AST Gear BiS

[LycorisSelunis]

I prefer DET for consistently bigger heals/piety for mp pretty equally, and then spellspeed. Personal preference though, really. I doubt any one set of secondaries is 'best' it is more about playstyle.

[NorthernLadMSP]

Honestly, with AST all of the stats are good/have a purpose.

WD = obvious
Mind = obvious
Piety = extra heals
Deter = bigger heals
SS = quicker heals/better HOTs
Crit = better shields in Nocturnal (even though they don't get SCH's double shield, a crit shield still shields for the amount crit'd)

[Aurelinaus]

For me, Astro is looking like Acc, Crit and Pie, with SpS is the stat to avoid, and det being neutral.

[Fufupel]

I'm focusing more on Det/Pie. More Det increases my healing output as well as damage and more Pie so when I draw Ewer I can either RR or throw it on my co healer/caster dps.

[Rashammel]

For me, Astro is looking like Acc, Crit and Pie, with SpS is the stat to avoid, and det being neutral.

Crit is pretty much uselles if play more in diurnal, they will became overheal almost all time and you don't have control of this, i get trolled by RNG all time whit the cards don't wanna to focus on another RNG thing to troll me , but if you play more on nocturnal they can be very good for the shields.
SpS is good for the HoTs, faster heals and faster DPS I fail to understand why he is the stat to avoid.

[echoica]

Stacking crit pre buff was popular because it helped compensate for the lower potency healing. Now I think you will just be over healing and producing undesirable aggro staving crit. AST still suffers from mana issues in harder content too so pie is a really good choice for progression. Next det to aid dps. Not a lot of gear options at the moment but do your best to prioritize your eso buys based on what you are least likely to see from savage as well. A great first buy is weapon then chest. Then stack pie and det pieces. At least that's what I would do if I mained AST (I play it but I'm a WHM main)

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

Crit is pretty much uselles if play more in diurnal, they will became overheal almost all time and you don't have control of this, i get trolled by RNG all time whit the cards don't wanna to focus on another RNG thing to troll me , but if you play more on nocturnal they can be very good for the shields.
SpS is good for the HoTs, faster heals and faster DPS I fail to understand why he is the stat to avoid.

Because spell speed doesn't have much impact on HoTs: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-Sucks-for-HoT

A difference of 200 spellspeed equated to a 2-3% change in regen tick potency, a difference of 20-30 hp per tick, on average.

(Disclaimer: I haven't bothered checking the spreadsheet)

HoTs don't have a lot of potency: 140 Potency on Aspected Benefic in Diurnal Sect. If we were to translate the 200 spell speed increase into potencies: 2-3% of 140 potency is a mere 2.8-4.2 potency increase for every tick. Here's another post on bluegartr:

Without a ton of accuracy, you can say that roughly 44 Critical Hit will raise your Critical Hit Rate by 1%.

source: http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/125...3.0-Bardshrekt

200 critical hit rate, for easier comparison with spell speed, is an increase of 4.55% crit chance. Which in turn can be translated into an average healing increase of 2.27%. Roughly the same as spell speed.

Now if we assume Determination has a comparable value, spell speed isn't worth taking at all.
For one: Spell Speed would mainly benefit HoTs. It decreases your GCD by a tiny bit, but does not directly strengthen any spells nor does it help your MP management
Secondly: Unlike spell speed, determination and critical hit rate affects nearly your entire kit. Be it healing spells, healing abilities or damage spells. Increased average healing with all your spells can also be translated into hp recovery for every MP spend.
Lastly: While spell speed does not hold any obvious or more direct merits, secondary stats hardly have any effect right now. Secondary stats don't matter much with current gear. But it's something to consider for later patches.

tldr; stats have comparable increases. Crit/Det still more valuable as it affects entire kits (in both sects for astrologian), unlike spell speed.

[Cynfael]

SpS is good for the HoTs, faster heals and faster DPS I fail to understand why he is the stat to avoid.

Lyrica gave some great info, and I'll add this reiteration to that: faster heals are unnecessary except during emergencies (and there are buff CDs and oGCD heals to deal with those situations). Healing a tiny bit faster does nothing for good players; it can give some players miniscule padding to their margin for error when they fail to learn and anticipate mechanics, but it's superfluous if you already know what you're doing.

Faster DPS is only really useful when you can spam your attacks. A healer who can turret and chain-cast their primary filler nuke throughout the fight will benefit a bit from SPSPD, but under average circumstances the benefit to your DPS is extremely minimal.

[TatoRazzino]

I believe that every stat is useful at some point and I don't like the idea of having too little of one stat in favor of the other. But in the end, I believe that everything is personal in this matter since healing is more about your skill as a player than the stats you have on. However, from all that has been discussed here, I'd like to point out some things:

1. Determination is not as strong as it used to be. Back in 2.X, 1 point in DET added around 0.48 in average healing according to the blitz calculator, and it was established that 4~5 DET = 1 MND; for 3.X gear, this value is nerfed, so I highly doubt that dropping ilvl to get more determination will increase healing output;

2. Critical hit does not necessarily increase overall healing. Healing is not like DPSing and when you get a critical hit, if the extra value is higher than what you needed, it means that it got wasted. HPS is not a good way to measure actual healing, since it doesn't take into account the amount of value you lost from overhealing. Getting a crit at the wrong time just generates more threat, it doesn't do anything for healing;

3. Piety and Spell Speed are situational. You need that extra MP/reduction in (re)cast timers until you don't need it anymore. Of course, there is a minimum value you need to perform well, but higher numbers are better when you don't know the fight and as soon as you've got everything figured out, you can drop some piety/spell speed to get more of the other stats.

[KarstenS]

Piety is an awesome stat. It doesn't just increase your max MP. It also increase your infight mana reg.

One point is: its good during practise time, because you can keep the fight run longer.

Other point is: More mana and regeneration = more possible solo heal = more time for your SCH to DPS.