I don't like the combat. It favors numbers / hit trading.
If swimming hadn't of been added, the antics I had got up to wouldn't of been possible because of numbers.
There is definitely still a discernable difference in skill though between two groups.
Duels feel shit. 1vX kind of blows because anyone smart would just sit and parry if they were focused.
The last time I brought up Mordhau people got super effected and tunnel visioned and kept crying that comparing Mordhau to MO2 isn't 'good' because one is an MMO whilst the other is an instanced, typically team based deathmatch kind of game.
But I'll say it again, the competitive community of Mordhau fucking flopped hard when they made tight turn caps, slowed combat down, and made everyone able to do anything (basically use heavier armor with harder hitting / longer weapons.) They also nerfed a lot of weapons which in turn made the game feel more stiff and artificially raised the time to kill someone.
I see MO2 going down that route right now, in group fights its a toss up; but some aspects of the combat feel insanely slow to the point that focusing one guy down (solo) in a group fight doesn't work like it did in MO1 given swing speed, movement, delay, etc.
Something that became very effective in Mordhau comp. was target switching. Targeg switching was basically tricking your current focused target into thinking you were going to hit him, but then at the last second 'switching' to focus someone else. Now the problem with this is not the effectiveness of the tactic in Mordhau or in MO2, the problen is in Mordhau people generally die in 3-4 hits with most comp. viable weapons, however MO2 is much different because the combat is significantly slower, there are less offensive options (for now), there is still clunky-ness to it all like the bumping into one another and the hang with swing releases.
If I had to rate the combat on a scale from 0 to 10, I'd say it is currently a 4.5.
Hit trading, overly defensive playstyles encouraged, only offensive option is to swarm or bait free hits, etc. Just doesn't feel skillful or that rewarding.
Also, Eldrath is saying what I've been saying for a while. Not to say he took it, but I agree with the idea that this stupid grey area of rules on griefing and trolling have significantly reduced the chance of testing things of all aspects. Consensual group fights and duels do not always yield the information you need and if you believe it does you are truly ignorant. What kills me is when lets say I go to play and bring friends to mess around, we just have people threatening to report us; like Rolufe. It's just sad that we are constrained to play a COMBAT ALPHA a specific way.
Fix the rules, or just get rid of them. It's not like everyone is even held accountable fot breaking them, even if a report is made.