Yes it's the designated role of a panther to dive into enemy territory and destroy fuel units (there is even an achievement for that), thus it's called tank hunter and not tank destroyers, which are defensive units. Nerf it and you won't see it again, like it once was. Congratulations, you now made the game more dull and less versatile.
It's the first choice of OKW players, because raketenwerfers don't cut it and the JP4 doesn't do well against an IS2, which you see in about 50 % of the games.
It's the first choice because shermans, t34s come out around 10 minutes while panthers come out around minute 15. Why would you ever go for a SU85 first? It's needed to counter tanks, not to wreak havoc among infantry, which is what you want to do in early game.
And its the designated roll of the Sherman to DIVE INTO enemy territory to kill infantry and support guns! Lets give it 325 Armor and 800-960 HPs so it can do this and Blitz and make it faster to boot! We shall call it an Infantry Hunter and raise the cost to 170 fuel!
See the problem there?
The Panther does EXACTLY what you mentioned. And 9/10 times it will cause casualties or gain vet through damage with no serious repercussions. Combine this with its ease of use and you have the complaints you see in this thread.
Remember when it was "useless" due to nerfs it was given the Pen it now enjoys. Before it was "useless" it didnt have such a high Pen. So why does it get to enjoy it now?
To better fight the IS2? Cool so what did it give up in return? Nothing. Its just more effective then it was BEFORE the nerf and there has been no touching of any of its other attributes.
That would be akin to Guards getting their old Button back and then another buff just thrown in "Because"
Which is why I suggest a cost DECREASE as well as a Performance DECREASE or a rebalance of its attributes increasing its DPS but lowering its silly level of surviability. That is the biggest problem especially and primarily with how OKW gets to enjoy the Panther.
I imagine if Ost could build it in its second building that also served as Area Denial they would use them every game too.
And as I said before late war German metallurgy sucked. Fact. So there is your lore reason for less armor on the OKW side.
Just imagine! If they lowered its Armor and increased its DPS it would work BETTER against P47 spammers! Because it could do damage faster and the P47 gives no shits about its armor! See the Benefits!
But no one wants to even consider that idea. Rather just buff USF Pen and further make Ostheer Mediums marginalized due to the proliferation of this one unit...