I do miss Kaiten, as I did every time I got old content in the roulette. I just came back to the game, so I don't have top-end SAM raiding experience anymore, but the change feels obvious even to me. It's not just the one button being gone, but the overall feeling of the class is worse for the changes. We don't have the behind-the-scenes information, but it seems like such a half-hearted attempt and a solution looking for a problem.

There have been many smart ideas from the community how the stated reasons could have been addressed better, so I won't try to fumble my way through any of mine, but I'm kind of stuck with SAM unless I want to get another combat class leveled. So I will continue to play with the changes, leaving that space open on my hotbar forever; still pressing it out of habit and remember halcyon days when I do.