But then how will I look cool standing around in town if I can't just take my weapon out for the sake of it; or walk up to someone else who has the same idea, unsheathe my weapon, and have an afk staring contest dual..

I don't like this.

In all seriousness though, I don't mind the active and passive modes, I actually like it that way but now that they have indeed done away with stamina, they should just add an "attack" button as everyone wants.