@frx-odyssey The reach of the cutlass has already been nerfed once, and doesn't need to be nerfed further.
I've tested the cutlass' reach by standing near a target, swinging at it, stepping a bit forward, and swinging again until It hits. I have run this particular test multiple times and across multiple updates. The cutlass' reach is about approximately 3-5 in-game feet, or slightly longer than the short side of a ship's map table (since you can hit pirates across it).
Nerf its range any further and you might as well just use your own arms to punch other pirates to death. 🙄
As for the arc of the swing, picture yourself standing at the center of a clock and facing the 12 o'clock position. Your sword swing only reaches from about 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock, maybe slightly less. This arc can be extended slightly to one side when moving diagonally as part of a running slash (block+move+tap attack). Again, I have tested this quite thoroughly.
It's not a matter of being OP. It's actually quite balanced. The problem is that many pirates don't actually know these things and underutilize it - as a result of this, they spam with it, and revert to double guns instead because they think it's better. Double guns was better too, but now that the cutlass has been brought more up to speed with its time-to-kill, they're now afraid of losing their ability to double-gun and assume that the cutlass is OP, when in truth, it's largely the same as before the update, and just as easily avoidable.
I find that 1 of the best things you can do in a fight is to stay mobile - many pirates will stand there and shoot instead of moving, and that's what gets them killed. You should always be moving, especially with 2 firearms, since it doesn't have certain mobility options like the sword does (and for good reason too - range is a firearm's greatest strength; except for blunderbuss, of course, which more than makes up for it with its 1-shot potential) - for example, a swordsman can sword dodge through an enemy, but a gunman doesn't have that option.
Case in point - play to your weapon's strengths, and switch weapons as often as needed for the situation at hand; many pirates aren't doing even that and are willfully putting themselves at a disadvantage and blaming the gameplay for it.