To preface, the most fun I've had in this game is with the AST job. The multiple layers of RNG and finding ways to play your cards just right was incredibly fun. It felt like playing a card game between heals, and since AST's healing was pretty solid, it was an all around wonderful time.

So I didn't actually know what the AST changes were going to be when I logged in. I avoided most of the dev discussions so I didn't burn myself out (like I did before SB's release), and since I'd only heard previously that WHM, DRK, and MCH were the ones getting touched up the most, I felt confident that my job would be fine.

I've tried AST with the new mechanics and it's just . . . bland. Rather than six different mechanics that I can juggle around or convert into other unique mechanics, I have one. I know that Divination is the new mechanic, but it's so simplified compared to what we had before that it doesn't hold my attention at all. I've been interested in the story of ShB so far, but losing the gameplay I enjoyed the most had bummed me out so much that I was having a genuinely hard time getting invested in the game again. I'm going to give it another go, but not as AST.

I hear WHM got better, and I'm happy about that. I've barely touched SCH, but after hearing how its mechanics were overly simplified, I'm very sorry to SCH players. If anything positive comes from the myriad of healers expressing their woes, I hope there is no attached negative of reverting WHM's buffs. I really, really don't want to see that happen, not with how many people I've seen happy with WHM's buffs.