So when is AST getting nerfed in Frontline

[Valence]

An example of one premade we get:
A WAR and DRK will jump into the group simultaneously. The WAR stunning the group, the DRK voking. If caught unawares, purify would remove the stuns, and then you can use Guard. However, by this time, the DRGs of the premade team have already used their LB. At best, chances are you'll have taken at least the first one as full damage before even getting the chance to use Guard. Your HP will be low and Guard isn't enough to cover the remaining LBs from the premade.

Sometimes you can avoid it by keeping away from the group, though, this is almost impossible on some maps. Marking the premade will make them easier to spot, giving you more notice to prepare Guard to avoid both the stun and reduce damage somewhat. But, even if you're lucky and able to use Guard immediately, it still isn't always enough to cover the huge wave of coordinated damage you're about to get.
Not only this, but it requires players to be prepared of the premade's method of attack which, if they only play occasionally, they're unlikely to be.

It's not like people are complaining about one or two DRGs. Then I would understand your advice of "Open your eyes".

Sky Shatter requires 3 seconds of cooldown before trigger, starting at activation of Sky High. Purify + Guard takes 1s at most, and you can add 1s of reaction time (which is the human average reaction time). It's plenty of time to react accordingly (unless the FL servers crap the bed, which is another can of worms).

In practice though DRGs come from a lot further away when initiating their LB unless they're extremely cocky and jump directly in, which can be a death sentence. FL maps are huge in comparison and if you dive in first odds are you're going to be crowd controlled to death, have to purify before finally attempting the LB, which will not only be obvious as heck to everybody now seeing their target jumping away and become untargetable, but also probably with half your HP missing already or more. And pray not to just get polymorphed by a WhM, which means you'll just end up flat dead with no purify exit.

So in practice DRG LBs come from further away and have to slowly run to their targets, which often takes more than 3s to resolve (up to the full 5s). If they're trying to coordinate with their tanks, odds are they'll need the extra time of margin before landing. Honestly, I find premade SkyShatter stacks a lot more cumbersome for that very last reason, solo LB is a lot more free and easy to pull fast because you don't rely on anybody else doing their part at the exact same time. However, a point has to be made on staggered Skyshatters, which are the best way to mop up people that guarded the first ones. But those all but necessitate a premade to pull off, in fact, premades tend to focus on trying to land a one stack nuke that will leave no survivors if unguarded, while staggered LBs tend to naturally happen from solo players (which can make solo BH5 players extremely dangerous in another way than premades).

Amusingly enough, it's the semi casual / semi hardcore DRG players that I find the harder to kill at times, because a lot of them don't even seem aware that geirskogul buffs the LB damage as well, and catching better players immediately when they land with the buff active negates more than 25% of their innate DR and makes them squishy. But obviously, those half baked LBs are a lot less dangerous in counterpart.

That's why essentially I was saying it's a problem of skill and reaction. A lot of players are just not trained to react fast enough or spot those properly. Every time I use a DRG LB in FLs, on average half of the people under me will guard eventually, while another half will remain completely clueless. Although honestly, the best answer always remains to run away or not be the first to engage the enemy team if you're a squishy job.

Another thing I want to add is that players are just completely clueless about all the counters they can use against those, especially premades, because premades by definition require more setup and combinations, which leaves a lot of holes to be exploited, namely the DRK which is the weak link of the whole deal. The DRK can be silenced, stunned, polymorphed (even better) when you just see them running in. To add insult to injury, it can also be pushed away with various pushbacks. Last defense lines can also be Mesotes popped at the right moment, even if it just covers one team. Is this much harder to pull than the ones on the other end doing their combo? I don't think it is.

If the problem was purely job imbalance, you would see no difference between playing a random team and a premade one. In reality, the difference is a gaping chasm

That's again why I'm saying it's a problem of skill difference. I do not, absolutely do not feel the same way. When I deal with premades or solo BH5 players (the good ones), I don't see any gaping chasm on my end. I'll chalk it up to different experiences as well. I'll say it again though, but the day they actually start fielding dancers in those premades is the day i'll freak out, because THAT would suddenly be a problem. But they don't, because so far they never felt the need to do it, since it seems to work on 50% of the playerbase and nets them enough bodies to turn fights (much like any solo players can also do on their own), and it requires a lot less coordination in the first place. What those premades do is essentially something that is very close to what can be achieved by a bunch of solo BH5 players already.