I have been playing the class for a few years, and there is a reason nobody wants to play it in pvp, it is very unrewarding and all you do is press a F ASD to give some overpowered buffs to everyone else, and you are already inting in large scale if you deviate from it, as well as misty in uncapped. Thats all the gameplay in pvp, its very dull, it just doesnt fit the game even as a full support.
And it shows in AoS how weak it is when it only works with DP gear, without it basically might as well not exist especially with the Sol shadow nerfed which means the class is so slow its basically unplayable, plus to make it worse it doesnt have any defensive modifiers to help besides 12% evasion rate buff.
This AoS season only reinforces more why this spec is in dire need of a complete rework to the entire kit, it currently just doesnt fit the game and frankly the only place where you might be able to like it is either PvE or Uncapped content (and only because of DP gear plus busted debuffs and buffs to others). 

I think a lot of people would like to see this class completely reworked, doesnt have to stop being a support, but right now its current interation just doesnt work nor fit in the game, plus obviously the buffs are broken to the others, its a waste really. Its the major reason i retired from large content on her, its just not rewarding.

Shai is a perfectly fine class that's just misunderstood. Her strengths and weaknesses are well balanced, and she’s a pretty original class. If you think her job is just giving buffs and you're done, then you don’t fully understand the class  because what you do after the buffs is what separates an average Shai from a great one. I’ve seen it many times.

Of course, there are people who complain, but it’s mostly because they find it annoying to get buffs, which is why they claim it’s broken  and then immediately want those buffs as a passive. But getting those buffs is part of the game, not something you can brush off as a quality of life issue. Anyway, Shai has been doing the same role for five years, and for most of those years, there were no complaints.

The class isn’t just original in terms of gameplay; it also brings in a type of player this game desperately needs especially now. Players who aren’t egomaniacs chasing validation every 20 seconds. (Not saying all non-Shai players are like that, of course.) the class is diferent in gameplay and the people that brings are diferent in a healthy way.

As for Solare that’s not the class being bad, it’s PA being unfair as usual when it comes to Shai, just like they’ve been in the past. The reason she doesn’t work there is simple: since she has no survivability, she can’t play a support role beyond giving buffs at the start of the round. And that’s a little proof that Shai’s buffs aren’t that big of a deal  it’s what the Shai player does afterwards what matters. If she has no survivability, she can’t do anything, and the class falls apart. 

And honestly, if you don’t like what Shai does, there are almost 30 other classes that fill every other possible role you could want to play.

Really wish that was the case. Go see any nodewar guild, all they want you to do is give buffs and nothing else. Which just makes the class insanely unfun.

Of course  that’s why I said it’s a misunderstood class. The contributions a Shai makes in a Node War will never be reflected on a scoreboard. The only way to know if a Shai is good or not is by watching and understanding what she’s actually doing. But as I said, a lot of players are self-centered and focus only on their own performance, overlooking the bigger picture. A good Shai can give buffs and do more yet it will never show up in the numbers. And since most people don’t care to notice, all they see are the buffs, because that’s what directly benefits them.

From my point of view, it’s not a class issue but a community one. If it were truly a problem with the class, people would have noticed it in year one not three or four years after the class was released.

make the skill were gonna win just a regular part of her functioning kit and not a buff you have to pop. remove all the buff capabilities except attack speed or the heal over time, replace them with damaging aoe skills that have the the standard debuffs and have enough damage to not be useless in pvp / pve. make her awakening weapon like the rest of the classes for easy tagging. and add an extra protected mobility or 2 so its not a sitting duck. bump the damage to fit along side other classes. class is soo lame for node wars its press 4 buttons the entire time or youre gonna be frowned apon as a bad shai sadly thats the undenyable reality of shai because  the 100 gs the buffs give are just wayy too strong to be doing anything else

I close the windows so i am lazy to write all again. 

So the short version is :

PVP globaly : buff and misty are too over powered . Shai is forcing the rythm and tempo of any pvp you do. A single class should not decide that much about the game. Especially since the skill of the shai player matter but clearly not as much as on other class.

AOS: Tankyness was never an issue for shai being strong. If the class stil had 25% speed buff and misty. The class would still be strong. Proof is  that armin did a tournament with no dp gear allowed years before. And shai was still top class there.

PVE : you need a shai in every group content starting 3 ppl. Some spot are designed around shai which is not a good idea.

Shai has always been an issue in pvp. Just there was not enough player on shai in pvp for ppl to realize how broken it was. Also since the upgraded all buff to lvl 3 and 60s. It's totaly broken, even more than it was before
The game encourage 20% of player to play shai if you want to be optimal right now. 2 shai for 10 ppl in gvg, 1 for 5 in dungeon/ shrine.

