Parrying essentially negates damage, as does evasion. Guard only mitigates it, so why is it so much harder level?

Players really shouldn't have to go to lengths such as agroing mandies and targeting a mob in the distance--which really just exploits game mechanics--in order to get skillups. Gameplay time should be stimulating and challenging. Guard skillups should be gotten naturally along the way over the course of playing.

Fix it.