Most of the nerfs were expected, but what surprised me the most was that they made HQ items available from the GCs. They more or less "nerfed" that step by making the items no longer needing specialized crafters. As far as I know they didn't make the items from desynth (ARR era relic) available in other ways as a form of nerf, so why this?

They really need to stop making crafters needed in these relic steps if this is what they'll end up doing.