Since FOnline 2238 i always fought and made a lot of suggestion to help HtH fighters (it's also the only classes I play).
Many things changed and now with the HtH perks and melee weapon buff things got slighty better, but I must sadly admit that HtH is still not viable for PvP, and that's really bad.
I don't think this is strictly related to weapons damage itself and I don't like the idea to increase range. Personally, I think the problems are others:
1.
HtH S.P.E.C.I.A.L. : HtH fighters usually tends to sacrifice PER/CHA/INT in favor of STR/END/AGI and, depends on builds, LCK. No big deal about END or AGI, but I find lack of PER a notable nerf for a fighter. As per my experience, it sacrifice initiative both in TB (for Sequence) and in RT (the enemy usually shoot you before you can spot him).
Suggestion: maybe a solution can be to add a standard perk/support perk that increase FoV with STR and Close Combat (like 8 STR and 200% CC?) as prerequisite . Everyone know that gun fighters will try to get it too, pimping up CC just to get the perk, but it will make lose a good bunch of skill points if they have 1 INT and they are forced to get 8 STR (or 7 + implant) and not every build can afford that.
2.
Action points: HtHs should have both high defense and AP, to survive for a longer time than gunner and losing at least 1 turn to get near the enemy. If you get Bonus Move you lose 1 perk and it have no effect in RT. If you make a tanky build, you can't get 2 Action Boy + BHTHA.
Solution: no idea, lol. The only thing I can tell is there are too many perks for HtH and many of them are useless. So maybe they need to be reworked or merged together.
3.
Defense: as already said, they also need higher resistance than the stardand fighter, for the simple reason that they get hit MORE. AC build is not viable, since the 140 cap provide almost no benefit in PvP (and an annoying bug in PvE) and require 3 perks to be maxed. In your Face! is easily counterable, every decent gunner VS HtH move 1 hex away before shoot. Toughness build consume a load of perks and you have to sacrifice damage perks.
Solution: Still, no idea. Again new/reworked perks? If I can "steal" an idea from FOnline 2, it would be interesting to see a run speed boost with CC skill.
Sorry for the wall-of-text. Feel free to post a "Didn't read lol" gif.