Are you sure nerfed is not the right word you are looking for?
As one of the players who consistently spoke for the nerf of the stealth-ninja raket from the beginning, I never thought I would be the one to defend it; but truth to be told OKW is currently one of the weakest factions in early vehicle timing(6~16 min.) along with UKF.
I'm not sure about what other good players think, but I personally put OKW next to UKF in 1v1.
Something like
SOV >= WM = USF >> OKW >> UKF
Truth be told. OKW is probably the strongest overall in good hands, after the Sov.
Can't compare with OST as they are on the same side but...
Flak HT is around 6 minutes, most powerful LV AI in the game probably, suppresses instantly and destroys cover instantly. Is easy to use.
Luchs is alongside the T70 the best AI LV overall, coming at a much earlier timing than T70 and easily supplemented by the Raketen which can retreat.
Puma is not bad. Extremely hard to kill with the instant smoke get out of jail free card. Counters every other LV, and mediums. Bad AI, but does bleed a bit. Overall, it's OK to let it shoot at infantry when engaging. Won't do much damage, but, brick by brick and you have a palace.
Soviets are by far the strongest in the LV, only due to the fact that T70 carries the faction. It's great against all other LVs except Puma, and it's brutal in the AI department.
OKW/OST come next. OST has the 222 which is a great scout/AI tool. Not as potent, but can be downright broken with the right commander. Eg. spotting scopes on a vetted 222.
OKW with the flak HT which is a 360 AI killing machine.
USF would be next. The AAHT is great, but it's extremely buggy and unreliable.
It has about 9 second reload time. The clip fits 10 shots, which is not enough to destroy Luchs/Puma. It's outranged by the Flak HT, and 2 shot. People tend to forget that the Cannon has 30 range, whereas the Machineguns have 35 (visual line/arc). Extremely clunky to use with the ass-shooting, and needs to be static for the cannon. Which means positioning is crucial. Not only that, but the cannon sometimes won't even fire, because it won't register as static. Shooting down planes is also extremely unreliable. 40% times it will shoot down a plane instantly, 60% the plane ability will expire without any planes getting shot down. I think I even have a replay of a game where the AAHT was completely bugged. Shot down 0 recon planes in 50 minutes. Kept rotating (in AA-only mode) and just tracking the target without shooting.
So AAHT -- Great on paper, but extremely technical and buggy and unreliable. 99% of my USF games have been with the AAHT, so I know what I'm saying from experience.
Stuart. Good in 1v1s. Good AT, decent AI. Nothing to write home about but will get a part of the job done.
UKF only has the AEC, which is 90% AT and 10% AI oriented. UKF is definitely not a LV faction.
Sov > OKW = OST > USF > UKF and there is a big vacuum between OST and USF.