Realization that I could safely quit at 6.0's completion just hit me and that sucks

[Jeeqbit]

LOVED AST until it was gutted and the uniqueness was somewhat lost. (That and after memorizing the "cards" and how to use them, stung a little too.)

The uniqueness is still there because no other class uses cards like that. You still have to memorize what role each card is for, and when to use Lord/Lady instead. Someone who has no idea what they are doing and no knowledge of who is melee or ranged would still play it wrong. It still involves more thought than the other healers.

Tanks just play the same and DRK gets shafted every expansion.

By that logic tanks have always played the same... they are fundamentally tanks, with mitigations and a tank stance. They achieve their tanking differently though.

Warrior focuses on taking the damage, but then healing it back up. Paladins focus on mitigating the damage... usually by just 20%. Dark Knight focuses on mitigating it entirely with its shield. Gunbreakers settle for a balance of shields and self-heals.

Another difference between the tanks is that Warrior and Paladin are GCD tanks, while Gunbreaker and especially Dark Knight have lots of off-global attacks making them a lot more fast-paced to play.

Yes, Dark Knights have been made simpler for a casual player to take up. That's not necessarily a bad thing if it's still fun to play. It's nice for a class to be difficult enough that there is a way to become "good" at it but even with 3 GCDs to press there are people who won't play them well, so that is achieved already.