Very true. stuff should be balanced and in this case the panther has no real effect on 1vs1 or 2vs2. even so however the current panther is simply not balanced. right now it has decent hp good armor and penetration but very low dps. if you look at the kv1 it is a decent all rounder but it doesnt cost 175 fuel.
In either case you get much more from the puma ,jagd or kt then the panther
It also has much,
much more pen and 10 more range than the KV-1.
The panther is potent mix of traits. It has the armour of a low end heavy, the range of a TD, the HP pool of a heavy end medium tank and the usual german option for pintle MG's.
The buff to small arms has made the panther able to do something, at least, for AI- but it remains a great anti-tank option against mediums and TD's- and can also weather some infantry based AT in the process, which the puma simply can't do.
Pumas remain so good because of how cripplingly amazingly god tier Target Weak Point/Aimed shot are, as abilities. It's guard buttoning you can't interrupt and doesn't need a squishy infantry squad standing next to the tank to use.
Jagds are the usual turretless TD trade of firepower for mobility and flank death.
But panthers already give you everything you need to completely mop up medium armour. Fastest, heaviest armoured medium with great range- it's all you need to deal with any number of T-34/76. Allowing that firepower to come cheaper would invariably start pushing us back towards the good old days of beta panther rolling, which I certainly wouldn't want anyone to suffer through.
It could probably use a small accuracy buff to make the most of the low rate of fire, of course. A reduction on the penalty for moving would probably serve it best. After that, it's probably good where it is; a small AI buff probably wouldn't hurt make the cost a little more justified, I guess.