To be perfectly honest, most of the people attacking Obers are the same ones who used to defend Shocks.
It really just seems like certain players are upset that Shocks are no longer considered the most elite unit in the game despite the fact that the OKW army essence stated that the force was based around elite units.
Not that it matters, but I was absolutely angry about 1CP shocks. Indeed I whined on the forums about it! It was simply too early for such an effective unit. However the complaint here is not a timing issue. We're not mad that Obers come out when they do. We're mad that they are simply too good, period. I've never faced them with STG44s so I can't even comment on that, but standard Obers are more lethal to inf than snipers are, maybe 1 Ober is like 1.5 German snipers in terms of killing power (random estimate, not based on stats). But they can stand up to enemy units, fire on the move, and get a buff against retreating infantry. That last bit in itself is a total headscratcher, considering the design of CoH is supposed to be promoting unit preservation, and retreating is supposed to make your units more survivable, not less.
I can't even imagine how bad it must be to have an Obsersoldaten squad with MP44s that negate cover, and then also have an accuracy modifier vs retreating units. Cover and retreating are the two main mechanics that make CoH infantry combat what it is!
Vet 2/3 Riflemen with 120 munitions in Brownings are "comparable" to Obers. They will still lose to fresh Obers, but they're in the same league at least. With vet bonuses to the Obers tho, it's no contest, and your squads will start dropping like flies late game, and then more obers will come out, and then they have won the whole infantry game. Countering with tanks is a laughable notion unless you've already won the game and denied them armor, or have managed to kill all their armor / AT guns already. Even Raketenwerfers are effective at countering any US armored vehicle in the game. Maybe Soviets can do a better job at countering OKW late game since they actuially get heavies? Who knows! Shermans are not cutting the mustard even with HE shells, and you almost always need to focus your tanks on Armor killing power because if a Panther or Tiger shows up in a team game and you're not ready for it, you're fucked.
Personally, I think they're fine. They're deceptively squishy until Vet 3 and I generally only hit Vet 3 with them in a third of my games when I'm playing OKW.
When I use smoke and Shocks it's insane how fast they drop.
But enough logic.
Their durability is not really the issue, although they do have more than a typical squad. It's their insane killing power, plus the stupid retreat modifier.