It's a good thing that Spirited Swordsmanship was cut, with it Avowed faced the same problem as old Harbringer - being nearly entirely SAD. I actually wanted to say exactly this to you. I've made an Devil Pact Avowed NPC for my players to fight last session, and found the class really interesting but a bit too strong for my tastes, and I believe SS was one of the main reasons for that. But I can tell that my players really liked the feeling they got from this guy, even not knowing the specifics about how he mechanically worked.

Overall, I really love the class, and will continue watching it closely. I always liked 3.5 Warlock, and Avowed has a really similar while being more interesting, at least for me. I haven't really tinkered with the class much yet, I've only made one character for whom I've had a clear concept in my mind, and due to time constraints, I am unlikely to really test it in the nearest future. All I have to say now is that I've enjoyed making the character and enjoyed playing him, even if only for a single fight. Maybe I'll get to some kind of running the numbers and making a write-up on the class when I have more free time but for now I can only offer my first impressions.

As a side note, I really like the concept of Damnation feats, hopefully we'll see more of those, especially some that are less Avowed-specific.