I don't think anything I might be able to say about weapon balance will be able to change anyone's mind, so I'm not going to bother with it.
I do think the devs are trying too hard to make sure everyone is pleased when it simply can't be done. There are too many different opinions to make the next release "perfect", and I'd honestly rather see the devs just go with their guts on this. It probably sounds stupid, but any improvement that can be made is something, even if it doesn't nail it 100%.
tl;dr: Release the SVN as it is (tweak it a bit if you insist), and touch up the weapon balance in a later release. People can and will make do with what they get.
I do think the devs are trying too hard to make sure everyone is pleased when it simply can't be done. There are too many different opinions to make the next release "perfect", and I'd honestly rather see the devs just go with their guts on this. It probably sounds stupid, but any improvement that can be made is something, even if it doesn't nail it 100%.
tl;dr: Release the SVN as it is (tweak it a bit if you insist), and touch up the weapon balance in a later release. People can and will make do with what they get.