devtrackers.gg
i always thought, that the problem lies within the fact that the core of the gameplay consists of getting around the parry window of your opponent, not the parry box itself. this places a lot of importance on timing, not on precision and outplaying the opponent.
i always imagined, that it would be better, if the parries could be held, but the parry box would only be as big as the weapon (or slightly larger) and that the parry would have a turncap and a cooldown. this without stamina loss.
right now, if an opponent parries at chest level and i attack the legs, the strike almost always still gets parried. if i try to circle around an opponent and try to hit them in the side, the parry box is still so large that i get parried most of the time.
but if an opponent could hold a parry, but the parry has a turncap, i could maybe trick them into thinking i am going for a head hit, but really trying to hit their legs. feints could be used to either bait out the parry and then hit during cooldown, or to change the direction where my swing is coming from. this out more emphasize on actually aiming at the weapon that is supposed to be parried.
but if the opponent correctly reads where i am going to attack, a drag would be useless, because he can just hold his weapon there.
it would look similar to the shieldwall that is in the game. if in shieldwall and looking up and down, you can see the arm of your character holding the shield higher or lower. with a weapon in hand i would imagine that at chest level, the weapon ist just held straight upwards, if you go and aim at a strike from above, then it gets held progressively more diagonal so it can carch a blade from above.
i guess i explained this subotimally and i am not sure if this would make the combat to hard. but i know that if any game can implement this, its mordhau. i would just like to see a melee slasher, where i actually have to get around a weapon that is held in defense in front of me, not around a few hundred milliseconds time window.