Nooooot voting. I don't know how many people play video games outside of planeshift, but here is a nerdy metaphor. There is a difference between a "Survival" game and a "Shoot em up" game. I feel that a lot of people are too hyped up from the ability to take out twenty-to-one baddies and then leap into the planeshift world thinking that they're going to be some incredible version of that dude from Uncharted.
No. Wrong way of thinking. Instead, think of it as survival. The most recent comparison I can think of is Last of Us, though there are doubtlessly far better. It ain't always the best idea to run at an enemy or group of enemies fighting. Sometimes it's better to hide. Sometimes it's better to dodge or avoid. Sometimes it's better to be smart about something! Sneak up behind, as it were.
Obviously there are numerous flaws in implementing what's strictly a mechanical one on one with dealing with other players. For instance, you don't get to decide alone if the person you're trying to trick gets to hear you or not. And indeed, I've encountered few people willing to actually let something like that happen, even if it's plausible in certain situations. A lot of it ties back to folks who are unwilling to get hurt and die. But when you think about it, role playing the recovery of such an event and heck, even forming a mob of your buddies to get back at the person is just as fun (moreso for me) than "winning" in some all out fight.
I also think this pole is far too one-dimensional. Fighters have strengths and weaknesses. When your character becomes nigh on unbeatable and cannot be overwhelmed no matter what technique is used, it's an issue, and less people are going to want to engage it. Less people are going to want to Role Play with you. And thus, you aren't satisfied either.
That said, there is no real formula for role playing fights. I've had some awesome ones and I've had some terrible ones. It's a tough thing to master [cough impossible cough], and you'll find no matter what that more often than not, if you're trying to teach someone something, you're going to have to give more than take in the veritable in character battle. More often than not, I die, but I don't see that as a loss. It can be taken to a whole other level after that.
I never role played with Sarras much, but I did observe that even though her character had very high stats, it certainly wasn't nigh on unbeatable. It even made "human" mistakes, if you will, that weren't necessarily extraordinary but believable in a fight. Teshia is probably the best at this. Not only did she screw up, let her character get wounded or killed, she even adopted a casual posture or air when she knew the bad guy was being mobbed to death by ten+ "heros" all casting fists of volcano at his/her face simultaneously.
Going back to what I said before, it is vital to give your character exploitable weaknesses. That does not, of course, mean that your character needs to be weak. Finding the middle ground between being glaringly obvious about them and so subtle they may as well not exist can be hard as well (I tend to fall towards the former admittedly) can be tough, but I also find it fun to plan out the inconsistency in a fighting technique. I think racial weaknesses should also be taken more advantage of: Klyros having hollow bones, nolthrir sensitivity to red way, stabbing a ynnwn with a silver dagger. Think about it, how much more fun would it be to burn the shape of some ornament into some looming red dude's cheek than typing /me casts HOLY EPIC BOLT OF DESTROY ALL EVULZ 100 times?
Cooperation is really key in a fight. As in reality, you win some, and you lose some. One simply needs to be more open minded about how the fight goes down.
tl;dr: Be creative when you fight, make strengths and weaknesses for characters, and sometimes, spreading insidious mob-forming gossip is more fun than an all out brawl.
My favorite statement about fight-style role play was made by Aramara: "It doesn't matter if I win. If the other players participating did not enjoy themselves, then I have lost."
Poll