BRD and MCH have never been broken in SB, DRG was. BRD and MCH without its piercing debuff were subpar, and even with it they still had that ranged tax already, and were not competitive with melees already (except perhaps bard when it got out of hand from crit itemization in alphascape). HW was a different story due to cast times, but it was counterbalanced by losing damage when MP/TP supporting the party, which could be mandatory.

I do agree that the battle system was better and more intricate and flavorful in SB, but let's not fall into the rose tinted glasses syndrome either.