Every time I decide to play Ast, I find a thread that destroys my enthusiasm.

[Velox]

AST has had the hardest time out of the three new classes as it was released in an underpowered mess, but this has changed. Sadly some peoples minds have yet to adapt to this change and they are still in the mind set of "AST sucks".

Agreed. Since the buffs, I'd say WHM is currently the weakest of the 3 jobs (notice I didn't say useless, just weakest) because they bring the least amount of support to a party. Nocturnal AST leaves a lot to be desired, but Diurnal AST can pretty much heal on-par with any WHM and still offers party buffs via cards.