Dogfish,
I have been fishing braids for probably 7-8 years now and have never found the need for a shock tippet.Actually the first time I saw this was fishing with mooch on the skoke.I have never broke a pole due to braided lines.This does not mean that you do not have to be carefull.I do believe that the braides when used in the higher drag situations i.e drift and spinner fishing will contribute to the wear of a spinning reel.A friend bent a smaller shimano on a trophy steely last winter that I believe would not of happened with mono.

I have also found that the same thing that the float fishermen love about it{its bouyancy and easy mending] can hinder you when fishing hardware and drift fishing especialy with the lighter presentations of summer fishing.With smaler hardware it can act like a float keeping you from getting the presentation down.When drift fishing you will find that it will leave you with more of a bow between you and your presentation than with mono.Either that or you will find your self using more lead than you really want to get down fast enough.

Another thing that I have not seen mentioned is you will forget what line twist is.It is all I will use for trolling herring in my favorite early estuary fishing for silvers.

hope this helps