Like the Hammer, a faster sword melee that doesn’t lunge but does consume energy (like previous Halos like H3) would be beneficial so you’re not always stuck on a slow lunge. Would also spice up sword clashes.
I feel like the sword already ‘fires’ fast enough. It also makes sense that it doesn’t consume energy when it doesn’t hit something, because otherwise it should already consume energy when you are only holding it or walking/running with it, since for the sword itself there is no difference. The sword only consume energy when it hits something, since then it gets to release some energy into something.
The sword lunge being reduced would be a good one though. The sword is already realy OP (way more powerfull IMO then other powerweapons), so with a reduced lunge it would make it a bit better. It also makes sense IMO, since what about the sword would give you a larger lunge then a melee? It’s both dependend on your body’s ability to throw yourself at the enemy, the sword itself doesn’t do anything with that, so IMO the sword should have the same lunge as a melee.
And you can already use the grapple hook and thruster to ‘lunge’ yourself into the enemy while holding the sword. Those equipments them get more value i believe.