[SUGGESTION] Weapons function

It's only because of hitscan weapons that greatwall maps could ever be called defensively favorable (same thing for facing). And making hitscan weapons the focus of the game is detracting from what makes Xonotic unique much more so than making the laser a less extreme movement method (if that's a detraction at all, I say not).

There's is a key mistake in your thoughts. Some (perhaps badly designed) CTF maps =/= Nexuiz/Xonotic. The point is that the current balance works well for all modes and good maps, especially the DM maps which were the core of the first Nexuiz developments. There you can both use hitscan and projectile weapons, depending on the situation, and both are necessary. If you would change the weapon balance to weaken hitscan weapons now, you would mess up the whole gameplay of most of the other modes and maps.