The game was not just AR dominated. any class of weapon could do well in the game before the changes in the hands of a skilled player. And any weapon in that class could do well. Sure some were easier than others; but not really dominated its class as much as some liked to claim. This has been true of most of the past games yet players always complained about one weapon of each class that was so called OP.. in the right hands even the most statiscally weakest weapon can be made to seem OP.
The maps were not to big, just they did not play as fast as the rushers wanted. They were a little slower which leads to less matches per session played, which leads to slower leveling. which for some made them less fun. No kill every 2.65 seconds for that adrenaline rush that rushers need in order to have fun playing the game.
Cod is about action true, about fast action always false.
Ghosts at launch was not meant to be as fast paced as past games . You were a ghost, you took your time to move about and was meant to be slower and more tactical. Not a headless rusher. But rushers could not understand that and thus complained the maps were too big, the game was too slow, that it was boring and not fun for them enough.
The players of this game have become too acustomed to mindless adrenaline fueled game play because of the last two games, BO2 and MW3, and anthing less is not acceptable to them so they complain about it.