But thats always been the tradeoff
The only reason to use a lance is for that initial long range kill, or if you're heavily outnumbered, and you need a way of attacking that was both infinite use, and would keep you out of counter attack distance
if you're just going for pure kill speed, then of course a sword will kill faster then a lance
Also, couching lances is probably the easiest way of getting kills for a newb in the game (I know it was for me =P)
My original statement was just saying that Lord Silvabanes statement of "lances are useless when they're blocked, thats why I use swords" is misleading, that swords are just as easily, if not easier blocked compared to a lance.