Weapons in Brink definitely need to be tweaked. They have no uniqueness and SMG's are the universal weapon. They need to patch weapons so each one has its own unique feel so it doesnt feel like you have the same gun all the time. They eahc need there own trade offs or advantages/disadvantages while being balanced.Each SMG and AR ect. should feel different.
The Assault Rifles need some work. Right now they have more recoil then SMG's, do about the same dmg and way slower RoF. AR's should have way less recoil then an SMG and they need to buff there dmg a bit to make up for the slower RoF and to balance them out. This will give them an advantage at longer distances but still give them a chance at short-medium range combat while still giving SMG's a slight advantage with there high RoF.
The shotguns definitely need some help. They are severely underpowered, slow and have way to much spread. In a game like Brink were you are constantly coming into CQC you would think the shotgun would be great yet with it taking 2-5 shots depending on buffs and bodytype you stand no chance with a shotgun in CQC especially with the SMG's in Brink. They need to up the dmg and decrease the spread. This will balance out the severely slow RoF they have. Either that or make the RoF faster and the bullet spread tighter.
The GL seem fine and I have played with buddied and play against people that dominate with those especially the easy-nade heavy GL.
Pistols seem to work pretty well from my experiences and I have no issues there.
SMG's if they do not want to buff the guns above as suggested something needs to be done to these. They need more recoil and spread especially when shooting at medium- long distances.
I couldn't disagree more with your assessment about the SMGs.I find that they have WAY too much recoil for an SMG.The Carb-9 easily has more recoil than say the Gerund.Furthermore,ARs are supposed to have more recoil,imo,than the SMGs anyway.I will agree that they should do slightly more damage that they already do.SMG's should have virtually no recoil,high ROF,shoot straight as an arrow,but have no long range impact,and be marginally less effective at medium range.
I will say that the differences between each guns in each class seems to be minimal,therefore,for me at least,I really don't care what does the most damage.I'm looking for the weapons that have the most stability and the most ammo.The Euston puts people down,but you'd better be a soldier using it and make sure that you have enough pip left to give yourself ammo otherwise that gun will be dry real quick,therefore I typically use the Gerund.