I think the devs got a tunnel vision on nerfing the elementalists while working on this recent patch. The changes to Mist Form, Ride the Lightning and giving the ability to steal TWO boons to thieves makes it abundantly clear to me.
Lets take the Flanking Strike/Larcenous Strike move for example. I think splitting it up into two moves was a great idea but then what were they thinking when they made Larcenous strike steal two boons? They were thinking about elementalists and perhaps guardians. Thats all. They weren’t thinking about how a thief with that one weapon ability can mess up a warrior or a ranger using their elites Signet of Rage or Rampage as One. Each one is an elite skill and they provide three boons to the users. A thief can use a weapon skill that costs 4 initiative total to steal two of those boons, essentially making a joke of that elite. If they were thinking about balance at all, they would have kept it at one boon, but no, they were trying to give the thieves the ability to strip an elementalists boons away, and 1 at at time wasn’t quick enough for their liking. Apparently it never occurred to them that a thief can use that move on other professions as well.