Are forms important?

This debate could cover a life time, yes and no. Yes that when you train by yourself or when you do a form, you should see every application with every single technique that’s in the form, you should only do the form has fast as you see the application, that means if you are very slow to see, then that’s the speed you should go. Not just do the form as fast as you can. Forms are not for demos.
On the other hand, if you do hands on training, then forms are not needed. But do them both together and that can bring a lot of gain