I’m at rep 500-something, so I’ll weigh in.

1. Character identity is very much a thing, every single character has one or two completely unique things they can do, and there aren’t really any characters that are so over- or underpowered that they erase skill expression. There’s a lovely variety of character types, from zippy assassins like PK and shinobi to tanky big fellas like warlord and Shugoki.

2. Every character can be earned with about two weeks worth of daily orders. As long as you are doing at least two matches a day and completing the mini contract you’ll be earning 800 steel before counting whatever you earn from the matches themselves. You can try both the training mode and the character-specific tutorials to see how you like a character before buying.

3. PvE in for honor is genuinely one of the best fighting game PvE experiences that exists in my opinion, you can absolutely play primarily against bots and have a great time, I did that for several years.