No, I don't think balanced should be based on duel; but I think the option of becoming a successful duelist should be there.
Problem is now that higher-level play is so drawn out that any kind of solo work as a melee guy becomes pretty useless.
My style in battle has almost always been the same:
Flank a little, and draw the good enemy players out into duels.
Problem is, duelling the *good* players today doesn't make for that much intense gameplay (which is what it should do imo), but rather we're like two walls for eachother.
This has led to most good players just bringing one or two teammates (often with long weapons) instead to fix the problem - boring imho.
Hiltslashing was a way to lessen the problem a little, and while I personally never bothered to learn it (I instead focused on countering it, twas fun) I just thought it was great fun as only a few people did it well enough to make it work good, and even those people could be countered so I didn't see any problem other that that there were very few other mechanics that rewarded an offensive duelling style.
If I meet someone who is clearly better than me, then I want to get facerolled, instead of just blocking him for couple of minutes like every other sob.
Balanced shouldn't be based on duelling, but getting good in melee should be rewarding. As said, we already have ranged and cav if you want ot play easymode, let melee be a little more hc.
