Hmmm.

I'm on the fence here. I definitely think AST flows better for all the reasons you mention (especially when pit against clipping god WHM). But AST is essentially a WHM toolkit with added card complexity and a few less intuitive skills (ES in place of assize, Synastry in place of DB) or a bit of a dumbed down SCH.

In a sense even weaving is an added complexity over WHM gameplay (regardless of how streamlined it currently is).

That's why I've always thought of the skill cap being WHM > AST > SCH. The more skilled the players the bigger the gap between AST/SCH and WHM (since WHM is capped early due to how little options you have)

Do we happen to know how healers compare in a striking dummy dps comparison? Is WHM still leading here?

I personally would like to see higher potency on Stone IV, Aero II, and a return of damage to fluid aura for weaving with Aero II. But to the original topic. I don't really see where the nerfing of sch comes into play (in the current lineup, maybe if you had asked me a few months ago)