What do you want in your AST?

[Boomsmash]

Simply put: Variety.

The varied toolkit we had to deal with situations. Buffing damage, refilling MP, reducing damage, stunning, manipulating durations.

We can still layer on shields and regen and such, but the other things we had to do were great for the effects, and the 'knowledge is power' element.

Knowing that putting a Crit boost on a BRD would make their stuff start proccing like crazy and seeing it pay off? Great.
With proper preparation and sequence, being able to solo-heal the Orbonne phase transition. It might seem a silly little thing, but being ready for it and holding that much pain at bay felt so much more awesome than having to just continually deal out a stack of short little +DMG cards.