Well, even though I mostly suck at cRPG, I try to be an honourable player. When fighting 1 on 1, I try not to kick at all, as It'd be a dirty trick to perform. Everytime I killed an opponent I used to do an upper block in sign of respect. Nowadays, I just do it automatically.
I haven't seen that behaviour lately that often, a year and longer ago, i have seen that frequently, that if you meet someone on the field you would salute him and then you would fight, other people then even would stay out of this and either waiting their term or looking for another opponent to fight against. That happened mostly on smaller servers of about 20-30 people, which was in the time between 2 o'clock and 8 o'clock in the morning when most of the players new each others fighting styles anyways. I do use the upper block in my case holding my shield upwards to greet people , to see if they would follow me onto the flanks and as a sign of respect to opponents i just killed. As for the duel situation, on battle servers you can't expect people to stay out of it, but sometimes there is a silent understanding and noone engages in these duels, those are nearly sacret moments, they are rare and they are beautyfull. People just watching in exitment 2 opponents and willingly jeapordising their unholy Multiplier.
The grind mentality is deep in us, i know it from myself, but if i see that there is already one bystander at a fight not engaging for no obvious reason i also just watch and see what happens or carry on to find another target, overall the game is about getting into a fight not only watching
then i could just download some youtube videos of crpg and eat some popcorn.
The kickslashin may seem dirty, but it is a game mechanic so anyone is allowed to use it. My beef with it is only that a) the shorter the weapon the less chance you have to not get target in that way, as you need to follow to get into weapons reach and as you are in the need to follow the wise opponent can lay a charm of movement pattern onto you which then automaticly brings you into the situation where you get kicked. b) the "2h/pole kick miss imba still able to block"-combo(repeat anyways till kick hits)