I don't know if this is a coincidence or not but lately I have been noticing a lot of low prestige oplayers or people that haven't prestiged yet, whipping out SMAWS as soon as they spawn in Hardcore. Doesn't matter what gametype. They run around with out at all times.

This is why I made the long-winded post in the TU thread about Blast Shield. At least it will give us somewhat of a counter. Unfortunately, there will still be those types that spam a semtex, two tubes, and two "mags" worth of airburst before dying and respawning to do it all over again. Ideally, they would scale the explosive damage to miniscule values to match the health so it behaves the same way in Core as in HC. Never going to happen though.

I have to agree with the OP. Hardcore is feeling more and more like Core these days. If I got XP for all the Hit Markers I have been getting lately, I would be 15th Prestige by now. Its taking more and more to take people out, even with good, clean shots. The Rockets and Tubes are getting ridiculous, for sure. It makes me wonder why rockets are somehow more accurate than Sniper Rifles or Assault Rifles, and why the vapor trail seems to kill just as quickly as the explosion? Or how someone is standing 2 feet in front of me, tubes me, and I die? Seeing more and more where people are just running around corners in HC and getting insta-kills. There is all kind of nonsense going on, and it certainly doesn't feel like Hardcore anymore.

In past Cod Games, if you fired a rocket at an enemy from distance it would tail off and become erratic, in MW3 it never falters from its course... Anyways, Hardcore has lost a lot of its appeal as the shenanigans from Core are trickling over.

Hc is better than I thought, the only thing that makes it shi-t is indeed explosive spamming & of coure people that only sit in a corner and never move. I mean seriously, the guns kill so fast and instantly yet you still need ohk explosive just so that you don't have to aim to get kills. Model with range is a lot of fun in HC.

It feels like playing mw2 with all the explosive spamming and insta-killing. Good that they are buffing Blast shield. That will make it a lot more playable.

I feel The health amount is too low, it's way too easy to get kills across the map with machine pistol secondaries like the mp9 and every other gun is God- like. I just spam ballistic vests. I would give everybody half the normal health (50) with Neck and headshot 1 hit kill mutipliers, that's more realistic and it would make snipers actually useful too. Now it's just a game mode for shi-t players to get easy insta-kills & campers. Fun to troll people with a shotgun and range though

The only time I get killed by ricochet is when i launch a rocket or throw a blind nade. I never shoot my teammates, and teammates don't walk in front of my bullets, because I pay attention. I've been killed because a teammate walks in front of me and blocks my fire, causing us both to die, thats about it.

The whole "Thats me walking in front of your bullets on purpose" doesn't happen that much if at all. If it does happen, its a fluke. Spread out more, there is no reason to be that close to your teammate on most of these shitty maps.  Teamkilling is gone in HC, teamkillers had to find a new hobby.