Pretty much why I've stopped playing crpg. Class I loved has been hit harder than any other in the game over time. And because it's so hated no one really gives a crap except us poor few who play it. Constant nerfs slowly wore down my urge to play crpg. Now when I do play it's with my hoplite and in my opinion that's only a fraction as interesting as HA was.
Spjut and Fru both put it nicely and are both very experienced in this class so anyone should consider that before criticising them. They've played a long time.
For me the main thing was choke point maps, accuracy nerfs, damage nerfs, the rise of HX and the pure dedication it takes to be an HA for relatively little reward. After the first lot of nerfs I was already largely reduced to supporting my team with bumping enemies and setting up kills, unless I survived until the end of the round getting kills was difficult as you largely need people who have already taken damage. But now I see 0 point in playing HA which is a shame as I'd love to get back into crpg. But melee combat is too boring for me, doesn't have the high speed excitement that HA used to have.