Power fist/Klaw is weak against any dude having half a clue how to counter them, it's a known fact. And I speak on live build atm, not even UAT one. But I guess let's just agree we disagree on this.
Brings back memories of previous builds pre release: Memories of flying majestically through the air at 100% health and armour, then out of nowhere my left ear lobe is clipped by a stray bolt round lazily shot in my general direction from a smart pistol half way across the zone. Instantly armour and health are reduced to 0, I then immediately crash to the ground in a burning heap of blood, plasteel and bone-riven augments. It appears that Melee must be driven away to be even more of a niche minority class or Ranged will throw their toys in a collective paddy and go play in someone elses sand box. Hooray for "majority rules"! Time to get my foot slogg Melee on I guess, Tactical + Bolter & Combat Knife Underwhelming game play ftw! lol
The JPA gets fixed and this END git starts pissin about it!? HAHAHAHAHAAHAA HAAAHAHAAA OOOHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA, zats a good one lads XD
You are 100% correct in lore; assault marines are literally just marines (already tanky as hell) with rockets strapped to their back and carrying a giant chainsaw. However, balancing that effectively, especially with the direction map design seems to be on, would be impossible. An assault marine would literally be a space marine with all of the positives and none of the downsides; you would be a) Just as durable b) Competent but not devastating at range (bolt/plasma pistols still hurt badly if you can aim) c) Able to completely nullify a ranged character's damage (can't shoot in melee) d) Able to selectively engage and disengage freely e) Have access to a shit ton of CC (stuns, staggers) All while being able to blatantly abuse i-frames and be an auto take on any team, making other classes irrelevant. The other option is to nerf them in some way, which does end up changing their role, like you mentioned. As in, they go from direct shock troops to ambush predators. Not lore accurate at all, but much less of a headache for the rest of the players.
