I have played quite a bit of the Beta so far... I played a lot of 4v4 and 1v1 and even though I haven't played 2v2 yet, I already have strong impressions on the other two modes and I have decided to put my thoughts into words so that I can see the community's thoughts on them and if they're shared, Ubisoft might implement them into the game by the time it hits the stores.

#1: Teamfights
This was the point that for me, that stood out the most... My first encounter with For Honor was the gameplay video presented at E3 2015:


As you can see in that video, everyone fights 1v1, and the only times the player fights 2v1 happens in a way that the second enemy only attacks when the first one is dead which gives us a clear notion that Ubisoft knows what's fun in this game and what sells, and that is the great 1v1 battle system. As you can also see, the teamfight that happens in front of Point A happened in a way that 2 separate 1v1s were going on and as soon as the first 1v1 was over, the surviving player was eliminated in order to keep the 1v1 going.They didn't want to show us a direct 2v1 or 2v2 because they know as well as I do that the system is a mess! This game was developed around 1v1 battles but in the Beta, I keep finding that people always go together and then the combat turns into a mess with hits going everywhere...
However, you cannot stop people from doing what actually works in your game, even if that's stunlocking an opponent with 2 fast classes dealing quick hits in succession.
My suggestion on this subject would be so that when opposing players lock-in on each other, other players can't intervene... I know that this game has a focus on teamwork but I do believe that this is the best suggestion to keep the combat fun and responsive. Teamwork appears in many other ways such as where to move, what points to defend and what points to capture and even strategic positioning in order to cut off potential escapes or retreats to a friendly point to heal. Also, if there's a 2v1 scenario, the players grouped up have an advantage in the case that the singular player wins the first battle as he has to get into the second with a health disadvantage. But what if none of the grouped players lock in on the singular player? Then they'll both be able to deal damage but without having the lock-in activated, they won't be able to choose the direction in which they wan't to strike which leads to predictable attacks than can be easily punished with a parry.

#2: Escaping
One of the other things that I noticed in this Beta is that escaping battle is a bit too easy. You can just turn around and sprint and if you manage to do that, you're pretty much in the clear and while if you're fighting for zones, that offers absolutely no trouble, when you're trying to eliminate players during the Breaking Phase, that can get pretty annoying. A quick fix for this would be that a player who is locked-in on another player could have the option to sprint (having to sheathe his sword obviously) while remaining locked in order to receive a speed boost, allowing to catch up to the player. When he does reach the player, he could deal a quick hit that would interrupt the enemy's sprint, forcing him to fight. I do believe that this could be a very useful tool as it's good to combat a particularly annoying situation players have to deal with but it's a useless tool in any other situation as it's a highly punishable move.

#3: Revive
The respawn system is amazing... I do love that the game encourages you to finish your enemy's with a risky heavy strike in order to follow up with the Execution to prevent revives instead of having you always go for the safe quick strike. However, I do believe that if you do not land that heavy strike and you have to finish your enemy with a quick strike, you're heavily punished for that... In the first phase, it's not a big deal but in the Breaking Phase, it gets extremely noticeable... I have fought and killed opponents in Breaking Phase with a quick strike as they proved themselves to be quite a challenge and I had to camp their bodies for quite a long time to prevent revives, placing me in an extremely vulnerable situation, even if I won my battle, just to ensure that my enemy stays dead. A nerf to the revive timer might be very beneficial!

4: Splitscreen
I cannot stress this enough... I quote the words of developer Stephane Cardin to Polygon on removing the feature: "We decided this week to cut the split-screen. It was a feature that we loved, but, when we looked at what needs to be done to support online co-op, for us it was critical to make a decision now so we can polish all the features at the AAA level and make sure that we have the most amazing experience." First of all, this is quite a ridiculous statement coming from such a big and important company as Ubisoft... If it was a small indie studio, it would be understandable but coming from Ubisoft it does sound ridiculous. It is clearly intended to get friends to buy multiple copies of «For Honor» in order to be able to play together. Point is, that in a game that does share a bit of resemblance to a fighting game, the lack of any offline multiplayer is ridiculous. Even if it proves difficult to implement in online 4v4, at least an offline couch 1v1 would be extremely welcomed by the community, even if as a Patch or DLC addition... More and more, developers keep pushing offline multiplayer modes away when they are some of the most fun experiences a game can offer.

