Current state of balance?

I got busy near the start the game but when I left it was like one patch in and bolt weapons were bad and assault hit like wet tissue paper.

How is the current state of the game can I run a bolt sniper on my sniper or a bolt rifle without a grenade launcher and feel good about it?

Can an Assault wade into melee combat and actually do damage instead of just softening everything up for the others?

Are fencing weapons still vastly superior to block or do they have some advantages now?