The Astrologian Wish List

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Originally Posted by NorthernLadMSP

Personally, I would keep the proc remaining as an instant Benefic II (like it is now), but also make it cost half the MP. That way it's not a copy of WHM, but gives some other benefit besides just being instant cast.

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They could make it halve the cast time and GCD associated with it so it's an actual increase in healing over time.

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Originally Posted by Rewind

I know devs are reading this thread and I thought I'd post my ideas for changes to AST as someone who plays both SCH/WHM as well. I was thinking about making my own thread but there's enough out there already.

Cards
http://i.imgur.com/ZhFzBIy.png

Cards typically drawn from draw (Bole, Balance, Spear, Arrow, Ewer and Spire) are "Action Cards" that AST can select to use.
Base duration is 15 seconds.

When you use a "Action Card" e.g Balance it is placed on a 1 minute cooldown
When you use a "Action Card" e.g Balance, the remaining cards are placed on a 30 second cooldown.

Draw, Spread, Royal Road, and Shuffle Function:
Draw instead, allows plays to draw for buffs (20 second cooldown)
This includes;

• Potency - Increases potency by 50%
• Duration - Increases duration by 15 seconds
• Extend - Spread action card to players within 15 yrds
• Reduce - Reduce the CD of played action card by 10 seconds
• Aura - Effect emits from player (10 yrd radius)

Royal Road instead, allows plays to gamble for improved buffs. (no cooldown)
This includes;

• Potency - Increases potency by an additional 100% (total 150% potency)
• Duration - Increases duration by an additional 30 seconds (total 45 seconds)
• Extend - No yrd restriction (covers entirity of room)
• Reduce - Reduce the CD of played action card by an additional 20 seconds (total 30 seconds)
• Aura - Effect emits from player (25 yrd radius)
• Fumble - You lose the card

Spread and Shuffle can remain relatively the same - instead you shuffle and spread buff cards, and you can't shuffle and retrieve the same card.

Utility and DPS Spells (work in progress)
If its green it's new.

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/im...ther_icon1.png - Luminferous Aether (No MP cost; Duration 15secs): Reduces Emnity Generation, Refresh potency by 80

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/im...peed_icon1.png - Lightspeed (No MP cost)

• Diurnal - Duration, 10 seconds - Reduces MP cost by 25%, spell cast time and GCD reduce by 2.3 seconds.
• Noctural - Duration, 25 seconds - Reduces MP cost by 75%, increases healing potency by additional 10%

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/im...nity_icon1.png - Essential Dignity (No MP cost - CD:40s) - Restores target's HP. Cure Potency: 400 Potency increases the lower the target's HP. (Scales linearly up to 1000 potency).

• Diurnal - 15% chance aspected benefic will cost no MP (duration: 12 seconds)
• Noctural -25% chance aspected helios will cost no MP (duration: 12 seconds)

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/im...stry_icon1.png - Synastry (No MP cost - CD:120s) -Generate an aetheric bond with target party member. Each time you cast a healing spell on a party member not under the effect of Synastry, the party member with which you have the synastry bond will also recover HP equaling 50% of the original spell.

Duration: 20s

• Diurnal - Regen with a cure potency of 40 on both targets
• Noctural -Erects a magic barrier on both target - 10% chance when barriers are struck, the striker will do 10% less damage.

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/im...bust_icon1.png - Combust (535mp - Instant) - Deals unaspected damage over time. Potency: 40 Duration: 18s

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/im...t_ii_icon1.png - Combust II (618mp - Cast 2.5) -Deals unaspected damage over time. Potency: 45 Duration: 30s

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/im...ella_icon1.png - Stella (No MP - Cast 2.5 - CD; 30seconds) - Spread a targets combust and combust II to nearby enemies. Restore 5% MP.

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/im...ious_icon1.png - Collective Unconscious (No MP cost - CD: 90s - 15y) - Creates a wheel of fortune around the caster. Effect granted to party members upon entry differs depending on active Sect. Can only be executed when a Sect is active.

