Agreed. Melee needs an overhaul. Apart from the concerns with melee's deficiencies already addressed I would add that when I get the jump on a bot and strike him with my knife it takes at least two (one time up to four) melee hits with my knife. Given that the current parameters allow a bot to kill me with their firearm/nudge with a one-time-melee, this is an outrageous asymmetric advantage to the bots and I don't have fun using my knife. I want the option to go full-on Rambo (ie not using firearms). I don't care what anyone thinks about this. This is how I want to play sometimes
I would suggest both more realistic knife improvement (one-strike stealth / knife kill from behind) and two knife strikes from the front AT THE MOST. Think about it. Why would one non-knife melee from a bot beat me in hand-to-hand combat when I'm using my knife? Laaaammmme.
I don't expect Sandstorm to emulate FarCry Primal's smooth and theatrical stealth melee kills, but an attempt would be much appreciated.