Compared to a conjie who has to juggle servitors, bard and transmuter who have to juggle a gazillion preps and affects... shifters are pretty much autopilot, leaving you free to do the metagame: catching your enemy with their prep timers down, baiting and chasing, maneuvering to win time to change forms. There's a LOT more to tactics than just swapping between offense and defense.
Being a shifter doesn't stop you from interacting either. Kinspeak is greatly underused, and you can always revert, unless you need to talk during combat for some reason. Assuming you have any immxp at all (which is not a given) you can also emote in form.
Also, not every malediction causes lag on shapeshift; it's only bone-breaking ones (kotegaeshi, boneshatter etc). Things like vital area, slice, weaken, whirl do not cause lag, although you might still take damage on shapeshift.