All those defending spam must be spammers themselves. I use 1h mace + shield and get good K:D, yet I still think spam is a problem. It's not true that spamming works in every game, some have fatigue implemented to prevent it, others have blocking mechanism that, if the block was very timely, delay the next swing of the spammer. Another thing that could be done against the spam is lower people's maneouverability, while they are swinging. And finally, the best solution would be to implement weapon wear and tear. Each strike that is blocked reduces the durability of your weapon, and this durability is used to determine whether your weapon simply breaks or continues to be whole.
Building a character with focus in the spicing of ham is easy, and it will push you to the top10 of the scoreboard. Something should be done to prevent that.