The stances and invocations make this game. 100%. It actually makes you play the game rather than building up your procs and waiting/praying like most of THJ was.
Both these games are MOSTLY pulling from AA's that exist in later expansions and importing them in early. The difference is THJ pulled like 110 levels of AA accessible by Velious and this game is closer to having level 70 AA's in classic. That's why you sat there and grinded out 400 AA's in Lguk in THJ and in this you're feeling good at 100 AA's.
Now if like 64 of those AA's weren't semi-mandatory defense AA's I think it'd feel a LOT better right now. But once you eat your vegetables and you get into desert, it gets pretty good.