I think the only time that shadow swinging becomes a problem is when someone does it to avoid dying by just spamming it like crazy. Sure, you can counter it, but having to chase people down doing that with 0-10 bp is ridiculous. You can deal with this by just changing one or two things.
1. Make parrying more skillful, rather than people just doing random swings and being able to parry each other, make it so that you at least have to match what plane the swing is coming from to parry (upper plane is w/wa/wd | middle plane a/d | lower plane sa/sd). I'm aware this will change the patch significantly, but I feel like it would change it for the good. I think "parrying" without thinking by just doing a 4 hit is stupid.
2. Make people drop their saber if they try to parry while running (not walking) with 0-10 bp. This won't fix shadow swinging completely, but it will nerf those who abuse it when low.
There are two issues with these solutions.
The first being, if you change how parrying works in this way, it would be a FUNDAMENTAL change.
Not only is it going to be annoying as fuck since it would encourage spam rather than defense (the more time spent attacking = less time spent trying to match swing to parry which = ez) it would also completely change how countering works.
Countering right now is something that nobody is really happy with, so I think a change like that would really just grind people's gears even more.
I think "parrying" without thinking by just doing a 4 hit is stupid.
Parrying is not an issue (at least, I don't think it is).
The issue is hyper aggressive playstyle's and SS/running.
Changing how parrying works in the way you suggested will simply strengthen these playstyles (explained above ^).
Make people drop their saber if they try to parry while running (not walking) with 0-10 bp.
What's stopping people from running when they hit 10-20BP instead of 0 (to avoid dropping saber) ?
All you'd have to do is read the patch notes and you'd still be able to play exactly the same way as you can currently.
Also, this change would fuck all the open Jedi/Sith players.
Personally, I'd love to see a larger counter attack window, and less damage from interrupts (yes, I know interrupts have been nerfed, but imo it's not enough).
Having a longer timeframe to successfully counter somebody who is constantly running is going to be super beneficial.
Not only are you going to be able to reliably counter/parry their attack but you will also be able to chase without losing a fuckton of BP in the process.
If you DO fail the counter however, it's not the end of the world like it is currently. With interrupt damage being nerfed further, failing a counter would not equal BP rape. You should usually be able to mount a sufficient chase if these changes were made.
Also, halfswing abuse wouldn't be as effective/useful (which, by the way, would be a good thing).
Literally the only reason everybody spams halfswings right now is because of how much it can FUCK you if you miss the counter attack window.
I think these two changes are the least difficult to implement from a technical standpoint and I think the majority of the playerbase would welcome it.
The only issue with these changes however, would be that defensive styles would definitely be more viable than offensive one's.
Essentially you would be able to cheese people with constant counters.
But that being said, I believe it would encourage more baiting/manouvering, in order to avoid being countered in the first place.
I think it would lead to some pretty interesting duels.
Add instacounters back please
Biblical.