Yeah, HW AST was an absolute blast to play, but the Alex raids were so poorly tuned that any job that didn't offer a very sharp advantage was pushed out. It was much like the attitude around Pictomamcer with FRU; AST was just way too good in that content to ignore

The initial cards system had you draw a card, choosing to burn it to add an extra attribute for the next card or immediately use it. The Ewer was a powerful MP regen, and the Spire did the same for TP. Burning these cards made you next one an AOE.

Spear shortened the cooldown time for abilities, but only ones used while under the effect, so it was impossible to coordinate in most content. Bole was a defense buff. Arrow was a haste, and using it on a monk could ruin their rotation from running out of TP. Meanwhile, the balance was a damage buff, a big one, too.

So what you would do is just fish for Ewer/Spire, burn it for the AOE additional effect, and fish for Balance. Because it was ALWAYS good and extremely needed in how insanely badly set the DPS checks in the Alexander raids.

The incoming damage of those same raids was so insane that it was why White Mages were pushed out. Having a powerful shield healer in Scholar and Astro's original design allowing you to be both a shield or regen healer with that card buff system just made WHM a worse AST in every way. I suspect this is what led to the Blood Lily. They gave WHM one of the most powerful spells in the game.