Great example Derek.

clearly communicated to the player by visual and audio cues
I think this point is essential,but I would also add that simply 'communicating' it isn't enough. It must also be communicated in a fashion that gives a reasonable amount of time to react. Which MnB does, IMO. I am an old man, so admittedly younger players may see this as a minor issue, but my reflexes aren't what they used to be. I'm not saying you should slow it down for us old folks, but it should be somewhere in the middle. I do have a lot of fun in MnB combat and it doesn't seem too fast for me as it at least allows me to compete with a quicker reaction time by playing smarter.

In MnB sometimes a duel can go on forever (though I've seen duels last less than 6 seconds between highly skilled players too). My point is, should we eliminate the 'possibility' that a match might continue for a long period of time? I just don't want to see a mechanism that blanket dictates that matches 'must' be short.

Something else I will point out. In MnB there is no parry/dodge skill so to speak. Everyone can parry or dodge, and if they successfully parry or dodge they do not get hit. It's a skill that the player has, not necessarily the character. I think that could lend itself to the reasoning whether or not to utilize a move or not as well. If my parry skill is junk, why would I use it unless all my skills were also junk? If my dodge skill is high I might use it exclusively.. and so on.