When is the best time to use roll guard cancels?
"I use it to escape pressure and to punish disadvantageous moves, i'm asking to see if there's possibly another option i'm missing."
In general, to get out of pressure and (at worst) reset to a neutral situation. Can also be used to avoid some chip damage and punish stuff that'd otherwise be safe. Keep in mind that the GCAB roll is not the same as a regular roll (unless SNK changed things somewhere along the way without telling me *laughs* ), as it has no recovery and cannot be thrown. Also, GCAB is generally safer than GCCD (which can be blocked usually if you did it against a late jumpin, or can be punished by the other character canceling into something invincible [like a delayed command grab] or a command counter).
how meter should be managed ie: Should the meter be built and concentrated on defensive actions, or should it be spent toward a single confirm.
However you want, really. I mean, it also depends on your characters, but in general, it's really personal preference, aside from obvious situations (like if you hit confirm on the other player's last character and you've got enough meter to finish him off, just go for it).
Also when is the preferred use of Blow-off?
"I use it when i'm pressuring and the opponent is in the corner and they manage to force me to block so the BO will push them back into the corner."
I'm guessing blow-off means GCCD, in which case, it's good any time you're willing to spend meter in order to knock the other character down.
Hmm, if I am not mistaken, the moment you guard roll against someone's attack it behaves as its a blocked hit, so you will roll while they begin to recover.
Yeah, pretty sure that's right. Same with GCCD (which is why, for instance, 2002 Iori can block your GCCD if you did it against a st.A).