An alternative way to do melee in PlanetSide 2

[Arkanakaz]

I think the problem with the concept of melee in PlanetSide is that it could become unbalanced if it depended on damage as melee would become much more favourable to those who have weaker guns (clockers and vehicle drivers mainly).

So instead infantry could be given an option to shove with one hand while holding guns. Lets say this takes 0.25 seconds to shove and if you are hit by the shove you stagger back for 1.0 seconds; this would mean that if you landed the melee attack that would give you 0.75 seconds to shoot your opponent while they are staggering back unable to shoot back. It could even be used creatively to slow down those running LLUs and the like, to shove people over edges for a fall, to push enemies away from the safety of cover or even to push others out of your way as you retreat to cover yourself with low health.

A 2 second cool down timer could be triggered after each shove to prevent spamming of it and the times can all be changed, but what do you lot think of the idea?

[Sirisian]

I tend to have a 30 ms latency in this game so knifing and other actions usually seem easy for me. However for those with latency issues this could end up going two ways. If the game is mostly client-side again then people with high latency will be able to land melee hits easier. If it has more server-side calculation then those with latency issues will probably not be able to successfully use the feature because of their small lag.

Under an ideal circumstance I see no reason not to have melee that does damage.

[Senyu]

It needs to be implemented properly so it doesn't feel like Halo or Gear of War where if you do melee you usually automatically win because of the short stun. I don't want it to become a instant win move that becomes spammed. Melee should stick to weapons made for melee but if it must be a butt thrust of a gun, it should stun, just deal damage and it become a "oh shit" reflex button or out of ammo. Or not want your lasher to hit allies if enemy is that close.