I think it's time that we start talking about melee weapons having upkeep costs associated with them.
Being intentionally vague here for the purposes of keeping IC info IC.
For a long time now, guns have been in a bit of a rough place. They have several levels of added complexity over a melee weapon, some of the verbs are a bit clunky and obtuse, and there's a persistent, random diceroll that you can just... lose combat and/or die due to RNG with them. None of these issues exist with melee weapons. It's also very much worth mentioning that guns cost more than melee weapons, and if you're going to dip your toe in modifying them, or adding modifications to them, then suddenly the costs associated buying and replacing your gun of choice skyrockets. Again, none of these issues are present with melee weapons.
It's perfectly logical and realistic that melee weapons degrade over time. Steel pipes can bend, wooden bats can chip, crack and shatter, swords and knives dull with every hit, and swords especially can be rather prone to shattering if they strike hard objects, such as ballistic plates in body armor. I don't think we need to reinvent the wheel here. One would assume that if you know how to use a sword or a knife, or a bat well, that you'd also have some level of knowledge in maintaining them. The system need not be overly complex, a few conditions that degrade melee weapons varying amounts could be added (what are they hitting/cutting, is the person wearing armor that protects against that, did you miss and hit the ground/pole, etc.) One, or even a few repair kits could be added for various types of melee weapons if you wanted complexity, or it could be a 'generic toolbox/kit' that fixes any melee weapon and is consumable.
As we've recently discussed potential cost rebalance with general stuff in the game, it might be nice to also consider trying to bring some parity between the most popular types of weapons in the game and firearms, especially considering that melee weapons come with a slew of advantages already baked-into them that firearms may or may not have, depending. This is just a personal opinion and suggestion, but I'd love to hear other's feedback on this.
