I wish AST never had a DPS buff

[KDSilver]

I'd say the problem was having a Regen/Shield dichotomy to begin with, as it prohibited the existence of other unique healers.

Of course. And it's stupid from the devs themselves to think this actually exists in the first place.
Look at scholar. He always had some regen despite being called the "shielder" healer. From the healer player and healer community, it has always been seen a very versatile healer (and he is). But from dev team point of view, it seemed like it was mostly if not completely a "shielder".