what the PUNCH DAMAGE!!!!

Then don't drop hot or at the very least try to land some place where you can pick up a gun before anyone else. If they somehow manage to land a hit, your aim is way off, or you need to swap out your mozambique with something better.

I've had rounds where the netcode seemed way off and someone was able to land punches from what seemed to be 5-10 meters away. But that's an netcode issue. What you are suggesting is 20 melee hits to kill someone in full armor.

Guess what, if you then chose to engage in melee combat, some other team nearby is gonna wipe you both out, way before any shields are depleted.

It takes 4 melee hits to down someone. Personally I think it's fine, any weapon apart from the p2020 is better than punching..

@xx_Dante2k_xx
4 hits on someone without armor. Big distinction there.
And it seems to me that this whole issue only applies to when you fresh off the jumpship without any armor.

Any adjustment made to the melee system also impacts later game stages when people are sporting T3 armor at which then it takes 7 hits to kill someone.

So I think it boils down to feeling too squishy early game, would you agree? A melee hit can then take away 30% of your life, but then again someone lucky enough to pick up a peacekeeper can easily oneshot you. The wingman with its high damage and low ammo consumtion is also really strong early game.

I've managed 12+ kills in the first few minutes of a game because I was lucky enough to bring a peacekeeper to a melee or p2020 fight.
Later in the game, when people are rocking purple armors, and you have enough ammo or attachments, different tools at your disposal might be better.

And I say this knowing that I've won fights with my fists against someone shooting at me with a shotgun. Although they had terrible aim and was possibly scared shitless.. Melee is strong, I agree.
But like mentioned above, any weapon other than the p2020 is better. Distance is key early game, unless you got a good weapon, enough ammo, extended mags and can control the recoil.

I'm fine with melee being as strong as it is. Because I can easily avoid melee fights, and I can use a punch to finish someone off when my first pickup weapon runs out of ammo.

A full on melee fight with two players jumpkicking and trying to dodge eachother already takes painfully long. But it is long enough so that the best one usually wins, and getting unlucky and missing once does not mean you're out of the game.