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Re: Revised Defense Flow in GURPS
Re crits: You are correct, removing a roll removes the chance for a crit, and that makes some difference. This should have been mentioned in the article, and I will add a note.
But while removing the crit chance is a change, I consider it a balanced change: for any roll not made, you remove the chance of a critical hit, but also the chance of a critical miss. So it shouldn't, on balance, leave anyone better or worse off.
I'd call it an issue that extends beyond this defense topic. Any time you remove some roll, which is often a good thing for play speed, you're taking out that roll's possibility of criticals. Yet overall, gamers seem happy reducing the number of required dice rolls, whenever possible. So I don't see any problem here, though you're right, it should still be pointed out.
Re the comment "This is the statement that is either not entirely clear or is not entirely true:": Are you saying that the statement is not completely true because of the above crit issue (in which case I have to agree)? Or for some other reason?