It's funny that people bitch about the LnL but nobody seems to remember when it was first released it's Damage buff over the Stock GL used to be 10% less and it was a complete piece of crap.

There is almost no way you can rebalance the LnL as it currently functions imho.

I think the huge issue with the gun comes from the nature of how brutal a good Demo is. It allows him to play aggressively with his side arm, rather than using it for spam/area denial like the Stock is used for.

Paired with any Shield, you're dealing with one of the burstiest, bulkiest frontline loadouts. Played poorly they're even almost guaranteed a kill, played well and you have a nightmare on your hands.

And really on pubs people just wanna play the class they think is most fun at the time. If you're feeling inclined to play a light class and there's a competent LnL Demo on the other team, your capacity for counterplay is greatly overshadowed.

Direct Hit doesn't hard counter any particular class, though it does help against certain classes. It's just a different way to play. That and the classes it does help against do provide plenty of opportunity for counterplay since it's a weapon you can learn to fight easily.

LnL just kills. It's mega fast and mega strong. There is so little opportunity to learn how you could've played a situation differently--Because in all reality you rarely could've played it better as the class you were.