I would not say that the game has lost its identity in the slightest. As a SCH main (currently leveling WHM and still on the fence about AST), I can understand your frustration with what happened to the Healers, but we've never been so powerful when it comes to keeping people alive. Well, as a SCH and WHM, I'd say so. I've heard that AST is leaving some things left wanting, but I digress.

As far as "generic" goes, I'm not seeing what you're seeing. Scholars still play like Scholars, White Mages still play like White Mages, Astrologians still play like Astrologians. I'm of the impression that SE is about to rebuild the current healers from the ground up with rebalances so that they can introduce a 4th, but that couldn't happen with the poor balancing they had in the previous expac. Was I, a Scholar, upset that we had our DPS kit gutted? You bet your ass I was. I miss Miasma II, Energy Drain, and Bane, but we weren't going to stay on top forever. White Mage wasn't going to be left in the dust forever. It's impossible to have true balance without having the fundamentals of our healers' concepts being somewhat homogenized. The gimmicks of each of them is what's going to grant them their identity and build a unique playstyle between them.