TBH it all started when mana pots were added to shops… then later on Insight.
At this point it’s too late to fix it without redesigning the entire game… something which I have ZERO confidence in current Blizzard being able to pull off without a total fiasco.
Oh the irony… 
ad hominem
ad hominem
More ad hominem
Oh look, more veiled disdain from your high horse…
Ignorance, hubris, and now displays of pompousness as well? You truly do have great qualities that should be emulated…
Literally the only thing they would need to do is splash damage.
splash damage probly the optimal solution but it does not seem to be an easy or lazy way for current Blizzard tbh
I pity you.
Have a good night
Joke is that you can’t even play melee, at least not in single player untwinked. Unless you get super lucky drops along the way you won’t even be able to kill a zombie after leaving town in hell difficulty. Every barb speedrun switches him to singer in NM, it’s supposed to be the games’ prime melee class…
But the balance in the grand scheme is so off in this game I don’t think they would ever get to the bottom to fix it.
Its why you never make a barb first in ladder unless you got a solid group to feed you loot, or be uphill battle compared to any caster.
The lazy way to buff melee was Grief. Ignore attack. Bonus damage. Stupid high guarentted minimum damage. Made in quickest possible weapon without any downsides.
I agree more could be done - but please do not let it be splash damage.
Really, i think we are looking at itemisation and skill tweaks. A good amp damage merc weapon. An A5 merc with axes for Beast. Also - Strengh should be more damage and Dex should provide more attack.
Agree
Don’t know why so many people want to add splash/AoE to melee…
All that does is remove melee from the game.
Some more ideas that could help Melee
What if defense didn’t drop to zero when running?
Remove move penalty for Paladins, Barbarians, and Were-druids using Medium and Heavy armor/shields.
Allow indestructible modifier to roll on ethereal.
Balance repair costs so that superior gear isn’t outrageously expensive to fix.
Introduce cube recipe to upgrade magic items to exceptional/elite. Can give gear dependent melee some more options. I sometimes run into crude but effective magic beat-sticks that can carry me through parts of the game when I am still gear-poor.
We could go the Diablo 1 route and have caster items have an Energy requirement… 
This serously … I never understood why def was going to 0 when running, i can understand the block chance to drop as you are no longer in a blocking stance… But where the …***… did my armor goes while i was running ?!?
Just let werewolf’s ww in wolf form it would be funny and optimal.
Melee splash is lazy and incredibly stupid.
I hit this guy with my sword so the 5 mobs next to it get hit too.
Dumb asf.
Instead they should give melee skills that do AE damage. A bear roar, or large claw swipe. Maybe steal some inspiration from D3 melee. But just hitting a dude with an attack and having splash outwards? Make Blizzard work for your praise.
It’s no more stupid than hit chance where I hit someone in the face yet miss, but we still have that.
Large claw swipe! Love the creativity 
I half agree with you, but any splash damage is too much splash damage. Paladins have a place, Barbarians should be unrivalled SINGLE target killers - and druids… well. I dont know what to say. They really have had it rough.
That’s not even remotely the same thing.
Your attack rating vs their armor is a direct mathematical representation of ARPG mechanics.
Swinging a sword, hitting one target then having it retroactively hit surrounding mobs is goofy. Just give melee AE abilities.
yeah the main problem isnt that melee is “bad”, melee is perfectly fine for single target, unfortauntly at this point in time the only “real” answer would be to make everything “splash”, like you said… but i don’t think we really need to close the gap. it would certainly make it more fair… but im am very hesitant to change so much balance wise… even if its for good.
i thik its much safer to focus on simple QOL changes… like loot filter so we can hide junk, and make good items a bit more clear.
despite what some people might think loot filters have no downside. they are easily accessible by everyone, they give no one any advantage because everyone can customize it to how THEY see fit… or just download a popular one.
and whats more blizzard donest even need to do almost any work at all, they can simply copy and paste mpq edits from mods.
granted i think there should be limits… we probably dont need custom sounds… i definitely don’t want map icons or shiny pillars of light, but being able to hide junk change the colors rename items, and show sockets and item level, or set an item to “notify” when it drops within 2 screens of you seems pretty reasonable.
this is basic accessibility features pretty much every modern game has now. being able to change colors for colorblind people, ETC.
Those physical immunes really mess it up too. I got the paladin so if i decide i want to try to skip a huge pack of garbage physical immunes and charge by with vigor, you still get caught up in the crap and its a million times worse.
Then the zeal goes off like a million miles per hour and your not hitting anything. All of a sudden some of the non physical immunes all pop and die at the same time and, i live , then the zeal will slow down and it will take like another few minutes to kill the rest of the physical immunes.
THen all the loot is trash.
I could go on and on and on
The below is based on things I’ve read, and believe to understand, certainly not my game mechanics knowledge.
Why can they not simply remove the speed element of chance to drop?
I mean, melee would still be slow, compared to most/all casters, but, if the chance to drop was no longer based on speed of clear… and instead based on % of monsters cleared… current-act, previous-act, constant in game tracker… I dunno?
Yes, caster would still be way faster, more efficient based on runs/time… but at least melee could get decent drop rate.
I don’t think there is a problem with melee regarding game play/fun/immersiveness but, rather the fact they simply suck at farming do to the speed element being tied to drop chance.