It's a simple problem really, melee attacks are hardly ever used in pve because like shotguns before the buff, the risk just doesn't justify the reward. If there's a choice between meleeing an enemy in my face and backing away, 9/10 times backing away is the better option. This isn't necessarily because of the damage dealt, it's because after a melee hit there is a short cooldown time where you're basically a sitting duck for any enemies in melee or even firing range. Basically you're exposing your guardian after dealing minimal damage which is a blatant no for anyone who isn't suicidal. There's also an unpredictability about damage. For some reason melee hits can be crits and deal for damage on a headshot but this is gimicky and isn't even possible on some enemies so you're never quite sure if you're going to kill that enemy in one hit or two, which can be a life or death scenario if misjudged. I can hear you asking "So? This is an FPS, melee attacks are just a last resort and don't need to be good." In most FPS games this is correct, however there is one thing in destiny that makes this mindset a problem: Melee abilities. These are supposed to be cool close range attacks that provide you with helpful buffs or indeed just raw damage and you're encouraged to get in close and use these abilities to their full. The problem: They all kind of suck and other game mechanics like powerful enemy melees and enemies swarming us discourage the use of these abilities. This also on its own isn't a huge problem but what makes it a problem is strength. It's a nice idea; Intellect, Discipline and Strength to let people customise their guardian to make use of their favourite abilities. The issue is strength is never going to be as desirable as the other two in the current game. Your super is your super so naturally you want to get items with intellect but there should be a trade off between grenades and melee in terms of usefulness, whereas atm grenades do about twice (if not more) damage of a melee ability with less risk involved and the extra bonuses provided by melee abilities are lackluster at best, so I'm gonna suggest a few buffs for melee in general and the abilities. [quote][b]Melee buffs (PVE only)[/b] Simple really, just buff the damage so that every melee does the damage a precision melee currently does and remove the precision modifier. Also it'd be nice if the melee cooldown didn't affect mobility, just how long before your next melee. I'd like to just melee enemies as I'm running past, whereas currently I stick to them for a few seconds before I can get moving again.[/quote] [quote][b]Storm first[/b] By far the weakest melee ability if all, just buff the damage a load tbh. Strikers are all about close combat so it'd be badass to run in and 1hk a knight with this ability, would make it very popular and would also passively improve the perks, as having the possibility of such a powerful attack recharging instantly would be very appealing.[/quote] [quote][b]Blink strike[/b] This one is kind of sorted by the baseline melee buffs i suggested. I would say buff the backstab perk damage so there's a reason to use it in PVE. Also make blink strike deal arc damage, all other melee abilities deal elemental damage so there's not much of a reason for this one to not. The only other problem is fast twitch because it practically negates strength, making the stat completely useless unless you want to be blink striking every single melee. Not sure what to do about this tbh, leave suggestions.[/quote] [quote][b]Energy drain[/b] Quite a simple buff here, make it so a kill with energy drain instantly recharges your grenade on top of the current perk. This would barely affect pvp, as very rarely do you get the chance to kill someone with your first melee strike, while in pve it would make the voidwalker a grenade spewing machine and would really make the decision between discipline and strength a tough choice.[/quote] [quote][b]Scorch[/b] While scorch isn't a terrible ability, it owes its success almost entirely to the flame shield perk, take that away and there really isn't much left. The ability itself does little damage, solar wind is useless, literally, you can't even get an impact kill off of it and brimstone is really gimmicky. When you kill an enemy they float upwards and away from you, essentially making the small blast radius even smaller. For scorch itself I think just put an emphasis on the burn damage, unless you have viking funeral it lasts around two seconds. I think buff it up to six seconds but reduce the damage per tick so it deals a little more than it does atm, just over a longer period of time. This way you're withering down a target rather than just adding a bit of extra damage, would be good for shielded enemies and tracking targets through walls. Solar wind should just be scrapped tbh, unless they make it worthy of a cabal phalanx it's always going to be worthless because its far too situational. I'd say put sunburst here instead and make it a guaranteed drop for orbs. Brimstone needs a larger blast radius for sure but why not let enemies hit by it also take burn damage for even better crowd control. You could also make these enemies explode if the burn kills them but that might be too much.[/quote] [quote][b]Force Barrier[/b] In my opinion one of the best melee abilities in the game, it increases the tankyness of the already tanky defender. Its main problem is simply that it requires a melee kill, which can be tricky depending on the circumstances. I think the buff coming with TTK that will activate it on shotgun kills will fix this problem, so all that's left to say is I think unbreakable should be part of the default perk so the shield lasts more than a few seconds and really makes you feel like a tank.[/quote] [quote][b]Throwing knife[/b] This melee works pretty much as intended, it's great for when your mag is empty and you have to finish off that pesky vandal or knight. The only problems are the perks. Circle of life is useless, nobody's gonna be using a throwing knife when they have a flaming gun that can one hit most tier one enemies. I can't name a single time where I've popped my golden gun and wished I had more time while having an enemy available for a throwing knife kill. I would say let the throwing knife grant you an extra shot but that's kind of stepping in achlophage's territory so I'm not sure what to do here aside from just scrapping it (Leave your suggestions). Incendiary blade just needs a damage buff, specifically so a precision hit with it active is a kill in pvp. (A standard throwing knife crit should not be a 1hk). Knife juggler is awesome and currently outclasses the other two perks by a mile, no buffs needed there.[/quote] With changes like these melee abilities might become more appreciated and encourage us not to scrap that new legendary chestpiece just because it has pure strength. This post is quite a bit longer than I thought it would be so sorry for the wall, don't forget to leave your own feedback and opinions! [b]Something to note:[/b] This thread isn't about buffing melee attacks, it's about making it so strength is a desirable stat alongside discipline and intellect, that means melee abilities need to be improved as currently they don't give enough incentive. [b]Other Threads[/b] Exotic buffs - [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/146970120/0/0]Exotic armour buff suggestions - Hunters[/url] [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/147516580]Exotic armour buff suggestions - Warlocks[/url] [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/147785497]Exotic armour buff suggestions - Titans[/url] AI rework suggestions - [url=http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/94177136]The Hive[/url] [url=http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/85252020/0/0]The Fallen[/url] Others - [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/137112065/0/0]Subclass idea - Multi-burn Subclass[/url] [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/95817428/0/0]Heavy weapon idea - Flamethrower[/url]