Slow turret rotation and minimum range is intended. The laser has 4000 dps. The thing is humungous, yet the ML is still loaded with other weaponry and counter intel. It's a lean all terrain weapons platform.
ML isn't useless. You're just using it wrong. It can't go up vs other exp 1v1 nor go up against firebases with a lot of firepower. It is meant to sneak attack poorly defended areas. If you see multiple T3 PD under shields or a GC/Ytho, you shouldn't head directly into it. I find it's useless end-game more because it really can't avoid confrontation with the GC/Ytho 1v1, or dies before it gets close to anything valuable, and when it dies, it leaves a "give of mass" to the enemy.
Build up many if you want to push through such. They're good as defense, so having 1 hanging around isn't totally useless. Having one might make an enemy player switch from making ASF to making air to attack ground, maybe giving your air player an advantage. Move it around out of omni and make the enemy worry over it. Plenty of strategies to use with it. Suggesting to make it more of a rush unit, well before any GC/Ytho, or enough T3 PD or T3 bots can be produces is imba. Suggesting to make it able to break through with brute force is like trying to make it like the GC/Ytho, which I don't think fits as the Cybran have 2 land exp.
You could already tell it would not pass a vote to be cheaper from the discussion. Wasted potential for maybe a slight tweak to the ML. I think it needed a little boost to find a better end game role, but I suggested something more sensible, such as +0.25 speed and bolter range reduced to 45, to "pay for the speed increase". This change is small enough for people to not think it's imba, but opens up a lot more strategy since it's slightly faster and gives you the option of trying to outrun its biggest counters, get further before it dies, and close to gap to use its primary weapon just a bit sooner. If you wanted to make it more powerful, with stronger bolters, hp, range, torps, AA, without offsetting other stats, the cost would have to go up.