Based on your descriptions of the game and the issues you are having with it, I would think that not only would removing feats address some of the damage imbalance you are talking about, I think it may actually add to the complexity your players would see in the game. Or perhaps not complexity, but at least variety.
I mean, if there are certain feats and combos that are so potent and your players are so optimization-minded that they always take them....then removing those feats will actually make them build characters differently. You'd probably start to see different types of character builds, with many focusing on melee, which seems to be something you want.
Thinking of a feat like Sharpshooter based on the way you're approaching it in this thread....I don't really know if that feat adds as much to your game as it takes away. And yes, it adds a bit of complexity in that there is a bit of additional math for the extra damage....but it doesn't necessarily add complexity to player choice at character creation or in tactics during play.
I'm sure your players would balk at the idea of simply removing feats, but I really think it actually might address every concern you are expressing in this thread. Given the limited understanding of your game that I have from only your posts, of course.
Seems a little heavy handed, no? Remove all feats because of a few bad apples?
The ideal solution was for the 5e designers to have noticed these issues (which were pointed out to them in the playtest alpha material) and not allowed such feats to have been created in the first place. The ideal solution would be to have more parity between various feat options so that the other options are more enticing. That would be a much better way to encrourage diversity of character builds than to remove feats entirely. Sadly, the designers didn't do a balance pass for feats and they remain more or less unchanged from the alpha playtest material.
Also, if you remove feats, you once again enter the 3e era of caster supremacy. Feats increase martial damage by upwards of 30%, so a game with no feats, the martial characters are noticeably less powerful while spellcasters remain relatively unchanged. Some changes would definitely need to be made to either eldritch blast with a 2 level warlock dip, or to bonus action spellcasting meta magic. Also, in a game with no feats multiclassing becomes even more enticing as delaying an ASI is less burdensome than delaying a key feat in a build.
Side note: Interestingly enough, if the bonus action spellcasting rule was changed so that you cannot cast two cantrips, you would actually reduce caster potential and bring it more in line with their martial counterparts.
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