They pretty much gutted the depth of 4.x SMN, but 5.1 SMN is still somewhat enjoyable.

Apparently the reason they changed how Aetherflow connects with Trance is either because people were too impatient with pre-pull preparations, it was "too complex" or that having both full Aetherlow stacks *and* Aetherflow on standby before a fight isn't what the devs intended. It's probably the worst change of ShB SMN because it feels detached and lost plenty of flexibility, breathing time and tactical planning, which made it fun in my opinion. Now it's just mashing everything and keeping them on cooldown.

Sometimes I would waste an Aetherflow stack by refreshing again because I forget it exists now that it's its own thing...instead of being tied to your Trances, which made it imperative NOT to waste.

These days, SMN has the mobility of a Physical Ranged. It sounds problematic especially with the numbers it makes, but honestly it keeps it unique from BLM and RDM. That and SMN has been known to be the most mobile caster since ARR so I welcome that kind of identity.