>>723024772
In real life LMGs exist to secure fire superiority. They fire more bullets, faster, more accurately, with greater stopping power and at greater distance than equivalent small arms. In fact for the most part a single LMG is considered to offer more fire volume than the entire rest of the squad combined. But they're heavy, their ammo is heavy, they need to carry a lot of ammo, they wear down their barrels quickly and need to carry replacements and they usually need to fire from a stable firing position to be accurate. All of these together means they're typically manned by 2-man teams and bounding to firing positions where they can sit and shoot.
None of those things are fun in a multiplayer game. Imagine a weapon class that just beat every other weapon but you couldn't run & gun with it, in a game designed around run & gun gameplay.
Instead, Battlefield and basically every other modern shooter ever treats LMGs as just big rifles that trade a big magazine for less damage/accuracy. They're almost never good, because the contexts in which they would be good would not be fun, but their use case is basically just hugging a squadmate and hosing down the direction your battlebuddy gets shot from. A girlfriend gun, if you will.
