Nerf knife damage across the board (except against AI, players wanting to be stealthy should still have that option). Keep parry, but turn stun into a Chance to Stun instead of a guaranteed stun. Add some damage pass through to ensure that once players have mastered the parry, the Predator melee options aren’t completely non-viable.
If knife is equipped as main weapon, the right trigger becomes block and parry is based on timing of block activation, left trigger stays as attack. Unequipped v will remain parry/slash (so player can only block by switching to the knife, or if you want block could be activated by continuing to hold the knife button)
Having more damage pass through the block means that players can negate some of the damage they receive, but it won’t keep them alive much longer and there is still a good reason to risk the parry to block more damage and the chance (not guarantee) to stun.
The following numbers I just pulled out of the air, obviously it would require testing to figure out the actual values.
Scout Predator:
Most vulnerable to knife damage.
30% chance to stun on Parry
40% damage passes through parry, 60% damage passes through block
Hunter Predator:
Balanced against knife damage.
20% chance to stun on Parry
50% damage passes through parry, 70% damage passes through block
Berserker Predator:
Strong against knife damage
10% chance to stun on parry
50% damage passes through parry, 80% pass through block
This would have to be balanced with other changes, like making the scout stronger with ranged attacks, but it would also give the fireteam options when the Pred engages in a melee assault.
They’d have to choose. I can negate some damage by equipping my knife, I have a chance to parry or can guarantee a block even if I miss, but do far less damage and lose my ability to shoot. It stops the annoyance of being stunnned all the time, still allows the Predator to use melee without robbing the fireteam of tactical options, and creates more variation of playstyles among the Predator classes. And leaving in the chance of being stunned means the Predator still has to carefully plan his engagements and pared with the block mechanic slightly increasing TTK (but less so for the zerker with more damage pass through and higher stun resist, keeping his playstyle intact) should eliminate the Predator bum rush problem.
Please comment if you like, or with ideas to improve/change.
EDIT: I was thinking about it and I’d like to give the fireteam an opportunity. If the Predator has been stunned by a successful parry, he shouldn’t be able to be parried again until after a cooldown. This could be visually indicated by electricity crackling around him until the cooldown resets and there is a chance to stun him again, BUT while stunned he should be vulnerable to critical damage from knife attacks. ONLY DURING STUN. So the players who decided to switch to the knife have a chance to deal some damage if they’re fortunate enough to roll a stun. This further incentivizes the Pred to plan his attacks more carefully and creates more opportunities for the fireteam to push back a rushing Pred.