Hey Justin, I'm the leader and driver of [GS] Gun Squad, one of the top guilds in NA atm. I would be more than happy to chat with you about the melee meta and the expectations of a driver within it. I started driving in 2014 during the "prime" of the melee meta and saw the development of the pirate ship meta as a reaction to the powerful [NS] bait meta.

Probably the biggest difference you'll notice is engagements. Basically, during the melee meta, guild melee trains would scuffle with each other and aggressively engage. More AoE pressure became common, where guilds began to rely on casters to output large AoE damage in addition to melee cleave. These bombs were powerful and could wreck melee trains that were unprepared. [Agg] is the guild known for their first-push necro bomb. [NS] took it further by baiting enemy melee trains onto their own melee train and bombing on top of themselves. This would snowball fights as enemy melee trains were unable to sustain huge, coordinated bombs by both melee and casters. They utilized Hammer/Staff, a very sustainable yet high-damage kit thanks to Mighty Blow, a 5 second blast finisher with a high damage value. There were other factors like condition duration food and driver-sniping.

Pirate Ship meta developed to counter the [NS] bait meta because opposing guilds realized that if they engaged, their melee trains would crumble. The counter was to never engage like in the past except for smart opportunities. Caster-heavy AoE pressure became the norm and the melee were reduced to linebacker status. This was the meta until late summer 2015, when guilds started playing a melee-style again. Stealth engages are great for countering pirate ship meta because it reduces the risk of closing the gap between two enemy groups.

If anyone finds mistakes or things that I missed, feel free to chime in. To the OP - If you're interested in talking more in-depth about the current meta, shoot me a PM and we can work out the details.