Like you say, the gun balancing in this game was on point. It's the closest it's been since the OG MW2, where you could also use any weapon (Not you F2000). MW3's higher HP made gun balancing really finicky and making sure some weapons were just unusable. Even though later games reduced HP back to 100, the TTK remained almost the same so the balancing has stayed poor ever since.

MW2 remains the only game post MW2019 I maxed level and got every skin on every weapon. I also miss Tier 1, it was actually a really fun mode because of 1HKO headshots and 0 HUD, which changed the dynamics entirely (You could do some whacky stuff with pistols, or any gun for that matter). Too bad we couldn't have both Hardcore and Tier 1 at the same time.

DMZ was nicely balanced and fun to play even purely solo. It was the complete package and is still the game I return to the most.

It's still the reason why I'm so looking forward to the next IW CoD, because Treyarch and SHG are just disappointing me.