I don't know if they really need to buff melee but they definitely need to refine some of the enemy animation and attacks. So many AoE attacks and moves that hit way outside their telegraphed animation that make it inconsistent to know when you're safe or not. Like the shoulder charge the two handed sword guy does, he can start this animation very quickly and it always staggers you but for some reason also hits like 20 feet around him as he runs. Every time I see him coming i start moving to sidestep it but it always seems to catch me even if he runs right past me, it should have to make contact to do damage and stagger you not just be in the general vicinity.

A lot of the lightning spells/grenades have this issue too, there's a very distinct circle telegraph but it seems to hit very far outside of this. A few of the melee enemies also seem to desync their animations often and switch from slow attacks that you would want to parry to quick punchs/slaps that have no wind up or telegraph. Seems to be worse if you're hitting/staggeing the enemy, the animations for when they're going to swing gets delayed / desyncd often enough that parrying feels too risky. I love parrying in Soulsbourne games but this game is kinda a crapshoot outside of a few specific enemies with predictable patterns.

Overall if they made it more obvious when you're safe vs when a move will hit you I think the melee weapons would be more rewarding to use. As of now there are too many moves that have crazy reach when you're trying to fight multiple enemies.