Refresh with a potency of 60

Effect ends upon using another action or moving.

• Diurnal - Regen with a Cure Potency of 200 (duration: 12 seconds)
• Noctural -Damage taken is reduced by 10% (duration: 12 seconds)

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/im...tion_icon1.png - Celestial Oppossition (No MP cost - CD:120s) - Stuns all nearby enemies. Duration: 4s (PvP 2s) Also extends duration of beneficial effects cast on self and party members by 5 seconds.

• Diurnal - Restores own and HP of nearby party members (Potency:350)
• Noctural - Damage taken of nearby party members is reduced by 10% for 10 seconds

Healing stances - Nocturnal & Diurnal

Still thinking a bit more about this - Need to do some potency crunching. Will edit later after work :).

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Just found this on another thread and, i think the individual card idea is pretty good, since well, we are buffers so we need to have full control on our buffs right?

Also, found this.
Although i don't quite agree with some of the timers or effects, this suggested changes are quite unique.

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Originally Posted by Brightshadow

I agree with Bmattattack, the job “NEEDS” its own identity because while in theory a hybrid healer seems like a great idea it’s actually not because you will always be subpar to the specialists. While the cards are a great idea it’s not part of their main role because first off there is no support role in the game, and our main job is to heal the party. The cards should remain a selling point of the job; however, they also need a unique healing style that is on-par with their competition. Sure we will never be as good as the white mage in the healing department because they are the standard healer, but we need to be on par with Scholar because they are basically bringing the same utility as us just in a different way since they deal damage and use their fairies to make up the difference. Here is a new healing/skill kit which I think could potentially solve the identity crisis the job is currently up against. The new kit is supposed to make them a quick/time based healer that uses Healing overtime to give them the opportunity to focus more on providing their secondary role (Cards) to the group. The New/Changed Mechanics have been bolded and changed to a green text. New Spells are in a blue font.

1. Malefic (Level 1)
-Unchanged

2. Benefic (Level 2)
-Restores target’s HP. Cure Potency: 300. Additional Effect: Grants a healing over time effect with a cure potency of 150 to target for 12s.

3. Combust (Level 4)
-Unchanged

4. Lightspeed (Level 6)
-Reduces MP cost for spells by 25% and cast times for spells by 2.5 seconds. Additional Effect: Removes the GCD of all spells. (NO PENALTY)
-Cooldown Reduced to 120s

5. Luminiferous Aether (Level 8)
-Removes the MP cost of all spells. Additional Effect: Gradually creates a storage of MP based on the amount of healing you output while under the effect of Luminiferous Aether. The stored MP is transferred to your MP pool when the “sublimation” ability is used.

6. Sublimation (Level 8)(NON-REPLACMENT)
-Transfers the MP stored from the status effect “Sublimation” This ability can only be used if you are in possession of the Sublimation status effect the storage remains on your status bar until used, K.O., or if level sync is used.

7. Helios (Level 10)
-Grants yourself and all nearby party member a healing over time effect with a cure potency of 200 to targets for 30s.

8. Rewind (Level 12) (Replaced: Ascend)
-Resurrects target to a weakened state.

9. Swiftly Forward (Level 15) (Replaced: Essential Dignity)
-Transforms the “Regen” status effect on the target into an instant HP recovery cure equaling the amount of HP intended for the healing overtime effect. (Maximum Healing Potency: 1000)
-Recast: 40 Seconds

10. Expel (Level 18) (Replaced: Exalted Detriment)
-Removes a single detrimental effect from target.

11. Stella (Level 22)
-Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 100. Additional Effect: Inflicts target with slow +20% for 12s. (Effect gets weaker with each application)

12. Benefic II (Level 26)
-Restores target’s HP. Cure Potency: 400. Additional Effect: Grants the target “Energize” which is a status effect which provides an instant healing effect with a potency of 200 when the status effect expires. (Energize 6s)

13. Draw (Level 30)
-Ewer: Refreshes target’s TP & MP.
-Spire: Increases Critical Hit Rate

14. Diurnal Sect (Level 30)
-While in this stance your Casting Speed increases by 10%. Cannot be used with Nocturnal Sect. Effect ends upon reuse.

