The ARs and smgs are fairly well balanced with the exception of one weapon in each category. The mp5 was buffed into being the worst smg by a wide margin. That gun needed better recoil not faster fire rate. The pp90 and pm9 have better recoil and a faster fire rate than the mp5 anyway so its still the worst. The ARs have the cm901. This gun is now completely outclassed by the Ak47. And even more outclassed by the acr. I am generally okay with the really good weapons in each class. The mp7 and acr are still pretty well above everything else but at least they can lose out to other weapons in a variety of situations.
The real balance issues are in the lmgs, shotguns, snipers, and many of the secondaries.
The pkp and mg36 (and for the most part mk46) are all crap compared to the L86. They all have the same fire rate but the L86 has the best recoil by far and reloads the almost as fast as the mg36. The m60 is the only weapon in class to offer anything over it and what it does offer is pretty limited. I do really like the m60 though. Cqc lmg destruction for days.
The snipers have 2 glaring balance issues the as50 is just strait up worse than the barrett. And the L118 is just strait worse than the msr. There is very little reason to use either the as50 or L118 over the other sniper.
The pistols are terrible in this game compared to machine pistols. The mp9 is a pocket mp7 with more range and worse recoil. The akimbo fmgs are better than any shotgun. So why in the hell would anyone take a pistol? Also the pistols themselves have intra class balance problems. The five seven and 44 mag dominate the class. The five seven's instant reload, and 44 mag's faster reload and better recooil than the other high damage pistols makes the others sort of pointless. The deagles can carry one more round per mag, but that does little good if the recoil is too high to land a lethal dose of lead faster than the 44/mp412.
The shotguns are very poor in this game. The pumps in particular display terrible inconsistencies inside their max damage range. The 4 pellet kill stock is terrible and practically make the pumps worthless in core modes until the damage proficiency. And the 3 pellet kill with damage just isn't enough to prevent point blank hitmarkers. I have so many hitmarker films that it just disgusts me. With perfect aim even in a lobby where every one is 4 barring bs hitmarkers still happen frequently. This is a common trait for all the pump shotguns. And then there is the aa12...Worst gun in mw3 bar none. A silenced usp is more effective than the aa12. Its terrible. It is litterally the shortest range weapon in mw3 and it is still significantly outclassed in time to kill in over half its range. And in the first half of its range it still is only competitive in time to kill not actually better. All rapid fire smgs, the m60, type 95, m16, mk14 (if you fire near max rpm) any akimbo weapon, and the other shotguns all beat it soundly inside the first half of its range. The aa12 is the single most glaring balance issue in mw3.
