The difference is parity of input.
One of the strongest parts of CoH's design is it's not an APM game: it's much more about taking smart actions than more actions. In most engagements, you analyse the field, put your squads in the right places and wait for the opponent to react.
The problem with the RET grenades is they autofire but they're designed to be dodged. Dealing with these things is an APM game. Dodging them is trivial: you just tell the squad to move to the side and you've negated the damage. The problem is you have to keep doing this, whereas all your opponent has to do is position the RET squad and leave them to it.
This degrades the experience into an APM game. Their current design relies entirely on overheating micro: using up so much of your opponent's attention dodging all the autofire grenades that they can't focus on other things.
Some people might not see anything wrong with this sort of thing, but I'm saddened to see it in a game that's avoided this sort of design in the past and taken steps to remove it where it exists.
Completely agree.
Autofire grenades on infantry are just bad design. Right now they
are not OP, but that doesn't mean they are well designed. Against good players that can micro these riflenades are completely useless, a waste of resources.
Give this a targeted barrage so good players will actually use it. Let us pick where it will fire and make it accurate instead of hoping the ai shoots at the right target at the right time. It will also feel much less frustrating for the opponent to know they made a mistake and the USF player took advantage of it, instead of doing random damage that they aren't even watching.
That's the difference between rear echelons and a mortar. Infantry fights are sacred and special. They require careful planning, monitoring, and positioning. This riflenade does not benefit from any of that. A skilled player is not any better with this ability than a weak player.
Make this a targeted shot. Make skill matter, not just the opponents micro.