I like that snappy feeling and satisfaction of 'I see an enemy doing X, quickly counter with skill Y' skillful gameplay, but I don't see this being that kind of game, at least not at the moment...
I wouldn't mind a reduced execution time on some skills though: Specifically if using melee attacks. 2 seconds execution on melee attacks just feels... stupid.
Sure, you need time to charge up an attack with a bow and the timing is there to counterbalance kiting. Doesn't make much sense to think about swinging your weapon for a few seconds before doing it, and being in melee range is more difficult (getting close and having targeting issues + damage/effects from aoe's + reactive damage from thorns/bleed on hit, etc) along with more risks, so they would gain a slight dps benefit in exchange for riskier and skillful gameplay (paying attention to dangerous mob abilities, position, etc) if execution times were cut in half when doing melee attacks. I think that is entirely fair AND adds some flavor to the game instead of 'all weapons level 20 do 3d7 damage'. I know this isn't exactly the case, but that's not far off. Weapons stats wouldn't change, but the effectiveness would.
In short: I support reducing exe time on melee attacks and skills by 50%, but anything of the 'magical but not really magic' sort should retain its cast, errr execution time and so should any attacks executed via ranged weapon.