Meleeing to kill is for lesser enemies.
It seems your problems stem from trying to melee down larger enemies.
Also, some of the perks are most likely built around PvP, like backstab, and some around PvE, like invisibility.
I think the melees are fine.
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I know melees are for finishing off that last bit but I've talked about that in the OP. The problem is melee's lackluster power makes strength really undesirable as a stat whereas it should be a trade-off between all three.