IN story in general Melee are a bad choice bc you have to be thirsty at times. Very few missions I’ll actively pick melee.
Sometimes the timer dictates whether or not you can properly secure the area. Ledges are always the worst.
As for the over all difficulty it is quite hard but I feel so much better beating it since it made me “sweat”. But I so understand others are having trouble. Public is so hard since many randoms are meh
One melee can be a borderline requirement on some missions. You can easily get overwhelmed by Evolved Thrall waves. Having a tank melee or disrupter can be really, really helpful for the shooters. More than two and i feel like you’re over committing and asking to get chewed up by stompers.
Public matchmaking is extremely feast or famine. I remember beating advanced Heliphage the first time with 14 lives left, the second time going in with 0 lives and at times people being in spectator mode. But, for everyone one of those, there are three or four instances where everyone fell apart on Warlord Nix or Lothar’s ad waves.
I’ve never had an issue without a melee. AoE and high fire rate or single target damage eliminates that for me.
Pro tip kleese and chill I literally have been sleeping in missions he is that easy I run 0 cost build 0 cost gen then an epic with recharge delay and build cost.
…OK, post got flagged, older guys like me can’t have fun with kids anymore.
(Born in 1961 if anyone is curious, Real life combat vet. Semper Fi)
Machine technicians don’t need grades just coffee mugs and comfy chairs.
…Espresso fixes me each morning. 
Hey this kid is only a kid when compare to geezers. Just struck 27 with 6 years as career machine tech soon to be automation engineer after my next cert. Damn Robotic Engineering degrees aren’t worth much in South Dakota.
Good for you, honest, I did a long stretch as the same thing in Fuel and Electronics for the Ford NVH truck prototype group. My brains were melted by the time I hit 33. 
Haven’t really turned to mush yet, but if it’s not directly related to work or gaming. Odds are it got filed under open next year, then reevaluate, and lastly return to storage.