Running completely out of energy will prevent you from using any weapon until recharged, yes. You can, however; use a melee weapon indefinitely if you have at least 1 energy before using it. As in: melee attacks will never reduce your energy below 1, so you won't ever run out of energy using them. You will still be unable to use them if you are already out of energy to begin with, though.

Well sure, but since when do basic melee attacks use energy at all? I would always be able to switch back to my melee and do basic swings whenever I'm out of energy from, say, a ranged weapon or RMB melee. But now I'm completely defenseless when I'm out of energy? And this is working as intended? Are you joking?

I think it's relatively new (like this month new?). Pretty sure the idea is to use energy as a form of "stamina" for every kind of weapon now. Although the implied "stamina" won't run out from normal attacks, so if you switch beforehand you won't be defenseless. Similar to how if you previously never used melee weapons, you would be defenseless upon running out of energy. I don't know Sayter's thoughts on any changes regarding this feature, though, but if people complain enough he'll probably switch it back over. Or maybe find a way to have 0 energy be the same effect as having 1 energy when using melee weapons.

Well if people don't complain enough, I'm gonna have to learn how to mod, because this sh*t is game-breaking.

Originally posted by CrimsonGamer99:

Well if people don't complain enough, I'm gonna have to learn how to mod, because this sh*t is game-breaking.

no it isn't. You just haven't adapted. That said, the update Im about to do addresses the issue which you are likely speaking about.

Personally, I liked the change when I saw it.

I see that there was an update, but the issue I'm having wasn't fixed. When you fully drain your energy with special attacks, to the point where you hear the power-down sound effect, you still can't do a basic attack until it FULLY recharges. My current workaround is getting a mod that makes energy recharge much faster, but even that doesn't feel right.

There really is no reason for a basic melee attack to use energy.

Update: I managed to un-f*ck this with a pair of mods:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=756115446
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1790469585

And now combat feels exactly like it should. I can still swing a broadsword with LMB even after fully draining my energy from the RMB. I shouldn't need two mods to fix something that shouldn't even be broken, but here we are.

So why would I spend energy to slash something and take damage, when I could spend energy to shoot something and not take damage?

Sayter, you didn't think this one through.

Players are going to just "adapt" to the safer gameplay.
Players are just going to optimize the fun out of their game.
Players always do that.

Remember Bridgette from Overwatch? Her inception spawned the GOATS meta two years ago, as an extremely safe and boring way to perform well in that game. The game is hardly 4 years old and it's dying while TF2 - 13 years old - is still alive and well.

The thing about the guns with ammo reloads is that they cost significantly less energy to fire and have slightly better stats than guns w/o ammo, and you can manipulate their stats with EPP augments.

The single best weapon I've ever found is a single-ammo rocket launcher - combined with the +X ammo mod it's a monster.

My biggest issue with the ammo system was a lack of manual reloads, and that's been added in the most recent release.

It has been a common theme here that FU adds some real unnecessary stuff that only ends up worsening things.
I can work around guns that reload, but I can 100% see the issue some people have with this. It's not an issue of "adaptation," but rather a desire to get the most out of one's experience like @ShMo pointed out.
Now, melee taking energy? That - and please excuse my language here - is a literal heaping load of crap. I just can't understand the reasoning behind something like this. The one thing that's notable about this is that it's a new feature. That's about it. There's no added benefit, it's literally just a nerf that didn't need to happen in the first place.
TL;DR, there's a ton of things that really didn't need to happen, but they did anyways.

I must say I also disagree with this new addition. It should be an optional addon rather than being forced considering how it massively cripples melee weapons (which are already far less optimal than using a gun)

Yeah, in vanilla I used guns as my main weapon anyway, but kept a melee as my backup for when I ran out of energy. Now if you run out of energy when fighting you have to run away, let your pet take a beating for you, or just take the damage the enemy wants to do.

Guess I have to go find a mod that gives everyone infinite energy now.

This is a horrible idea. There is no "you haven't adapted." This is just patently a terrible idea, period. We need a FU alternative.

Originally posted by CrimsonGamer99:

Update: I managed to un-f*ck this with a pair of mods:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=756115446
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1790469585

And now combat feels exactly like it should. I can still swing a broadsword with LMB even after fully draining my energy from the RMB. I shouldn't need two mods to fix something that shouldn't even be broken, but here we are.

Thank you!

Would rather it just stayed how it was, but something like this will have to do.

EDIT: Wait, the comments say the mods are broken. :/

Maybe it's time I gave up on this game. The devs ruined it, and now the modders are determined to make their previously good mods, bad.