The game has 29 class. Having one that is that much impact about the game is not it

Mmm, I kinda see where you’re coming from. Buffs and Misty are impactful in large-scale, yes  but Shai has performed fine for years doing the same things. Misty had a 30 second cooldown for like 3 or 4 years, got nerfed because of PvE, and barely anyone besides Shais even knew it existed.

In small scale (Solare), Misty and the buffs aren’t nearly as impactful. Shai’s strength depends on how many teammates she can buff. You trade a DPS for buffs on two people, and if you get cc’d, with buffs you still die. The issue is, if one DPS goes down and you’re left with a Shai, you’re doomed.

About what you said that Shai player skill matters less than on other classes I don’t think that’s true. The gap between a good Shai and a bad one is huge. If the class was just about pressing buffs and Misty, you’d have seen 30 Shais in the top 100 back when she was “broken” in Solare. But it was only people who mained her and actually knew how to play. I’ve never seen anyone casually pick up Shai and get that kind of success like you see with other classes.

The issue with Shai this season and the last isn’t just Misty or the speed buff nerf  it’s that she has no survival and no real way to impact a fight after buffing, aside from running in circles around a rock for a few seconds. Even if her buffs and Misty were back to their usual ones, not much would change. Giving buffs and using Misty alone doesn’t give you the win. It’s what the player does after that matters  and only good Shai players make it work. (Of course, those matches are ultimately won or lost by the DPS, since no matter how good the Shai is, she has no say in the damage race.)

The worst part about these last two seasons is how PA managed to turn a class made for group content into one that gets hate from her own teammates, which is absurd.

People run two Shais in 10v10 because some classes completely nullify her if there’s only one  which says a lot about how weak she is individually.

If you remember Season 1 Solare, Shai her buffs were 30s and didn’t have level 3 buffs. It was so bad people would leave matches as soon as a Shai appeared on their team  and Misty had a 30 second cooldown back then too, I think. If they brought that version back now, people would have to rebuff more frequently, and with even fewer Shais playing the game, the complaints would be louder than they are now.

There’ve also been plenty of group contents where Shai was irrelevant  like fast-paced group grinding spots or mechanic-heavy content.

In the end, Shai is as “mandatory” in group play as any support is in other games. And let’s be honest: in this meta obsessed game, even now, practically no one wants to be a Shai. She’s broken, right? People will play whatever’s broken.

if you dont only mash 4 buttons for buffs in node war as a shai youre marked as a terrible shai re work shai entirely so people dont just sit there for 2 hiurs pressing 4 buttons the entire time  plus the buffs given are wayyy too strong

People who think the class is just about pressing buffs don’t understand it  or the difference between a good Shai and a bad one. Those buffs were improved a few years ago because the class was garbage, and even after those changes, literally years passed without anyone complaining.

As I said before, if they were to bring back the old buffs from 3 or 4 years ago, people would complain even more, because those buffs only lasted 30 seconds and players would rely even more on the Shai to get them.

In the end, the real reason people complain is simply because they find it annoying to have to find someone playing Shai, or to stay close to one to get the buffs. People will call it broken while, at the same time, demanding the same buffs as a passive completely disregarding the player who’s put in effort and time to provide those buffs for the team. 

Ok, looks like you don't know me. I was in the shai that made top 100, i have been playing in strong guild in pvp for years and doing a lot  of tournament. SHAI DOESNT NEED MORE THAN 2 MATE TO BE BROKEN. All tournament recent in eu at least has been won by team with a shai. Uncapped or even aos one from armin where you couldn't equip tankyness.  Now the class is banned  in any community tournament cause it's not fun if the class is allowed. Every team will have to get one

Shai having no tanknyess is not the issue at all this season. If we had our normal buff and misty, opponent would die in a single second from your team mate. That's what make the class not playable comapre to before. The kit of shai outside of buff and misty is close to pointless. (delusive is strong and bubble sometime).

A good shai will of course make a diff but it will be not that noticable. You take the top 4 of a tournament , swap the shai between  the 4 team and it won't matter much. That's  how stupid the class design is...

First season shai had 30s on misty cd but you could only pick one lvl 3 buff which is a huge diff compare to now.

People also run 2 shai in 10v10 because how broken is misty into this tanky meta. Else it could be played with only one but actually require the shai to play a bit well.

And ppl have been complaining about shai in pvp for multiple years. You were just not aware of it. I was banned from pvp content so many time cause it was totaly unbalance if i show up and enemy had no shai. So i was not playing gvg or joining arsha cause ppl will just leave after 5 min. This was at least 3 years ago and more. So no it's not new at all...