What do you think was the worst thing this game experienced from 2.0 until now?

[Bourne_Endeavor]

For me, the worse things that come to mind were how badly SCH was nerfed at the start of 4.0. Another sin added for the devs thinking that bringing a job down instead of the others up is how to fix things. The exception is over-tuning AST. I'm adding another sin for that BS. This felt like a parent giving in to their kid's constant cry for cookies so he/she just gives them the jar and says, "There! now STFU!"

Ha! That is such an accurate analogy!

Eh, not really? Astro's absurd buff in 3.4 came out of pure desperation. It was actually pretty decent in Midas but had developed such a strong stigma due to its horrendous launch, people just refused to play it, let alone groups still favoring White Mage. The devs basically said, "Please play this job! It's better now!" Why that buff lasted into Stormblood at all remains a mystery though.

[Gemina]

Eh, not really? Astro's absurd buff in 3.4 came out of pure desperation. It was actually pretty decent in Midas but had developed such a strong stigma due to its horrendous launch, people just refused to play it, let alone groups still favoring White Mage. The devs basically said, "Please play this job! It's better now!" Why that buff lasted into Stormblood at all remains a mystery though.

I wasn't aiming for accuracy with my analogy. It's just how it felt at the time, especially considering I wasn't playing AST then. So when I read those patch notes of their insane buffs, it left me thinking why anyone would even continue to play WHM or SCH. Since I am someone who favors the underdog, I left AST behind out of pure spite. It wasn't until the tail end of my HW journey that I finally decided to play it, which was about a year after SBs release.

Having got all my healers to my current level of 65, and still having to do lv70 raiding; at this point it seems that those buffs still have a residual effect to this day. SCH and WHM both have clear weaknesses at this level, while the biggest weakness I can think of for AST is that they get no offensive AoE until lv52. They do have the worst MP efficiency of the three healers, but this isn't going to be an issue in 90% of the game's content. The RNG gate behind their cards isn't really what I would call a weakness either, because this job can do nearly everything a WHM does without them. Granted, I still need to get access to Divine Benison and Plenary Indulgence, but that is my view as of right now.

Ultimately and perhaps ironically, I ended up really enjoying AST. The job plays very smooth, and is probably the least clunky of all the ones I play.