I win duels with my warlock because I wear gloves that increase attack speed. Whoever gets the second hit, wins. Where my warlock ability helps me is if I've taken damage from a gun first, and am able to get off the first hit, then the armor kicks in and I have a chance at winning a two hit fight.

Also, having my melee burn people to death after I'm dead happens all the friggin time, but a lot less so now that most titans choose regen armor.

Now, I am in the camp that thinks that Warlock melees are over sold, and titan melees are better than people think.
BUT, I think the idea is that since a titan charge can't START at melee range (even if it ends there) means that it isn't really a melee weapon. You don't back around a corner, find an enemy in your face, and start charging, it's just not possible. I believe Mac wants Titan's to be able to be dropped into a small pit with a hunter or warlock and have a better than not chance of winning.

I don't find shoulder charge to be particularly un-reliable. Sure there are some weird situations where geometry can mess a shoulder charge up, but I don't find that particularly troubling.

The new fix should make Arc Blade and Shoulder Charge much more reliable.

Was shoulder charge not reliable? I get massacred with that thing all the time. (A primary reason I don't use a sniper and always carry a shotgun). Maybe it is bad, but as a one hit kill mechanic thats basically infinitely reusable, I'm not sure it "needs" to be buffed*.

*yeah I know it's not really a buff, but it is the one guardian mechanic that really bugs me (shade step spamming is a close second).

I don't even consider shoulder charge a melee. It is its own ability. It's like calling a throwing knife a melee. Yes, it's considered a melee, but it's not. I'm talking about MELEE. If I'm in close quarters with a guarding, I want to be able to do something worthwhile. Yes, shoulder charge is good and every time I bring this topic up someone states that shoulder charge is awesome.

Every time I start meleeing someone, I always think "I really hope they screw up somehow cause otherwise I'm going to lose this, but I have no other choice." Unless it's another Titan.

I still get a decent number of kills with it, but I've had plenty of controller-breaking moments of frustration with it over the past month or so. Most of the problems seem to stem from hit-detection while airborn: I'll jump, come down, shoulder charge just before I hit the ground, and magically pop up and over my target rather than slamming into them. But I've also had instances of running straight at a target and charging through him, rusilting in no damage.

and its exactly what I was talking about. How does the game possibly think that titan has the momentum to activate a shoulder charge?

I dunno, I find that Titans do have a few significant melee perks that the other classes don't.

Shoulder charge is a melee "perk" in that you can melee immediately after a shoulder charge, so if the charge doesn't kill the enemy, you've not only weakened them, you've closed ground extremely fast, putting the enemy in a vulnerable position faster than they expected it. Defender melee? You can get a recharging overshield (as opposed to the nerfed Warlock overshield). Sunbreaker melees make people vulnerable to a few shots (or simply cook them to death).

I agree that all of these abilities are useful. What bugs me is that none of these abilities win you a battle in just a melee fight.

I'm not touching shoulder charge cause of reasons listed here.

Disentigrate - Is great if you have the advantage on the first enemy and you get the last hit with your melee. I think this has happened once to me in PvP since I started playing Destiny. The only way to reliably use this ability is with exotic armor and a shotgun. That tells you something about that.

Sunstrike - Is great for getting kills, but it requires your death to do it. Any melee that requires damage over time to get a kill is a death sentence. And vulnerablility is great for bosses, nothing else. I actually love that ability for PvE. It is the only melee ability that feels like a Titan should be. It's worthless in PvP.

Stormfist - This melee is the only melee that I feel stands a chance against others. Mainly because it can almost one hit people which means that when a warlock gets extra shield, you actually have a chance to kill them on the second hit. The problem is, with warlock or backstab hunter range, titans always get hit first so they never have a chance to hit a second time unless the other player misses. It doesn't matter that Titans have faster melee.

I will say again that I like the melee abilities of Titans, but only in PvE. They seem useless in PvP.

Plus, all Titans got a decent melee lunge with the Titan tweaks.

I've never noticed this.

The only problem that I have with Titan melees is that it takes me a while to get used to the range difference, since they don't have a projectile melee.

I've been leveling up a Warlock for the main reason I want to be able to melee like I'm OP and whenever I switch from my Titan to the warlock I feel like I'm firing a gun and not using a melee.

[Edit] All things will be made even if you give a Titan a upper cut melee that makes guardians do a backflip death sequence.

If Uncharted 4 taught me anything, it's that there is definitely a place for charged melees in gun-based multiplayer.

This would be amazing. Actually, technically Titans already have this with shoulder charge. but I know what you mean :-)