Melee fighters don't require a lot of stuff to work, but you have to realize that the usefulness of such characters in PvP falls off in larger fights. You might do well 1v1 if you use the terrain to your advantage and manage to surprise the other dude, but 2v2 you'll have to coordinate your efforts with your teammates to make an impact. What's more, you have literally no chasing potential, so unless you manage to keep your victim on the ground, he'll be able to escape. 3v3 and above, you're worth as much as the AP necessary to take you out, and that's assuming that your enemies won't be smart enough to target the people that can actually hurt them.
When it comes to PvE, a melee character is better than no character at all, but you'll have to waste action points on going from target to target, so you'll do less damage.
All things considered, the only real advantage of playing a melee character is the fact that you won't have to spend any resources to max him out. Oh, and when you actually do manage to kill a player in full combat gear, you'll feel like a master troll.