Just doesn't play the same way anymore.

Look at vis-a-vis other major regen forms. Before, Komodo and Croc were better in nearly every situation as opposed to sand liz/cobra/diamondback. Now, it's roughly equal. Komodo can still work, but it used to be gross (and I'm not even going to mention about when it had Lion rake for 2-3 weeks) and would make defense majors re-roll nearly every form but komodo/croc. I had people tell me that porcupine sucked! Seriously!

Regen does not seemed nerfed at all, just dam redux. So, that being said, hit-and-run tactics make more sense. And if you're fighting some crazy badass you can't flee from, make sure you ABS (still regen through ABS...just not as much).

And I'm not even mentioning the utility stuff. Croc is amphibious (only defense major that is) which is great for exploring. Croc has a pimp lagging/offense move in water. Komodo can sprint (as you mentioned), has carrionfeed to change damage type, and resists poison. Those are all really useful abilities.

I still think Cheetah is too good. And I've played 2, and hope to play more. So I'm not biased re: wanting certain forms to stay buff. I like that offensive forms are basically a crapshoot, and people keep most if not all of their original forms in that foci, but that's because of constant tweaks and rebalancing.