So the the short range on the SMG or shotgun isn't a disadvantage because you can just "close the distance", that's perfectly sound reasoning

Well, what do you expect if 99% of suggestions are ridiculously stupid and the majority of people seem to dumb to adapt their tactics. Once the flaylock is nerfed, they'll simply start whining about the proto SMG...and then the SP.

Fact is, the majority of whiners simply seem to suck at the game who don't have enough brain cells to come up with counters. Not only that, they also double down by making stupid suggestions like changing the splash range to 1m

Mhhh, yeah...of course I would. If you don't believe me, look up the stats yourself. You clearly haven't used the other sidearms at proto level

Well, what do you expect if 99% of suggestions are ridiculously stupid and the majority of people seem to dumb to adapt their tactics. Once the flaylock is nerfed, they'll simply start whining about the proto SMG...and then the SP.

Fact is, the majority of whiners simply seem to suck at the game who don't have enough brain cells to come up with counters. Not only that, they also double down by making stupid suggestions like changing the splash range to 1m

Because I'm not gonna waste 20min+ to search for something I know to be true. Don't believe me? Prove me wrong (which you obviously aren't able to do). The proto SMG/SP are just as good as the proto flaylock. In some respects their better, in some others their worse...it all comes down to tactics.

As for the SP, it rocks at range compared to the flaylock.

I've been playing this game since this time last year. SMGs and Scrambler Pistols have been around that entire time and I've never seen a sustained, never mind prolific, attempt to nerf either. The Flaylock has been out little more than a month and has attracted the ire of pretty much everyone who plays PC, and most of everyone else.
So don't tell me a nerf of one sidearm will just draw that attention to the others, it's BS.
When a sidearm outdoes the efficacy of a light weapon, there is a problem that needs addressing.

A splash radius of 1m will maintain its DPS for skilled players, will hold it in keeping with its weapon type (they're rockets not grenades), and will remove the weapon's disproportionate increase in effectiveness from standard to proto.

"That's because very few people have actually bothered to skill the SMG/SP to proto level."

Plenty have. Flaylocks saw a sudden boost in activity when their use reached a critical mass of people realising how powerful they were.
Your reasoning is also backwards. People don't think it's OP because more have skilled into it. People skilled into it because it's OP.

I don't think I'll be responding to any more of your posts. You're either naive, stupid, or a troll.

You guys are saying it cant shoot up higher ranges, when in actuality it can; you guys are saying it cannot shoot down from these same elevated positions, yet it can...but I see the circle jerk has started in earnest and i cant be heard over all the slapping noises

best way to fix flaylock is to remove it :D