Problem is, the meta in game has been constantly evolving towards longer ranged engagements and area denial, rather than dogfights and brawls in the middle of the map. For instance, before the beam nerf, T5 was full of 8km, 9km range beams on LRFs that had about 4k effective DPS. Yes, I’m sure it takes considerable skill to keep the beam on target long enough, but at the same time – it’s boring to play, and it’s boring to play against. Now, we still have fighters with 7km range, LRF spam is a legitimate and often beneficial strategy, and it’s getting harder and harder to close the gap to actually hit the person using Flux Phaser. They’re likely behind enemy lines, protected by beacon drones, enemies, and their own impossible to dodge 2k damage projectiles.
That’s not to say flux phaser is OP. It isn’t. The DPS just isn’t high enough to be OP. But when a max speed federation interceptor can’t dodge the projectiles even through misdirection and typical guided missile dodging, it’s just… Not fun to play against. The only real way to deal with it is avoiding interceptors like the plague and sticking to the backside of cover, because without either of those two, once focused on, you’re practically guaranteed to die.
The only map with no real cover is Asteroid Belt. I admit it’s a bit of a problem there. 