Maybe a system that locks out certain loadouts after death for a set period of time so you cant spam them. As a rokkit wielding ork I shouldnt have to worry that the same guy is going to respawn 3 times with a melta before I can blow up his rhino while he tries to destroy my trukk.

I feel like if you are willing to waste these supposedly rare and important weapons there needs to be a flip side punishing that waste.

Melee would not be OP if the r/p/s thing worked like it was supposed to, every time. If I do the proper counter to a guy with an axe with my knife, I should not get stunned/1 shot. If I clang then my knife should get damaged but we both bounce off no stun. If I lose then I get hit.

The only exception should be the power fist/claw. They should win both correct choice and tie. Only way to avoid getting hit should be dodge or proper counter.

Also the only real issue with vehicles comes from the overly mobile eldar vehicles. Lore wise they are OP as fuck from what I've been told. I can accept that. Unfortunately that doesn't work well in a game unless there is a downside. Atm destroying all the wave serpants and then KEEPING them destroyed is a nightmare. Thats due to them being: actually fun to use and therefore manned all the time, insane mobility, and the fact that they are an insane defensive/offensive weapon while only being manned by a single guy. The other factions just dont have the level of unique the eldar do.

My two solutions for this are
1)longer respawns for eldar vehicles-this was tried an universally hated by eldar (understandably so) but really would help stop them being used an insane roadkill machines due to actually having to defend them more.
2) like OP said a redesign on the other factions-Imo the ork trukk should have a ram/super thick armor plate on the front for doing massive vehicle ram damage while taking very little TO THE FRONT. It should also be faster in both acceleration and top speed. The rhinos need a deployment option on spawn IE smoke, heavier guns, anti tank, dozer front, or other options that allow them to customize their vehicles for a given scenario. And SM/Ork ordinance vehicles need a good tune up on driving. The ork ordanance should not do a 180 spin if it taps a corner of a building while moving at a snails crawl.

This would really only be the case when fighting other melee.

Melee would still be a hard counter vs everything ranged due to the horrible under performing ranged classes.

You're saying that ranged is bad, melee balanced. I say that ranged is balanced, melee OP. I'm going by your logic. "Melee NEEDS to be able to excel at the areas its meant to excel at" that's still more than possible with 20% less damage.

20% less damage wont change much

so you die in 2-3 hits, rather than 1-2 hits.

Doesnt change the fact that you cant attack with your weapon once they engage you
Doesnt change the fact that your weapon does so little damage to them as they charge towards you.
Doesnt change the fact that your attacks are slower, and weaker, and weapon breaks so much faster if you try to actually engage in the RPS melee system

There are numerous other issues that wouldnt change either if melee damage was just nerfed 20%

How do we get you a Nobel Peace Prize? Seriously, hit all the core issues on the head. These are the reasons though that people are saying Melee is OP. Having a lack of options for ranged classes means yes, they are under powered which in the end leaves melee over powered. Same with no team limits on classes.

I'm still waiting on a post from devs that directly say with no Nathan beating around the bush talk "we are in the process of actually fixing melee and making it so ranged classes are able to survive melee head-on". Key word there being "survive", not necessarily hands down winning all the time but having options to deal with melee and live. Something currently not in the game and definitely won't be there with all these stupid melee lunges everywhere.

Before any nerfs to melee, I'd like to try a version when all of current melee issues are fixed. If the d-bash reliably worked and by rolling out you could get few hipshots in, it might be all the chances that are needed.

The problem with the dodge roll - It lets you avoid ONE attack, but since it stops your movement at the end, the next charge attack leaps right at you and hits you. It only delays your death by ONE attack. You dont have time for anything else. Again, this isnt the fault of the melee, its the fault of the dodge system in this case.

Dodge should either roll smoothly into a sprinting animation OR, go twice the distance. Since dodge costs stamina, and charge attack doesnt, melee still has the upper hand in close quarters. Its just less likely for melee to walk away with 100% health every single time.

Melta guns will never go away because their vehicle kill time is literally 5-10 times faster than anything else in the game.

Its also impossible to protect a vehicle because in order to do so against a single melta marine takes at least 3 players to prevent the vehicle from being touched, creating massive gaps in power. Any smaller commitment results in instant vehicle death. Unless you're eldar because their tanks controls so astronomically better and faster that they can run over anything that tried to engage them. Marines and Ork vehicles however cannot just be driven around and remain invulnerable because their crap controls prohibit it.

The only way to bring Melta guns in line is to cripple their vehicle damage so that they have the same TTK as everything else.

The mere existence of Melta Guns in their current state invalidates all vehicle gameplay and counterplay singlehandedly.

Melta Guns are not a symptom of anything, they are a massive cause for the vehicle game sitting in its current state. Adding more crap that has TTK like Melta guns would only invalidate vehicles even more. As it stands now, using a vehicle is a liability more than anything else, just being a good way to feed your opponent multi-kills and waste not only your time but your squad's time as well.

The only time you don't see melta abuse is with Orks, and that's because they don't get one, and as a result have to commit usually 5 players to kill a vehicle in the same time as a single melta marine.