The effect seems to be far more profound with the fire-axe. I ditched the fire axe for a splitting axe and was able to kill zeds far easier, however, the effect still does persist, just not as much.

It maybe caused by equiping the fire axe while moving or the first hit is used to raise the axe. I am not sure if this has anything to do with it. it has failed for me at least 90% of the time.

Same for me -- perhaps 5% of my blows hit the target.

The 0.49 patch really messed up the melee system. Seriously, this issue must be addressed ASAP. The game is unplayable as it is.

The main reason for missing the zed with an ax is because you aim with the dot.

Tuto:
1- Dodge the first hit of zed going to right or left;
2- Wait he finish the animation, he will stand and look at you;
3- Just hit him looking the axe swing, not the dot.

High ping can difficult this action, because you see the zed in a place, but he are in another.

i am also having a hard time killing zombies, every time a zombie comes my way i have to get my friend to kill it because it seems that he doesn't have trouble with the glitch or spend five minutes circling the zombie trying to kill it.

It's not a ping issue -- I play only on servers with a small ping and still have this problem.

Same here - fire axe became fairly useless now.