Decreasing the close-mid range TTK was the biggest change they made to the gunplay, and throwing that out runs the risk of recreating the same meta of BF3 and 4. I don't know if a game where all the high level players are running around with AEK 1900s would have held interest any longer than BF1.
The thing is, BF1 weapons are inherently unique. You have essentially PDWs, DMRs, and PDWs again with inverse spread and much better damage dropoff. Not ARs, LMGs, and Carbines with the BF4 tapfire meta.
I honestly believe this is a thing they should test next in the CTE. Bolt actions are much more lethal, and we have essentially "Diet BF4" weapons to compete with them. If this helps address player agency thing on top of making all weapons much more dangerous at any range, I'm all for giving it a shot.
Wish I had the time to figure out how a -1 BTK could be achieved for every firearm discussed here, with some special attention paid towards the Automatico and Chauchat