I really enjoy the Glaives. Just been using the Enigma in Iron Banner, and it's very fun but feels distinctly underpowered and obviously requires a certain aggressive playstyle.
I think my main issue with it is the fact that the melee does not proc or benefit from perks like Rampage. I think this is intended, but I don't quite understand why. It's coded as melee damage so I suppose it might be a technical reason, but it feels underwhelming when 50% of the weapon's identity cannot benefit from many of the perks slotted into it.
Maybe Rampage and Kill Clip etc boosting the melee damage would be strong in PvP and that's why? But I don't see that being an issue when you have to close the gap to do melee damage, and when the enemy may have a shotgun, sidearm, fusion rifle, or their own glaive or regular melee to fight back.
A secondary issue is that because the glaive melee counts as kinetic damage, it doesn't seem to work with Orb/Well generation builds, which is irritating.
Some communication on these issues would be appreciated, as I'm not sure I follow the balance decisions.
Honestly... i do not feel like perks actually matters on glaives.
The shooting is just there when you want to charge the shield or to stun something allowing you to get close...
But besides that shooting doesnt feel great, doesnt deal good damage, and travel time is horrible.
Even acolytes manages to dodge.
Most of the time you have to shoot at close range to land your hits..but at this point..just melee.
Combined with the way the shield, the perks works..
Glaives could use a good rework, and the people who designed those should probably stay away from game design for a while.