Diurnal AST is in a good place, and to say it's a sub-par WHM is being naive at this point. AST does just fine in Midas Savage as a main healer. The job brings good utility, and one can argue AST/SCH can be a stronger combo at-times in the right hands. Any improvements on the healing side of the stance is just gravy. I don't think anyone a year ago would ever thought that Aether would end up being better than WHM Shroud now among other things. You don't need a White Mage to clear the current hardest content in the game, and that probably hurts some to hear that.

It is good to hear that yoship is committed to make the WHM/AST combo more reliable, AH is now better than Succor right out of the gate, and can buff their healing potency easier than a Scholar can with Synastry vs Dissipate. Giving AST some skill advantages over SCH is the right step. It's a tall order without nerfing SCH in any way. There is still more work to do in this area, but I won't discount what has been given to help the direction of Noct AST.

As for CU nerf, it was never meant to be used for bloody fuller, and at this point if you desired it so much you have larger party issues with probably a handful of swords up, and will wipe anyway to the following laughing rose damage because of the stacks. Seph Ex you really should be using it much earlier than the words stack since that is where it gets more value, and because the damage from the arm is minuscule that no one is taking damage again for quite awhile after.