Swords are and have been outclassed by almost everything else in the game. Most of the time when you try to use them you can't even get close enough to attack due to the neglect to factor in how other guardians aren't as stupid as PVE enemies that just love to run towards us. They back up and shoot you - and if they just happen to have anything with a damage type other than just kinetic you're screwed. If anything should be done, for PvP the amount of energy lost by shielding from any special or heavy needs to be decreased and the slashing speed needs to be faster - to counteract that there can be a split second delay between each strike. If not that then at least give players a speed boost whenever they use the guard function so you can possibly have a better chance at getting close enough at all. I mean lets be honest, how many kills, if any, do you get on average before you run out of energy with those things, besides Bolt-Caster?