Replacing spawn weapons

Right now it's not the shotgun or laser merging that pokes the eye, most of us can agree on that and also might on the removal of shotgun ammo, but the removal or redesign of the currently well working, and not to mention FUN melee attack.

Fun -- ok, can't argue that because it's highly personal.
Working very well -- I tend to disagree because of different reasons:
1) Logic: Why can I only slap with the shotgun?
2) Logic: Why does slapping someone with the shotgun deals such an enormous amount of damage, comparable to getting a direct hit with a rocket?
3) Graphics: The slap animation is not in sync with the actual attack speed
4) Network issues: Because of antilag it often feels as if the melee attack has a range of 1-3 meters, depending on your own and your opponents ping
5) Balance: 80dmg is very high compared to other weapons, I personally don't see how such a high damage output can be justified for a spawnweapon

Also, http://forums.xonotic.org/showthread.php...9#pid40479 nowego came here up with some mighty fine points.

Maybe it's just me but I think his view on gameplay sounds quite boring:

I find myself running around a lot with just shotgun/laser during CTF