i honestly really dislike any lock. It basically just means "click on this target til it falls over", you never miss, and with the bolt pistol it's even more annoying.

I just dislike it, simple as that.

Soft lock is abomination. It cripples strike control and while it might be here to solve hit detection issues for moving targets it must be achieved by other means.

No lets keep it, and here is why. For new and unskilled players.

We want people to be able to get into the game and be able to do well.

The Hard lock raises the skill level, but it has a cap. There is a limit when it comes to groups the hard lock can make you focus the wrong person. It will help inexperience players but it will hold back experienced players.

The Hard lock is good cause it helps the pistol out, but it gets in the way of high skill melee.

It should be left in. I want more players in.

Soft Lock needs to be improved so it isn't as sensitive(I.E. making you attack someone standing beside you instead of the target ahead of you).
Lock-On should be for melee only. Trying to use a ranged weapon with a Lock-On should break it and delay the firing of the ranged weapon.
Performing a Dodge with a Lock-On should move the player in a straight line, not automatically circle around behind the enemy.

The hard lock is enough. Soft lock not only lowers the skill bar, it can more importantly result in unintended actions for your character as we are seeing in game right now.

Losing control of your character and having the game decide for you which direction up you are going to swing with multiple enemies nearby is never a good thing.

At the very least we should be able to turn off the soft lock in the settings menu.

I wonder if it would be good to have the soft and hard lock to be patched out of the game for a weeks or two, just to see how it affects melee with the current players.

It would return to thr bad side of Relic's SM. You would see a lot more crub stomping JPAs and far less ground assaults and melee would lose some of it's fluidity. Though I'm really ok with power weapons not being able to be heat seeking with every swing. It kinda defeats the purpose of dodging.

Not that currently we don't already see a crap ton of PF wielding JPAs, essentially what would happen would be the same concept, only applied differently.

Luckily Eldar melee wouldn't be affected much. Using lock on a target facing away from you is generally there for insurance. People tend to shift a lot more than NPCs... Landing that crucial one hit is actually pretty difficult as it is considering all of the other factors.