I don't particularly find taking a step left or right for 20 more potency fun. That's just me though. Having said that. I remember when combos would be broken if you didn't hit your positional, just to name one example. There are many more examples. Those things attached to the positional made it better. Why? Because if you messed up, or if a mechanic forced you to not get things, you had to adjust on the fly. THAT was solid mechanics that made being a melee actually involved. Now, we're just trying to keep the positional requirements more for nostalgia it seems.

I don't know if they're going to do away with them at this point. If they do keep them though, it'd be nice if they actually mattered and would meaningfully impact things for hitting or not hitting them.