Anthem revealed that it is putting in changes for how melee damage is computed. The development team is also sharing this information in order for players to understand the intent and provide better feedback. This change is limited to the Public Test Server (PTS) for now.
In a post on the Anthem forum, EA Community Manager Jesse "Darokaz" Anderson gives the breakdown.
In the past, the melee damage started at a given base value, after which it immediately increases in power based on the player's average gear score. This had the effect of emulating an item of the average rarity as well as level for that player. This is then added to some average assumed inscription bonuses, along with MSW effects if they are the appropriate level.
Today, melee is its own actual item. Thus, rather than make use of automatic scaling, it now uses actual real scaling for both the item and the bonuses that are present on the item. According to Darokaz, what this means is that when "players want to get their melee damage back to what it was, they need to get a melee weapon of the appropriate rarity with similar inscription rolls." As mentioned, it is an actual item now. There is a much higher ceiling potential now compared to what was there previously.
Anderson goes on to provide an example:
- Old System (Pretending as if there were MSW/LEG Support pieces)
- Level 30 MSW Ranger (671 GearScore) : Melee deals 12,800 damage
- Level 30 LEG Ranger (825 GearScore) : Melee deals 33,781 damage
- New System, converting the MSW effects over to their equivalent in pure damage (MSW effects are set to a powerlevel that is intended to double the effective item’s DPS)
- Level 30 MSW Ranger (671 GearScore), Assuming the melee weapon itself has inscriptions worth a total of 50% (plus the 100% elsewhere): 11,197
- Level 30 MSW Ranger (671 GearScore), Assuming you have gotten a local weapon damage (or melee damage) inscription worth a total of 100%: 13,436
- Level 30 MSW Ranger (671 GearScore), Assuming you have gotten a local weapon damage (or melee damage) inscription worth a total of 200%: 17,915
- Level 30 LEG Ranger (825 GearScore), Assuming you have gotten a local weapon damage (or melee damage) inscription worth a total of 100%: 19,001
- Level 30 LEG Ranger (825 GearScore), Assuming you have gotten a local weapon damage (or melee damage) inscription worth a total of 300%: 31,669
- Level 30 LEG Ranger (825 GearScore), Assuming you have gotten a local weapon damage (or melee damage) inscription worth a total of 425%: 39,586
The full discussion, along with comments from Anthem players, can be viewed here.
