It is utterly insane that you claim that completely changing a class play style is a good idea.
If mages were overpowered (I would still argue they weren’t, but whatever), you can tune the numbers. Completely removing one spec (frost healing) from existence? Not a good idea. Taking the other spec (arcane healing) and making it so unfun that people quit the game, or change to another class? Also not a good idea!
In the patch notes, and several times on the forums, priests have been mentioned. They were one-button healers, spamming pw:shield on everyone, and topping meters. They’re claiming this is the same thing, while at the same time turning priests BACK into one-button healers, with more shield powers. And shields are a more reliable way to steal healing from others. Mages had to pre-emptively beacon people, and then time their damage to get the healing off. Shields always come first.
These are in no way the same thing, this is in no way justified, and making something less enjoyable to play is a bad idea. I cannot believe you would defend it. And to be clear, doing less healing is not the unenjoyable part. Spamming regen to get coverage, having your character spin in circles, and still being slower to react to incoming damage than anyone else feels bad. And having the nerfs come to the base kit, with the “fix” being ‘just get all of your bis items!’ is bad. At that point you don’t need it anymore, you’ve done everything.
It. Is. Bad.