15. Stop (Level 34) (Replaced: Aspected benefic)
-Freezes the enemy in place. Additional Effect: Time Compression (Prevents the reapplication of Stop for 60s) (Duration 4s) (Similar to Stun/Petrify but separate effect)

16. Royal Road (Level 35)
-Returns the currently drawn Arcanum back to your deck to enhance the effect of the next card. Additional Effect: Lowers the recast of the next draw to 15s.

17. Disable (Level 38)
-Reduces the potency of the target’s next special action or spell by 5%. Additional Effect: Pacification for 6s (Pacification useless on bosses)

18. Spread (Level 40)
-Unchanged

19. Helios II (Level 42)
-Restores own HP and the HP of all nearby party members (Cure Potency: 200). Additional Effect: Grants the party “Energize” which is a status effect which provides an instant healing effect with a potency of 100 when the status effect expires. (Energize 6s)

20. Shuffle (Level 45)
-Return the currently drawn Arcanum to your deck and draw another. Additional Effect: Cannot redraw the same card that was in your possession.

21. Gravity (Level 46) (Reassigned Level)
-Deals unaspected damage to a target and enemies near it with a potency of 200. Additional Effect: Heavy +40% for 10s

22. Nocturnal Sect (Level 50)
-While in this stance your Healing Potency increases by 10%. Cannot be used with Diurnal Sect. Effect ends upon reuse.

23. Synastry (Level 50)
-Generates an aetheric bond with target party member. Each time you cast a healing spell on a party member not under the effect of synastry, the party member with which you have the synastry bond will also recover HP equaling the same amount healed, and receive any cards/enhancements provided by the Astrologian.

24. Combust II (Level 52) (Reassigned Level)
-Unchanged

25. Malefic II (Level 54)
-Unchanged

26. Time Dilation (Level 56)
-Additional Effect: Allow it to work on all enhancements not just the user ones.

27. Collective Unconscious (Level 58)
-Creates a wheel of fortune around the caster stopping time allowing any beneficial effects used by the Astrologian to continue within the aura after they expire until the party member exits the aura or collective unconscious ends.

28. Celestial Opposition (Level 58)
-Creates a beacon of light Instantly Transforming any “Regen” status effect on the party into an instant HP recovery cure equaling the amount of HP intended for the healing overtime effect. (Maximum Healing Potency: 500)
-New Recast: 180s

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I'm curious, but what would happen if they just implemented the ability to stance dance in battle with Sects?

As it currently is the problem is they compete with the other two jobs, would this not remove that?

A healer that could cast regens, then swap to mitigate? This would essentially give more healing potential in Nocturnal, and more damage potential in Diurnal Sect too.

This would change AST from a pure healer in Diurnal that is weaker than WHM, and a mitigation healer in Nocturnal that is weaker than SCH, into more of a supportive and adaptive healer. We need to remember that WHM is still the indisputable champion of healing, whilst SCH is the indisputable champion of mitigation, so why not go for a job that can do both reasonably well whilst providing interesting support?

This change would make it a jack-of-all-trades, master of none kind of thing with a unique twist.

Edit; AND increase AOE heal range. >.<

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Originally Posted by Neo-Dark

I'm curious, but what would happen if they just implemented the ability to stance dance in battle with Sects?

As it currently is the problem is they compete with the other two jobs, would this not remove that?<

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No this would not fix this, the major problem with AST is a combination of 2 things. First is the lack of healing throughput CDs, AST has no way to "catch up" of things go south and very little in the way of burst healing aside from Swiftcast and ED. Second, the buffs they provide in the form of cards, don't make any meaningful difference in their current iteration. There is little to no impact from having used the core job ability. All stance dancing would do is make us run out of mp faster because we would want to use Aspected Benefict more, and at the current potencies, it is not very efficient. The stances were made so that we could fit into any group and not get excluded the WHM/WHM and SCH/SCH pairings used to.

