Profile of Butcher

Because I did try it, and it worked exactly as I described it: Pioneers with their performance as of WBP 1.6 are better Assault Grens than Assault Grens, with the exception of that grenade ability. The Pioneer buff is actually not the most important thing here though, as I wrote above (reading does tend to help with understanding), the direct and indirect nerfs thrown onto Assault Grens are much more significant in this matter.

As much as I´m a fan of the good old Pionierspam I´m curious how this does not overthrow the balance to Soviet Combat Engineers which are only 20mp cheaper and have even less combat value.

I don´t mind Penals being stronger. It´s assymetric balance. As long as Ostheer lategame gets a buff it evens out. It only gets problematic if Ostheer is shit at everything like in the current patch.

Not a single line about the underperfroming Panther that fills no needed role with its shit rate of fire? I defeated that thing with Cromwells 1v1.

The biggest issue with the Panther is that it usually offers less dps than a Panzer IV. And even the Panzer IV is arguably underperforming.

In a perfect scenario with which I mean every shot hits and every shot penetrates, the Panzer IV is simply superior:

Panzer IV: http://www.coh2-stats.com/ballistic_weapons/panzer_4_75mm_mp
Reload: 5,3s - 5,7s
Damage: 160
Range: 40
Penetration: 120.0/110.0/100.0

Panther: http://www.coh2-stats.com/ballistic_weapons/panther_75mm_mp
Reload: 5,8s - 6,7s
Damage: 160
Range: 50
Penentration: 260.0 / 240.0 / 220.0

Aim time and cooldown are the same.

The Panzer IV has a way better anti infantry performance added to that, making it even more superior. The Panther suffers from being only good in theory. I would estimate that the majority of tanks fielded in games are Cromwells, T-34s and Shermans. All these units can be penetrated sufficiently by the Panzer IV with higher dps. In my experience the penetration bonus of the Panther is offset by the higer reload of the Panzer IV. Any infantry threat can be countered better by the Panzer IV. And the Panzer IV is already lackluster.

So in my opinion there are three possible solutions:

1) Buff the Panthers AI (making it more multi purpose, which I don´t like since Panzer IV and Tiger fill that role already)
2) Reduce the reload time to match that of the Panzer IV
3) Increase damage to 200 or 240.

And what are you planning for the near future, especially

the lategame

and weak doctrines like

Defensive (Ost + Soviet),
Soviet Industry,
OKW Firestorm etc.?

I can´t judge the current balance preview patch not knowing the context of other stages of the game. I don´t know why this is all kept a secret. It´s going to be a community created patch after all. You can be vague. Are you planning to nerf Brits, or buff Ostheer or none of that? And are you planning to redesign doctrines or just adjust their abilities?

Please don´t give me the "we will see after the early game has been adjusted" filler. I wouldn´t believe, that you haven´t at least thought about the lategame and doctrines already.