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is there a reason you pretend that damage values of these skills and archetype as a whole is not a problem?
you see 2300 STR Warpath build with Paradoxica dealing 50m damage - 'ye, melee good'
i see a 600pdps 1h barely scratching 5m with all marks checked in POB
on the same f.. skill. and that 600pdps weapon seems to costs more than ENTIRE stacker's gear (i know there is no limit with synth %attr implicits but that example had just ones coming from ring corruptions)
if your reaction to this is 'just play whats good' then.. ok I guess. in fact people do this - all mathil's innovative, 'nobody believed it possible' builds are XXX stackers when the skill choice is irrelevant, it is the flat damage from stacking that matters. and ofc - attr stacking also provides defenses, in heaps.
once you remove str/int/dex stacking, ES stacking (Ephemeral Edge/Energy Blade), faux melee (Molten Strike aka Nimis doubles my damage for free!) and stick to phys weapons - aka the choice that does not need to be best but it should at least work - you end up with 5m (unless it uses external source of flat damage: Rage, Trauma/Support) and locked out out of content
phys weapons are undertuned as f.. compared to various 'magic' stackers. white weapon with synt implicit + gear with some semi garbage rolls > any mirrored phys weapon that ever existed
this is a problem - content seems to be balanced without taking that into account
why i care? because if I need to do the stacking bs it means that we enter D3 build system when the character is the same, just swap the skill and 1-2 supports. how boring and small
this is not about skills, their mechanic or whatnot. ffs people are wiping the floor with - Boneshatter. vs bosses it is nothing but an autoattack - the epithomy of suck. but it deals damage, 2-3times more than next best option. and people do just fine - because the skill provides that what is missing: flat base damage. stuff that hurts melee players on a fundamental level - to reach big numbers you need scaling vectors and solid base values. scaling vectors are mostly universal - spells/minions share the same stuff - but the base for melee is garbage. it cannot end with parity and it doesnt. unless 'magic' creates good base from pair of stinking boots
For one, i can get more than 5 mio dps out of even a 400 pdps weapon, even disregarding Paradoxica and stuff. I do NOT consider strength stacking when judging melee DPS and frankly if 5 mio is all you can manage using a freaking 600 pdps weapon then that's a "build issue", big time.
That said, if your argument is that stat stacking and it's powerlevel is a problem relative to "normal" scaling methods then that's actually a valid point to make though i am not sure i agree given the large amount of investment needed to get decent dps out of strength stacking. But it's something i can somewhat relate to at least.
However, if that's your alley, then at least realize the fact that this isn't a melee problem. Tornadoshot prenerf, the skill you hailed as the best skill in the game, used stat stacking on the mid/high end in the form of omni.
Most spell builds use ES Stacking with energyblade, or manastacking with indigon/archemage or power/frenzy charge stacking to get the dps they have.
The only skills that get away with "lvl 20 base gem damage and some increase" which would be the equivalent to your "phys weapon + some increase" are corpse life based skills. Your average spell won't do shit like that and bow skills will do even less.
Honestly, the more i read your posts the more i get the feeling you aren't even talking about "melee", you just talk about a very tiny and specific subset of phys based melee that drops dozens of available scaling vectors just because.
Like did you seriously exclude rage as well? And it's got be phys based weapons, so elemental based ones are also "exceptions"? If you reduce it down that much then, yeah i agree with you. That kind of melee build is shit and does no damage but honestly, you reap what you sow. That's not a melee archetype issue anymore, it's an issue with your choices when you make a build.
I also don't agree with that from a variety/design perspective. If gems/base weapons had the amount of base damage where they could do 50+ mio dps without any other scaling vectors then that would limit build variety more than it helped because GGG would have to be super restrictive with additional vectors or damage would get completely ridiculous. Imo melee damage is not and should not be defined solely by the gem you use and the weapon. That would actually be D3 itemization. Scalingoptions aside from the gem/weapon should exist and be usable.
Personally i think GGG should loosen the access to decent midtier weapons by a lot, there are a bunch of affordable options still but the latest patch reduced the number again. If something should change it's the accessibility of good weapons early on, more usable uniques with high drop rates, easier crafting or heck make vendors useful by letting them sell decent magic bases with a tier 3 or so prefix.
