Parry is still in the game?

Parry used to be useful, before there was an attempt to fix the bug that caused crashing by holding en-guard.
Was a warm-up really the answer? Was it a half-assed attempt at solving a problem? I understand we aren't allowed to have nice things, but why leave the skill in the game if it's become essentially useless in combat?
I'd like to use this thread to actually discuss parry/en-guard and possible ways to achieve the desired result of fixing the crash bug, while maintaining the effectiveness of parry.
Ideas?