Nerfs NOT in the details?

 Yesterday I posted about the nerfs lurking in the details of the New World PTR (public test realm) notes.  One of the changes was to musket damage which at face value screamed "nerf!" but upon further analysis is not a nerf and when all changes taken together there is a buff to musket damage.  For anyone playing New World you can guess how the community is reacting.

 The net of the analysis so far is that the changes will actually bring a net 15% damage increase.  While there is some drop off on damage at longer range it is negligible.  Quoting PTR testers "The Ballistic Advantage 50% damage 'nerf' sounds big, but in reality it's more like a 0.5% damage decrease."

 The same testers are finding there is a net buff to musket damage and that buff comes in with the changes for Hit Your Mark passive.

Hit your Mark Passive:
Updated passive to apply to all hits and not just headshots and critical hits.

 As can be seen with the screenshot on the left this means longer range damage is now increased for all shots.  Sure there is drop off on damage at distance but as quoted from testers so far the drop off is not anywhere close to what is being gained from this passive change.

 Combine this buff with other changes that take away stagger from sticky bomb and muskets are encouraged to "sit on top of a rock and shoot people far away" and that is 95% of the problem with the weapon.  With that said I don't want another bow situation where strong ranged DPS weapon also gets a bunch of mobility.

 This whole situation just leaves me with questions on what the right approach to musket is.  At the heart of the matter is the fact that musket is a hitscan weapon in a game with no other hitscan weapons.  It also has no maximum range.  There is also the question of why is ammunition still in the game where a musket player has to buy, at a significant gold cost, ammunition to get their maximum damage.  It seems like hitscan, max range, and ammunition would be the logical things for the developers to focus on before getting too deep into balancing damage numbers.

 What are your thoughts on muskets?  Leave a long ranged comment.