Suggestions to Improve Melee Viability

[LeatherJr]

It seems kind of like the game is lacking when it comes to melee, especially in the context of the first world war. Bayonets feel clunky, interrupt sprint, and overall feel like they were just slapped on at the end to be able to say the game has them. Melee seems to be rarely used in PvP, at least in my experience, and the ability to use the bayonet is hidden in the keybindings. I honestly have no problem with the specialized melee weapons or the game as a whole, it just seems to misrepresent WWI, since in a lot of battles firearms were unreliable and you couldn't see more than a few feet in front of you. The game seems to lose the WWI aspect of things sometimes due to lack of viability for melee combat.
Some suggestions I have to make melee more viable would be to reduce the overall clunkiness of bayonets. Have them not interrupt sprint or add the ability to hold the bayonet out in front of you for a bayonet charge. I understand this was likely done for balance reasons, so maybe have the bayonet do a little less damage but stun the enemy slightly when this is done. I think having firearms being unreliable, especially on certain maps where fighting was notoriously brutal, hand to hand, and muddy would greatly increase the likelihood of bayonets being used, as you would probably like to stab someone coming at you rather than clear a jam. The jams would be simple to clear but take 1-2 seconds. I think this would encourage more hand to hand combat, but if the chances are low enough, it won't make firearms completely unusable. These changes would probably not appease the majority of the player-base, really only appealing to the people who really came here for the WWI aspect, so if you do add these changes (and I seriously doubt you will, because I think I'm about to get cursed at in the comments) I would run them through a beta or have them only in a specific game mode.
On an unrelated note, the resolution changes every time the map changes or I go back to the main menu, I play on 600:480 out of necessity and the game becomes pretty much unplayable when it switches to the better resolution.
(I have the game on Epic)

[Anomander Rake]

I use melee a lot. I see what you are saying but the devs have already stated that there will be no updates like this. They finished most aspects of this game in 2013 or so. They are making Isonzo so maybe you could tell them this on their Discord for that game. They also might let you join in the beta testing for it.

[LeatherJr]

Yea, that's what I thought. I also use melee quite a bit, but you have to go out and try to get into a melee, it generally doesn't happen naturally.

[Shoerat]

I think melee is still viable on most of the maps with the exception being flanders dounamont. Because once fighting gets to the trenches, its pretty close quarters and its more important to clear the trench and to fight over trench space rather to hold lines for both attackers and defenders. I can kinda see where you coming from with the bayonet charge, but honestly if you manage stamina and then press melee, its produces similar results.

Melee used to be super viable back when melee kills gives some invincibility frames when the games were 16 v 16. Now Bots in random places that are affected more by distance rather than sight, 32 v 32 on maps designed for 16 v 16 and the lack of aforementioned invincibility frames makes it less viable but it still fills the role of aggressive space taker, trench raider and etc. You just have to ignore your death count which is the same now as it was back then.

[Zaleo Zöuñ]

I feel like melee comes more naturally in Tannenberg than in Verdun. There are simply more chances to surprise an enemy in that game.