Some stats for your demographic/proxy breakdown, in the event you're collating results like that.

28 wm, college graduate, working white collar professional, gross annual income of $72,000. I generally spend around $800 annually on interactive entertainment software, and spend on average 20 hours a week gaming across Xbox One and PC.

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My thoughts, in no particular order.

There's a lot to like about what you've shown here. The build-up, atmosphere, meahanics and pay-off of the 1v1 combat is easily the best part of this game. What's more, is even after an hour of 1v1, the intensity of the player fantasy experience had not diminished all that much. When playing as a counter-attacher, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by a tank, but knowing the counterattacking abilities my character had, I always felt like I was in control, and not just relying on button-mashing RNG to score hits and win matches. The entire 1v1 package could itself be a standalone game (like a street fighter or mortal combat) because of the quality you deliver with that experience.

In four v four, this build suffers some significant frame rate dips on the Xbox One when you engage with mobs. While in mob combat, it is easy to lose the control and sense of confidence you have in 1v1 combat. When I was engaged 1v1 in a mob, I often felt NOT in control of the engagement, or that my actions would ultimately be what dictated the outcome of the fight. It was easy to miss the visual cues and prompts which allow me to feel competitive in non-mob single combat. When engaging in mob 2v2, 2v1, 3v1 and the like, these problems exacerbated themselves. In the balance between the real-life chaos of medieval mob combat, and an enjoyable player/everything v player/everything fantasy experience, I would say the game needs to tilt away from the chaotic. This build feels a bit too much like RNG is governing my success, and not my actions.

My final point, and how this is implemented will likely determine my purchase decision.

This granularity of each character's fighting ability makes for a PvP experience with DOTA-esque levels of detail. This is GREAT! This game will have competitive gaming legs, a large and active community, and will stay alive for a long time because of those things. For competitive players, I can see this taking off in a major way, and that's a win for casual and competitive players.

However, as a casual player who recently bought Rainbow Six Siege for $30, let me tell you what I NEED from this game in order to purchase it.

A casual, non-competitive matchmaking mode (a la Overwatch). Siege is a great game with great mechanics and, like For Honor, extraordinarily granular detail for each character's abilities. When I joined the Siege community, I found casual players impossible to come by, and was instead constantly getting match-made into matches with core players who knew everything about their main/alternate characters, and the maps they played on. I don't have the time to learn to this level of detail, and I felt like I was letting my team down every time I entered a match and got absolutely wrekt after spawning. I didn't buy any DLC, and haven't been back to the game since the week of the Steam sale.

Please give this game a casual matchmaking option. Please. I beg you guys. I know this is going to make for a great e sport, but I just don't have the time to dedicate to "getting good" at those levels. When paired with the already-announced single player campaign, a casual/unranked matchmaking mode would seal my purchase decision.

Thanks for the invite to the Alpha, and thanks for taking the time to read this. I wish you all the best of luck as you continue to build this game!