After doing a bit of 8-man content I can say that about the only thing AST is in dire need of is MP help.

I made a white mage fairly envious, but at the end of the night I was calling for him to take over a bit more due to sustainment issues.

He was shocked at the difference between the first hour (Nocturnal Sect) and afterwards (Diurnal). My output overall shot up enough to allow him time to DPS, which eased a few checks.

Expanded almost anything in 8-mans is fairly good. 45 second Aspected Helios + 30 second Aspected Benefec is also very strong from Diurnal Sect. A lot of MP savings and not needing to recast expensive buffs for the tank.

Ewar almost immediately goes on me unless I have Expanded RR active. Then I spread it for after burning the RR.

Then there is the 50% healing to another target buff. Made the whm sick that I could almost keep both tanks up through damage spikes.

There are perks... but the MP crunch can get painful.