The scholar is stronger than the AST in mitigation damage only if he crit
Otherwise the AST is slighly better

It's true that the AST do not have instant mp recovery but if he put luminiferous aether + ewer + CO, the AST might regen way more than the other other

...

That being said...
The only change in 3.1 is the maintain of royal road during an area change ?
I'm kind of disappointed XD