I figured out why the guns are so bad.

To some extent, the enthusiasm on display can be written off as a livestream where they're expected to be positive and enthusiastic about the game that they worked on and are promoting.

But still, the comments on why heavy melee were removed are very disappointing.

Given the political leanings of most Bioware employees this doesn't surprise me at all.  As an example, Billy recently tweeted that if anyone even 1% supports Trump his twitter feed would be a bad place for them.  "Even 1%"!  SJWs don't like guns.  I seriously doubt most of them have ever even fired a gun or understand what people like about them.  It's not just the damage that they screwed up.  The guns sound week and the haptic feedback in the controller sucks as well.  Shotguns are particularly bad for this.  Fire up ME3 and take the Wraith out for a spin.  THAT'S what a shotgun should feel and sound like.

The funny thing is the BW actually sounds like it has some punch, but the others....

Yeah. I doubt things will get better, but I still stick around for the chat and some hope.

Yeah, I don't give a shit about weapons realism in my sci-fi game.

I do want the weapons to FEEL good and, y'know, DO SOME F--KING DAMAGE.

An AR will tear up people compared to a pistol.

There is an old saying...

A pistol will send you to the hospital. A rifle will send you to the morgue.

1:06:50 They took out heavy melee because it's too risky to be tied down to an action that long in MEAMP.

Did two people write this? Let's point out the contradictions!

"#1 Looks like a l2p problem to me. Git gud you scrubs! The game is fine as it is, if you don't like it, do not play it."
Literally the next sentence is "To be honest, this new MP is definetely worse than the previous one."

#2 Next point: "Maybe they are not all morons who don't know what they're doing. I think we'll have a lot of good balance changes in upcoming weeks. Be patient "
Followed swiftly by "It's a mess. But I don't have high hopes for them to fix all major problems."

#3 Next "I don't even own the game. I came here just to laugh at you all. 60$ well spent! lel" 
$60 well spent to lel at posters but you just said you didn't buy the game. Are we leling at people who did spend the $60? If so, why should we being patient for balance changes?

"Well I know that what I'm going to say is controversial and unpopular but hear me out. It kinda makes sense that all of the weapons are weak as crap. AS YOU KNOW, Nexus and Arks left Milky Way before ME 3, so many weapons from then weren't available yet. So there's a reason that all of the Geth weapons didn't make to Andromeda, or many N7 weapons were developed and IMPROVED specifically to fight the Reaper forces. So there's a reason IN LORE for absence (shittyness) of specific guns. Also yes, you can say that they had their prototypes for sure. You may be right but often prototypes sucks a**. But I agree, Mattock, Widow, Claymore(!), Revenant were in ME 2 as well and they were awesome. Well here I admit that BioWare dropped the ball. Maybe they release those missing guns with upcoming DLCs "

.......you're from the SP forums aren't you. 

[...]
Ohhhhhh like a ME dialogue wheel. That went entirely over my head. Reading it straight down made me think you might be schizophrenic. I guess "SP forum" is a condescending retort. Anytime anyone tries to justify anything in MP based on "lore" is just nails on the chalkboard for me. 

[..]
5/10 response. It addresses the issues, but it's lacking classic ME3MP personality.


I would have went with "STFU scrub, why don't you 1v1 me babby? See you in the THUNDERDOME." 

And for the original topic - its really making sense now. :/

Was there any explanation/reason given for removing over-cover grabs? Maybe not in this stream, but in any other material?

okay first, my quarian infilitrator wrecked with melee XD.  

Also they didn't 'make melee faster.  THEY TOOK AWAY HEAVY MELEE.

Also for some reason melee doesn't "home in" on enemies anymore so unless you are using an actual melee POWER, good luck hitting people.

I see this thrown around the forums a lot, and it's wrong.  Melee in MEA does lock on and track.  You can even track cloaked Khetts.  Just make sure you're pointing towards them, and if they are not cloaked, that they are the highlighted target, before you melee.