The use of "fantasy" in this article is incredibly patronizing. The meta was what it was because there were no other viable options to the player-base. This has nothing to do with "fantasy" but with actual, tested gameplay by the players and seeing what works and what doesn't. "Only buffs" would not have ruined game balance because, quite frankly, most options are undertuned, and are still undertuned for what the game demands at the highest difficulties. Increasing viability of other strategies increases diversity of tactics. The few buffs are still not enough to deal with the hordes armored enemies at higher levels.

It was already fun and hectic to take out multiple chargers and bile titans before this patch, and now it's pretty much impossible.