​​​I will be the first to say I am not again the heavy having a melee playstyle. In fact, I think the current heavy melee style doesn't go far enough! ​

I understand a lot peoples frustration. In fact, I know I am in the minority here. But I think a compromise can be made! 

In short, the issue is that too many of heavys prestige perks are centered around melee. This is something I agree with. Out of the seven prestige perks, 4 perks are melee focused! And only 1 has anything to do with shooting (kind of!) 

It is to my belief that many of the melee perks should just be merged. This way, we can have 2 perks that can have completely new effects that can assuage our heavy brothers, while also allowing melee bros like me to have some refreshing fun. 

First, merge overcharge with exponential force! There is no reason to ever not take these two perks together as a melee heavy, as this is what allows the heavy to reach some sweet sweets breakpoints. 

The same thing can be said about best defence and perseverance. The assault already has a perk that works identically. If it works there, it works here. By doing this, we maintain the niche that is a melee heavy, while allowing the developers 2 perks left for actual shoot bang bang stuff. 

That said, I also want to make a suggestion that may or may not cause the heavy to become an actual melee character - let us use the combat knife when we are not using a heavy stance weapon. I understand with how the heavy melee perks work right now, this might be a little... Busted. But if we have to trade the overwhelming firepower of the heavy weapons for the hbr (which imo have only a fraction of the other options power anyway), we might as well get a little something in return as well. Opening this option for the heavy will make it a funny little build that may not be the best build for efficiency, but for people like me an enjoyable possibility. This was already accomplished in astartes mod (which also allows for a block heavy melee as funny and busted as that is!), and it was just a cool way that did not make the heavy op or anything! 

I can understand a lot of folks frustration. But i implore you to not immediately toss out the idea of playing a class in a way that is not conventional. As I was playing the PTS as a melee heavy, I knew I did not make a mistake when I build a melee heavy all those patches ago - it just needed a little more oomph for it to be less memey and more viable. And the prestige perks accomplished just that. 

Instead of removing the melee perks, consolidate them so we do not need so many perks just to make a funny niche build. As for the rest of the perks, let them be more generalised so that it can benefit the heavy and the team regardless of build.

Feedback for the remaining perks

Auxiliary ammunition: a great choice in concept but I think once again this only benefits weapon variants with a large reserve or magazine size. But that's another topic entirely. 

Conviction: amazing perk. Synergies well with adamant will. Great for general usage and also melee heavy. 

Restorative capacity: awful. This is essentially like snipers pre buff perk of similar nature. Status is at its worst just a hindrance. I see no situation where I would ever consider taking this perk. I think it should be different from snipers version, as heavy doesn't have any problem with chp regen anyway. What if we make this spicy? In the likelihood of heavy not getting an actual melee weapon, let this perk alter heavys melee into a block type weapon. Block is genuinely some of the best mechanic in the game, and it's a shame that one character cannot use this at all! While it might be just a little... Busted to be able to melee this well on the heavy, I still don't think this will allow the heavy melee to be on par with assaults nuke jetpack or tactical auspex chainsword. ​

I hope folks can agree with me on the consolidation idea. At the very least, we should have two perks that allows for this niche style to be playable, and the rest should play into heavies strength and unique skills, the Iron halo. Why not give us a perk that makes the Iron halo 360 shield? Or have it cover an even great area? Or give additional buffs to the team? The heavy is one of the most well balanced classes, but allowing us to have more fun is important too. I hope others can see what potential a melee heavy can have. 

Since this is just a repost of a comment made on an existing thread, I will link the responses here.