The Parry hate is exaggerated. Parry's biggest weakness is the presence of magical damage which if I understood Yoshi correctly will only be more prevalent going forward.
Parry comes on defensive gear but acts as additional mitigation overtime. Probability works out that you can expect average mitigation of 1% mitigation for every 5% chance to parry. Ultimately maxing at 20% @ 100%.
The average mitigation is reliable, the 20% on a hit that you want isn't. Crit is the same way doesn't make the stat poor if it works out math wise.

My own avoidance of Parry is being unsure if 3.0 changed the rate which I assume it did and the presence of magical damage directly hitting its value.