Hi, this is fake news, the AST plugin did not change.
Yes, we added a Pro version but with extra features, improved customizer, custom email templates, built in integrations and support, but we did not remove any functionality due to the AST Pro version. Good luck.
This is extra custom Shipped status, we created it for store that sell digital and physical products on the same store and want to use the completed order status for the virtual orders and then we allow them to create a custom Shipped Status instead of the rename that we allow today.