AST's MP Problems

[Amaya-dono]

During the live letter, AST's MP problems were singled out as something that was going to be fixed in Patch 5.1; however, I don't think the changes in the patch notes will be able to properly address this issue. I would like to say that I am mostly happy with the other changes. But this thread isn't about them. It is about AST MP.

Looking at the MP "fix" we got, I feel like the devs don't understand the reason behind AST's MP problems and the extent of them. Noct may be slightly worse than Diu on the MP front, but both aren't great. Even if I press 0-1 Asp Helios in an 8 minute fight, AST still struggles more than the other healers. Currently, I run a 600 piety set on WHM. I am very comfortable on clean runs with this set. I run a ~1200 piety set on AST and still occasionally struggle. Why this huge disparity?

1) Number of MP management tools

WHM has Assize which gives 500mp every 45 seconds and Thin Air which reduces the cost of your spells to 0 for 12s. They also use a Lily about 4 times every 90s (0mp cost GCDs).

SCH has Aetherflow which gives 1000mp every min and Energy Drain which, when optimized, can give 500mp up to 3 times a minute. They have Recitation for a 0mp heal every 90s. They can Dissipate once every 3 minutes for even more EDs (and thus more MP).

In comparison, AST only has Lightspeed. LS halves your MP cost for 15 seconds and is a pretty good tool, but it does not actually give you any MP back. This makes dying on AST far more punishing than it is on the other two healers.

Let's say you were to use Thin Air off CD and it covered 5 GCDs. With Glare alone, you would save 8000mp (5 gcds * 4 uses * 400mp) over 6 minutes. Meanwhile, LS covers 6 GCDs and saves 6000mp (6 gcds * 5 uses * 200mp) over 6 minutes. Thin Air is a better MP tool than LS and WHM has even more MP tools on top of that.

In Stormblood, AST could extend Lucid with Celestial Opposition and could Ewer themselves if they were in a pinch. These things no longer exist. AST had MP tools taken away and no new MP tools added to make up for it.

2) Number of casts per minute

This game has what is known as a "caster tax". It means that despite a WHM or SCH having a GCD of 2.5s, if they are using a spell whose cast time = GCD, it will take them something more like 2.6s to get to their next cast due to the animations. Since Malefic is 1.5s, AST does not have this issue. Over the course of a fight, an AST will get off more Malefics than a WHM/SCH get off Glares/Broils. I assume the dev team are aware of this since they have accordingly made Malefic's potency low to make up for the extra casts. More casts over the course of a fight = more MP used up simply by hitting your filler DPS GCD.

[Amaya-dono]

3) Lightspeed's many different uses

Lightspeed also serves as a movement tool. This makes things difficult because you have to choose between using Lightspeed in a movement heavy section or in a heavy healing section (to save more mp) or off cooldown. It is nowhere near as straightforward as "hit this button on CD for free mp and also other free things" like Assize and Aetherflow are. Luckily the Minor Arcana changes make it less necessary to save LS for Sleeve so I will not be addressing that point until I actually play the job and see how it feels.

TL;DR: Simply reducing Aspected Helios's cost will not make AST's MP issues noticeably better and it is still the worst of the three healers at MP management even if you do not cast a single healing GCD thanks to the lack of MP tools.

Proposed solution: Adding something like 500mp (heck or even 250mp if you think 500 is too much) to Draw would be an excellent idea as it both rewards the player for using their most important core skill and would help fix AST's MP issues.

[Miziliti]

Also the direction they go with mp fix is rather stupid as well.

Malefic IV: 1.5s cast time with 400 MP
Glare: 2.5s cast time with 400 MP
Broil III: 2.5s cast time with 400 MP

AST is able to dps more frequently than the other two, which in turn spends more mp. This is so obvious, yet the mp saving/restoration tools are given to WHM and SCH. It really makes you wonder if the dev in charge is blind or not.

[Sylvain]

Also the direction they go with mp fix is rather stupid as well.

Malefic IV: 1.5s cast time with 400 MP
Glare: 2.5s cast time with 400 MP
Broil III: 2.5s cast time with 400 MP

AST is able to dps more frequently than the other two, which in turn spends more mp. This is so obvious, yet the mp saving/restoration tools are given to WHM and SCH. It really makes you wonder if the dev in charge is blind or not.

No AST is not spending more mp on dps because the recast is still 2.5s. Like when you do Aspected Benefic, it's Instant yet you need to wait 2.5s after using to before you can cast another spell.

[Broxis]

A 1.5 second cast time spam move is always going to have more total casts than a 2.5 second cast. You can keep casting during mechanics on a 1.5 that you couldn't on a 2.5. You absolutely spend more mana on your basic offensive spell on AST compared to the other healers.