#5: Revenge System
The revenge system needs to be reworked or perhaps even removed from the game. It's just not a fun intuitive tool... It rewards the player that is getting forced into the defence, even if the attacking player is already doing a risky move by expending a lot of his stamina to continue the pressure and then, it's an extremely high damage buff that can even knock the other player down, exposing them to a Heavy Strike that most of the times is fatal. I do understand that it's designed to help players that focus around defence turn it around to attack but the Parry already does that extremely well. I have Parried a hit and converted it into a Heavy Hit that allowed me to follow up with the Execution turning my defensive effort into a tremendous success in the Offensive Department so the Revenge System is not really needed inside of the game. However, this was only when the player tried to go for the Heavy Strike in order to do the Execution, so far, I have yet to deflect a good amount of Quick Strikes even if I feel that that is due to me not being good enough but if that's not the case and the Revenge System is truly needed, then a simple heal would be the best bet instead of the insane buffs that the defender currently receives.

#6: Grab System
During the Beta, I have used and had used against me a lot of Grabs and I do believe that they require a change... It might just be me not reacting quickly enough but the Grab Brake does seem to have fewer frames than necessary since I seem to hit and get hit by a lot of Grabs, them not connecting not because of Grab Breaks but normally, because of Quick Strikes when the Grab is attempted. So I do believe that needs to be worked on since currently, Grabs are extremely powerful allowing for character such as the Peacekeeper to connect 3 free hits that apply bleed and the Oroshi to follow up with the 2 hit slash combo and sometimes even a Heavy Hit aside from also being a universal throw that according to the position the characters are in, can mean an instant oneshot. My suggestions would be to raise the Grab Break frames or make a grab extremely punishable by turning the Grab Brake into a Grab of your own or give it a Parry-like property.

#7: Bleed System
Honestly feel like it needs a rework... It's just not fun to use or get used on! My idea would be turn it into a damage enhancing debuff like the Nobushi already possesses. Would like to receive alternatives or opinions on this topic in the replies.

#8: Experience System
Another Key Feature in «For Honor» is the experience system and while it works greatly now, I feel like players who are defending captured points don't get enough (if at all) experience. Once, I defended Point A for a lot of time, sending a lot of enemies back but since I didn't kill NPCs on Point B and since I didn't kill a lot of enemies because they fled and I couldn't catch up to them (refer to #2) nor would I leave the point undefended, I ended the game without even having access to my Bow while some of the players were already using the catapult strike. Allowing you to obtain experience from standing in a captured point could be beneficial.

BONUS: Customisation
Having the most important points approached, I would like to just approach one of a more personal matter. I do understand that the game requires your character's class to be easily identifiable but for a Third Person game, your own character's design is quite important to the player so while complete changes on how your character looks are completely impossible, the customisation in the game should be quite powerful... Allowing you to remove helmets and masks (like in the Peacekeeper or the Nobushi) and as a Orochi main, at least allowing the player to customise the Orochi's mask... I mean, it's possible to do so in the Nobushi but not in the Orochi? Why?

BONUS #2: HUD Colour
The red team colour in the E3 2015 gameplay trailer looked so much cooler than the current Orange Team one... Just putting that out there!.

And with all those points approached, I conclude my Thread. I hope that if the points that I speak of are shared by the community, the developers take the time to read and implement these changes to the game that is already showing itself as a very promising project with a lot of room for improvement...

Thank you for reading and make sure to leave a reply!