Why does Canis get buffed and Gladius nerfed?

In addition to including multiple patches worth of lifetime stats, we're also comparing a body shot specializing gun with a headshot specializing gun in the Canis vs. Gladius, which is obviously going to favor "average" players more when you're comparing playerbase "average" stats. That says literally nothing about their comparative performance when used by more skilled players.

The Gladius has good accuracy for its cqc engagement range (not the best, but definitely good enough), absurd 3HS kill range, free silencer, and low recoil. It's a GOOD friggin gun, IF you can consistently aim for the head. Canis was pretty garb after its nerf. Devs got the nerf/buff pretty much just right imo.

sure, ask the guy who made oracle of death to bring it back online. untill then lifetime stats for weapons that got patched atleast once are entirely useless. especially of a weapon that was as broken as the Canis with UA on release

A free, 400 cert suppressor.

Call the available stats useless all you want.

The fact remains that claims made without evidence ("Gladius is overperforming") can be dismissed without evidence.
And so I summarily dismiss your claims.

"gladius is overperforming" as is proven by the devs who do have access to performance data since the last patch nerfing it.
check and mate
i'm simply explaining you WHY it's overperforming

You're making a wild and baseless assumption that:

1. The devs are using performance tracking tools that are more comprehensive than just performance-over-lifetime (remember, these are the same guys who simply deleted the 'directives' tab from the official player stats site because they couldn't get it to work)

2. The devs are basing their balance decisions on these stats, or even care about performance stats at all

3. The devs' sense of 'balance' is infallible (just look at how they released UA, even after testing. You yourself proclaimed how completely broken it was.)

You're calling "check mate", but you're holding a checkers chip and a monopoly card.

if the nerf is working is debatable. that it is a nerf because it's overperforming is not.

Oh really. Did the devs tell you that personally?
I'd like to see a copy of the conversation, thx.

yes it's called patch notes

Gee, I must have missed the section where they detailed how the Gladius was statistically overperforming.
All I saw was that they wanted to make the damage per mag "Closer to the Blitz and unmodified Cyclone" (Why? Just because? They provide no performance-based rationale)
and give SPRW ammo "A more substantial tradeoff" for using it. Which is hilarious, because, as you yourself said numerous times, SPRW ammo was already hot garbage, even pre-nerf. And that further shows just how grounded in reality the devs are in making these changes.

Overperforming compared to what? If you're only comparing it to the Canis, such data is either non-existent or is not available to us (R.I.P. Oracle of Death).

But if you compare it to SMGs in general, I would argue that both the Gladius and Canis are overperforming.

If you discount the Canis and "specialty" SMG variants (AE, G, P, etc), the Gladius has better ACC, HSR, KPH, and KDR stats than any SMG in the game - including the revered Cyclone.

The opinion that the Cyclone is a bit OP for an SMG has been pretty widespread for years. If the Gladius is outperforming the Cyclone, what does that say about the Gladius?

Well, the Jackal is performing on-par with the Canis and Gladius as well - i.e. outperforming its peers ("old" SMGs). So chances are, this has something to do with the guns being a new batch. Either they're new enough that only more invested players have bought them at this point, or the playerbase has fundamentally changed in skill over the years (not unlikely), and/or some other factors.
I'd be willing to bet that these new LMGs will trounce the "old" LMGs in terms of performance too, at least for a while. So the best we can do is compare the new batches against each other, since we know that they are all on a level playing field to start, so to speak.

Well...to be fair...the Cyclone IS THE BEST SMG IN THE GAME.

I guess we should never nerf another smg again unless it's better than the Cyclone. Sounds good to me.

Correct. Unless you argue that the Cyclone is OP, there is no justification for nerfing something in the same category that is inferior to it in every way.

The points where:
Worse Bodyshot TTK: yes
Worse DPS: yes
Worse hipfire: yes
Worse Magazine size: wrong, as already said 24% more DPM before the nerf, 11% more after
Worst aimed accuracy of ALL automatic primaries: the "best weapon in the game" the orion has a 0.4 stand move ADS accuracy. and it's not the only weapon that has that. even the Anchor has a 0.35 ADS stand move accuracy while the Meow has a 0.4
you extend the Cyclones 11m 3 headshot kills to 22/25 meters
you have 33% less recoil, 60% less FSRM, which means your first shot only recoils 0.368° while the cyclone does 0.75° which makes it easier to land those headshots.
it's hipfire accuracy with ALS is 1.15°, an infantrymans torso at 25 meters is about 1°, but as you would ADS at that range anyway and 0.35 is small enough to land headshots,you can still hipfire headshots within 10 to 15 meters.

And yes the argument has always been that the cyclone is too strong.

The nerf on the Gladius has a negligible effect, I don't see why people are complaining so much.

The infantry TTK in PS2 isn't long enough to make spin-up a practical trade-off. 95% of the time the engagement will be over before reaching the weapon's maximum damage output. Unless you're just unloading on an AFK MAX that is...

Well who says reaching the maximum damage output is a goal in itself. Generally when I hear a Canis killing someone close by, a continued spin-up gives a clear warning message "BACK OFF!" whereas with every other weapon I would be rushing to kill the possibly wounded enemy.

The aim is to win engagements and maximising the damage output goes a long way towards achieving that goal.

Yeah and that happens automatically whilst accumulating bloom. I still think a buff to the statistically most powerful SMG makes little sense in the light of balance.