I'm usually not posting but A17 Melee is awful...

[Lexicroft]

A17 melee is awful, it's not about stamina, but the hitbox and the logic is different than A16

in A16 I can swing melee aimed around zombie head, and it will hit, in A17 it's like poking the zombie and I miss a lot, and when zombie downed I rush to melee it and if I too close, it will miss and hit dirt behind zombie head, and the power attack is good addition but range is bad, for information I used wooden club and reinforced club, not trying shiv or knife yet but in my experience A16, knife range is shorter than club

 

I want to know is Melee combat will be changed?

[gcomerfo]

I felt the same way on first starting 17. And annoyed hitting dirt behind them. There is kind of a new rhythm, but when you find it, you will be back to good old reflexes.

 

Also, perk some points into melee related stuff which helps. The knives are a fun and handle pretty nicely.

[BobTheBard]

I think melee is decidedly alright as long as you know where its limits are. I like the fact you can actually outrange the zombies now with your weapons, by a pretty good distance once you get a feel for it, and melee attacking is essentially free while ranged attacks cost arrows and bullets. I only have two big complaints (1 and 2) and two minor complaints (3 and 4) with A17 melee:

 

1) The precision required to land melee attacks doesn't play nice with jerky zombie animations. The hitbox can easily move away from the cursor in several directions in the time it takes you to wind up a swing, especially with a slower weapon like the sledgehammer. Ranged weapons generally don't have this problem because zombies bobble their heads less at a distance than they do when they're up close and the ranged weapon's shot is instant rather than having a charge-up time.

 

2) The large hitbox on grass means that melee attacks will prioritize it, making stunned zombies extremely hard to hit when they're outside. This has the side effect of nullifying all those points you put into melee perks.

 

3) Bleeding is far too common for how much damage it does, and it's one of the biggest reasons armor is not as helpful as it should be. It's not unusual for every third zombie hit (every other hit from a dog or a wolf) to inflict bleeding. Even with the best armor tanking isn't recommended because of this.

 

4) Melee attacks are slow, which is a hassle when dealing with any sort of group and makes the club and knife bonuses of dealing more damages with successive hits feel pretty pointless since you usually don't want to be in combat with a single zed that long.

[OzHawkeye]

There's a nearly identical thread right below this one:

 

https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?106000-Is-Melee-Dead-I-think-so