Having played in the Titanfall universe since Titanfall 1 (IMC for life), it was almost nostalgic seeing some of my favorite guns in Apex Legends. Obviously I don't expect the weapons in Apex to behave like they did in Titanfall (the Longbow, for instance, had zero bullet drop in Titanfall 1 because the bullet was fired at super high velocity), but one weapon kind of doesn't make sense in Apex. As you may have guessed: the Flatline.
While shooting the Flatline at range recently, I noticed that the gun was kicking back vertically. This actually surprised me because the gun famously had zero vertical recoil.
(And on that note, the Alternator also fired in a sideways line, having two chambers on the gun that would fire rhythmically. A barrel stablizer on this makes no sense because there are two barrels on the gun.)
I understand there's a requirement to make the guns as balanced as possible for a fair BR experience. However, since the Flatline cannot take a barrel stablizer, it would make sense to adjust its recoil to move only side-to-side. This would make the gun usable at the same distance with similar accuracy falloff, but more deadly should your opponent's reaction be to strafe within its range, similar to how jumping in a shotgun battle basically ensures you lose that battle.
While it does recoil to the side to an extent, the vertical recoil robs the gun of this effect. A completely horizontal recoil would lead to some interesting gunfights and strategies, while still remaining relatively balanced.
