I hated the execute and revive mechanic. I can understand what they were trying to achieve with it but I found it just didn't hit it's mark. I found that the mechanic just reinforced grouping, coming solely down to however has the biggest posse or the last man standing at the end of the fight. I would have these bizarre scenarios where I would be fighting three or four guys, downing one and holding my ground, only to be pushed back and held up while that guy is revived and I'm slowly warn down by attrition alone. I can understand wanting to punish people for separating from their group but not being able to do any damage what so ever was perhaps a bit too punishing. The squad respawn system only worsened this.
The combat was extremely "floaty" and slowpaced which just destroyed all enjoyment I could have. Moves were telegraphed for so long it was usually trivial to block every attack thrown by the other person. You'd end up with strange "stand-offs" where two players would wait for the other to attack just so he could easily parry it and get a cheap shot in.
The weapon balance was also all over the place. Two-handed swords is to balance what a machine gun is to a knife fight. The bow and crossbow also felt much less satisfying than in Mount and Blade and were arguably underpowered.
The lack of directional block on the shield was just a stupid decision. It negated any skill to be found in shieldmen blocking and it made it useless against ranged units. The shieldmen should be the one pushing a line against the archers, not getting picked off by them.
Armour could have been more interesting. There was really no reason not to use the heavy armour while light armour had no use what so ever. I would have preferred to have much more specialisation caused by armour type so you could have those Highlanders dressed in light armour and two-handers or some skirmishers picking off archers.
Lack of any kind of offline is a bit disappointing. Even an ability to run a map with bots so you could get some practice in would be nice. I do admit I would love to see some of the engine tech in a stand-alone singleplayer game with much more tightened combat.
There are good things to be said however. The customisation is pretty awesome. Coat of Arms generator is awesome (although lacking the ability to crate my own in it
). The game is extremely pretty and the tech that went into the hit registry and how materials are factored is just amazing.
EDIT: Also in Mount and Blade: Napoleonic Wars you could stab people to the theme of Hungarian Dance No. 5, therefore it wins.