Depends on the weapon and any attack speed modifiers applied to it. Sometimes it's not even worth trying to bypass the animation as it either takes just as long or barely makes a difference, plus, it can sometimes be more beneficial if not convenient to just hit a nearby enemy before charging up anyway.

I still shield-charge from time to time myself, but it's not really super-useful or game-changing by any stretch of the imagination - merely a neat little trick for those who wield particularly slow weaponry.

Ever since I've heard of Shield Charging, I've ALWAYS done it with my Swords and guns. Shame no one else does it anymore except for a select few.

I rarely shield charge. It isn't game changing as shidara said. So it's useful for slow weapons? I might have to do it more often to see if it will make a difference, as I use a DA. However, I have vog, so I got some asi there. But I can't use it everywhere. Long story short: I'll use it more often.

I use it all time, only exception is when I want to finish a mob off with first hit and then starting to charge. But it drives my crazy when I see someone charging Blitz w/o it and then waiting to get on the button till the charge is complete while someone else is trying to set a bomb and quickly charge weapon on his own

Since I do runs with specific people mostly (A group that doesn't pass 20 people), all of them use shield-charging. PUGs might be still newbies, even with 5* gear, and need someone to teach them. But it's not "Select few" that use it, not at all.

If you want to keep your shield up, don't hold shield with another button. If you do get hit while holding shield+attack, you will only block that one and your shield will go down. In my opinion it's better to get a few light attacks (weaker) and then move for a charge rather than having to risk my shield going down after one hit because I was shield charging.

Basically +1 Blades-Of-Grass here. There are times to do it and times to not do it, but the OP is referring to people who never do it at all. People have already mentioned the real problem, which is the old "unshielded Blitz charge" which sends stray bullets everywhere and is obviously pointlessly dangerous solo, and potentially annoying in party play. I have to disagree with OP that it is an art or that it is dying, but I understand the frustration. I doubt that the players he is referring to are forumers though... Anyone who has the time or interest to go to the SK forum probably has done enough research to know about it. So this is just vented frustration.

/hug Xairathan

The point is the game doesn't register two triggers being pressed at the same time very well.

You don't have analogue triggers, do you? They're on an axis. LT is mins and RT is plus, or the other way around. Means they take each other out.

When I run FSC with random parties for heat, I've noticed that there's almost no one who knows the old tricks and exploits