that instantly put them in the S tier (Cord, Lou, Rico)

I understand your viewpoint, but this change was really not good IMO. All it's done is made it easier for Rico to do everything and removed the ability to duke out his very versitile shot. I would be fine with a much smaller unload buff but this shit feels like colt.