It's been long overdue and with how much Spears got buffed and are still getting, I don't see why any new player or even old (aside from moveset preferences) wouldn't choose Spears over Swords.
If you get hit during this block, you get the same knockdown effect where you're able to decide if you want to use Gliding Fury or not and it can be chained with dashes. Ideally, this sounds strong, but with a block you're still not getting the wind rider buff that you'd get with dodge which in turn generates a high stamina consumption, so ideally this is best used as a last resource or during slashing high.
In addition, I think it'd be really nice and stable if Swords could resume combos right before blade tornado after a Fury attack