The visual design of AST is top notch

[manamoppet]

The AF3 weapon is stunning

It is. I've only seen it in the promotion videos, but I agree. However

- The weapon will eventually be changed out as new patches come, but spells remain and we use them an uncountable number of times. Prettier and more elegant spells like AST gets are welcome - Stone IV is almost a re-skin of Stone II, but now with cubes.

- Maybe off-topic, but to me it would make more sense to build on Stone III and e.g. use something that smashes downwards like one of the Blizzard spells (can't remember which one, either III or IV). The reason I say downwards is because of the way the PC move their arm and upper body downward when using Stone IV. To me, there's a disconnection between the action of the PC and the spell; I know this isn't earthbending from Avatar:The Last Airbender/Legend of Korra but there should be some connection I think.