Don't forget about the player who were playing native back in the day. Some players just started on cRPG and never played native, some are the opposite. Some are even playing this game since it was only singleplayer.
Well as a native player that has started the game when it was only singleplayer based, I agree that melee is the core of the original game. So I want to see it as a core part of the game. That's why I completely suck as playing as an archer that can hardly aim and becomes a lvl 1 peasant when it comes to melee. In native, melee is surely the first priority of the game. Archer and obviously infantry does melee in native. Every class do melee at least 40% of the time. In crpg melee is something that only infantry, thrower hybrids and xbowmen do. So, what is left to archers? Only archery. Therefore a new problem arises, infantry mainly don't like to get killed by "cowardly" archers. Because archers always shoot from a distance and will avoid melee by running away. Which makes infantry rage. So they nerf archers. Archers complain. So they nerf infantry. Then Infantry complain and demand justice. So they nerf cav.... Neverending cycle. The balance team completely forgot that this is a game, and they try to balance it as a philosopher seeks the perfection. Needless to say, they fail hardly (in my opinion).
cRPG has the worst balance I've ever seen in a game/mod. I mean, why did you ever nerfed the swing speed. It was much more fun to play with my long espada eslavona back in the day. I never use the method of whining, but that doesn't mean I liked it.