is it me or does melee in this game kinda suck?

[Snuffy]

I was hoping to play a melee character because I enjoy the in the mix type of gameplay. however it seems like doing that is essentially gimping myself. There are really almost no situations I have ran into so far where I would not be better off with a bow.

The only time I feel I need to melee is if I get a crazy runner on me and even then I can usually outrun and bow them.

So is melee in this game just an afterthought. You smack something every once in a blue moon when you get a runner?

Also does melee get some more AOE? I find pulling off finishers to be a bit to clunky. You knock a zombie down and you have to wait for them to get back up to do the finisher on them. I have seen it AOE damage but it seems to AOE damage on a finisher the zombies have to be jsut about humping eachother. I could see melee being releveant if I could charge in smack, finish aoe and move out etc. Is somethign like that or anything that makes melee a decent primary available later?

[C_P_Y]

New DLC Dynamite => Farewell to all the melee fantasies

[Snuffy]

I'm assuming it is horrible and with the DLC it got worse?

[Umbra Animo]

charged attacks work well on hitting more then one and melee is ment to be a back up in a real zombie attack you want to stay as far away from zombies as you can

[astarr]

Nah, melee isn't bad. I have my rifle skills upgrade and ALWAYS have my melee upgraded. Your attacks are faster and can usually do more damage. There is some AOE - I believe charging or if they're standing close together.
There's not many scenerios where you can see zombies who can't access where you are standing, so sniping opportunities in the game are minimal. The zombies can and will always get to where you are, so never lose faith of building stronger melee weapons and upgrading your skill.

[Lhetre]

Melee sucks a lot, because zombies attack in crowds from all directions and even with area damage you will push back only those in front of you, and because stamina is depleted in two blows by more powerful hand weapons - stamina never lasts long enough to fight a crowd, and without stamina no running away to recuperate.

Bows look overpowered only because melee is lame. I think melee hasn't been thought over, they put it into the game to avoid leaving a gaping hole, but then they added stamina use, incapacitating attacks from some enemies and the explosive fat guys that deter even more from melee use.