Its fairly obvious.
Comparing the classes.
Ranged can attack from a distance but can be chased down.
+1 -1
Melee has to close the distance to attack but they can chase down ranged.
-1 +1
Lance and bump cav can outrun and chase down, but they have to close the distance to attack, leaving themselves vulnerable.
+1 -1
Horse ranged can attack from a distance without leaving themselves vulnerable.
+1 +1
As i see it, HX does have a slight bit of range, but you are still forced to get close and personal if you want to hit, unlike foot ranged which are snipers. HX is more of a shotgun hit and run. They caan attack from a distance, but they will miss too much and wont do shit to the enemy team. Even up close they dont do that much, i would almost argue that the ranged weapon is but a tool to be able to put someone into a defensive pose that you can then bump them in, so your team can take them out. So the bump is the real danger from horse ranged, while the actual weapon only helps to get the bumps, and good HR players will probably score a lot of kills with the weapon too.
Seriously just waiting for flags to then ez counter them is very simple, it does not take that much time, and it allows for more classes to be played as they are supposed to. You might not like horse ranged, but some do. They are hardly strong enough to be unbalanced. If you are in a 1v1 on flags vs HR then thats where things may get interesting, how you manage to deal with situations like this keeps the game alive imo.
I don't agree that solo players should be able to hop on the server and instantly make the game less fun for so many other players to the point were people actually rather play something else. Thats the main problem - fighting them is no fun, they lack counter play and they have low risk for high reward.
Also its nice to see actual cav around now - for the first time in ages people have longer polearms to deal with them since they are a real threat since there are fewer HA/HX's around. The difference here is there is lots of counter-play + inherent downsides in having to get close to an enemy to deal damage
Barely high reward, low risk low reward id say. And i'll have a much worse time if i have a bunch of solo infantry players or corner map snipers that do jack shit, while HR actually often involve themselves in fights, aid with bumps, range stuns etc.