Would Quinn be more popular if she was melee?

So I'm reading the summary of Braum's Q&A on Surrender@20 and RiotRepertoir called out that Quinn was one of his favorite lane partners for Braum. Quinn being a champion that I fell in love with as soon as I first saw her (a trend it seems with all of IS's champs), I've always been disappointed at how rarely she's seen at any level (according to leaguepedia, she's been picked 6 times in worldwide competitive play in the 15 months since her release). But why is this? Sure she doesn't have the overwhelming early game bully style that Lucian or MF provide or the late game "must deal with them before they penta your team" pressure that Vayne and Trist bring to the table. Her power curve seems to be more akin to a top lane Fighter than any Marksman around, something that is no secret as the few times I DO see a Quinn on SR, it's generally as a top lane Bruiser.

What I do wonder though is what if she was shipped as a Melee Fighter as in her original concept arts, trading in her crossbow for a pair of daggers? All of her abilities could remain intact as none of them explicitly use the crossbow (though there may be some differences in Vault's interaction with Harrier as jumping at and then away from a target to make them vulnerable and having to jump back at them to proc that would just be silly). Even Sky Strike which implies that she's shooting from above could be explained as throwing knives from above like an aerial Death Lotus. If this was the case and she was fully advertised as a Light Fighter instead of a Marksman/Fighter, would she be more embraced even though it would basically be a large nerf (because what would happen if Irelia or Riven randomly had 525 range instead of 125)?

I think Quinn is a largely untapped champion because she's most commonly compared to the wrong subset of champions. Instead of being seen as a moderately short ranged Marksman, she should be seen as the Caitlyn of top lane.