Some ideas to add depth to melee combat

[Brother Hao 28]

Currently, the melee combat in dayz is pretty simple, you got your normal attack, and your heavy attack. You can block the normal attack with just your bare fists but you can't block the heavy attack. Here are a couple of suggestions to add some depth to melee by me:

 

1) Add the ability to push enemies around

Pretty straightforward suggestion, pushing enemies would make them stagger and move backwards for some distance. While you can do this already, you can only do it by executing a heavy melee attack and spending a lot of stamina. Pushing however, wouldn't hurt the enemy in any way, and would consume a lot less stamina as well. This would also be useful for people who might want to take prisoners to keep them in line and move them without their permission. Also pushing someone off a hospital roof sounds funny. I imagine that holding up a melee weapon and pressing F would fit this well.

2) Add the ability to perform diferent types of attacks

A little bit less straightforward, but you could choose the type of attack you would perform on a player (for example, if you're holding a knife, you could choose between stabbing or slashing). Performing different types of attacks would affect the amount of damage you deal, the amount of time the attack takes to complete, the part of the enemy the attacker is attacking and the reach the attacker has with their weapon. As for how you would choose the type of attack to perform, I would recommend adding the ability to choose attacks to the firing mode, meaning for a player to change the type of attack, they could press X on their keyboard to shuffle between the types. 

3) Narrow and weaken the player's block ability

Currently, the player, when blocking, can block regular attacks from around 90 degrees in front of them, around the same radius that the player character can see with the normal FOV. The player character can also block attacks from all levels of elevation by simply holding block. I would like to see this narrowed down to around 60-50 degrees and allow the player to block attacks only from the elevation they're currently blocking. In addition, the player character's hands should bleed when they're blocking any weapon with a sharp blade (axes, knives, nailed baseball bats ect.)

[ThePugman 280]

Came in here expecting the worst (many have suggested overly complex melee, before) I am pleasantly surprised with your suggestions. They seem very doable to me. But then, would perhaps be unnecessary if they gave us different animations for certain weapons. Such as a spear that pokes!

[EzyStriderPS4 191]

I have a bayonet on an SK 59/66 and it takes so long to kill a zed.  The melee option with a bayonet is EXTREMELY weak and only good for knock-back.  Please balance this!  The OP presents coherent and worth-while points in (1), and (2).  Not a fan of (3), except the bit about bleeding.

[Brother Hao 28]

2 hours ago, EzyStriderPS4 said:

I have a bayonet on an SK 59/66 and it takes so long to kill a zed.  The melee option with a bayonet is EXTREMELY weak and only good for knock-back.  Please balance this!  The OP presents coherent and worth-while points in (1), and (2).  Not a fan of (3), except the bit about bleeding.

If you sneak up to the zombie's back, you can usually 1 hit KO them if you stab them in the back or in the head

[EzyStriderPS4 191]

16 hours ago, Brother Hao said:

If you sneak up to the zombie's back, you can usually 1 hit KO them if you stab them in the back or in the head

Yes, I've one-hit the zeds with knives and such, but if you are comparing how many strikes it takes with a hunting knife, for example, compared to the bayonet, when face to face, it's awkwardly under-powered.