It wouldn't really increase throughput if they could stance dance but it would allow the AST to keep their HOTS along with their mitigation; its similar to a SCH with eos. For example, if the WHM+AST combo is a thing inside... say A3S. The AST in Diurnal Sect cannot mitigate much damage during the phase where Cascade is a thing. It's like 18k HP unmitigated and immediately after doing it, he begins doing splash for more raid wide AoE Damage. Recovery time is pretty strict if no one dies. If he decides to go Noct Sect for A3S he is giving up a lot of curing power to be able to mitigate tethers in the tornado phase and cascade.

Stance dancing would allow that versatility when paired with a WHM. With a SCH, it's pretty much moot unless Collective Unconscious (Noct) and Sacred Soil stack.

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Originally Posted by Rewind

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/im...ella_icon1.png - Stella (No MP - Cast 2.5 - CD; 30seconds) - Spread a targets combust and combust II to nearby enemies. Restore 5% MP.

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This idea for Stella is an interesting one and something I hadn't considered. Since you learn Stella at level 22 it would start out working only with Combust which would keep it's power at a reasonable level for low level content, but then by level 46 its effectiveness passively increases to a substantial level. It would address a couple issues that I have with one being the lack of any AoE for level 50 content and also the lack of an MP efficient form of AoE damage. I do think it's a fun idea, but unfortunately it also sounds too good. While this version of Stella would be weaker than Bane and their "Holy" lacks utility, it's still quite a bit of power for a job that can also exponentially increase the output of one or more DPS using an AoE attack.

With that said, I do still think Stella should function as an AoE offensive spell. An idea I present earlier would be for it to work more or less like the Astrologian version of Shadow Flair. (The Heavy effect would be removed and given to Malefic, thus giving that spell a specific niche use after learning Malefic II.)

Stella - Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 50 to target and nearby enemies. Additional Effect: Unaspected damage over time w/ 20 Potency/30s Duration & Slow +5%

I know boosting the AoE damage of Astrologian is nowhere near the top of the of the priority list (and really this is less about boosting power and more about MP efficiency) but considering this is a wish list topic it is the kind of change that I wish will happen somewhere down the line.

I really like the Stella AoE spread thing. Also, mana yes please. I really hate the fact that I can't really do all that much damage without running into severe mana issues VERY quickly...
It kinda sucks going from SCH where I sit around in cleric for extended period of times and just goes out of it with barely any mana lost. But when I do the same on AST, I am at like 40-50%.
The AoE Combust from Stella sounds neat too. Stella looks really cool, it's one of the spells that stood out to me in the trailer ( I expected it to look larger tho, was a little disappointed. It looks WAY bigger in the trailer from what I remember. )...
It just sits there on my bar, begging to be used :((((.

Play PVP and you will use Stella constantly. I see you, SMNs, thinking your Sprint will save you...mwahahaha.

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Originally Posted by MidnightTundra

It wouldn't really increase throughput if they could stance dance but it would allow the AST to keep their HOTS along with their mitigation; its similar to a SCH with eos. For example, if the WHM+AST combo is a thing inside... say A3S. The AST in Diurnal Sect cannot mitigate much damage during the phase where Cascade is a thing. It's like 18k HP unmitigated and immediately after doing it, he begins doing splash for more raid wide AoE Damage. Recovery time is pretty strict if no one dies. If he decides to go Noct Sect for A3S he is giving up a lot of curing power to be able to mitigate tethers in the tornado phase and cascade.

Stance dancing would allow that versatility when paired with a WHM. With a SCH, it's pretty much moot unless Collective Unconscious (Noct) and Sacred Soil stack.

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The problem is, that versatility still really doesn't offer anything. For the ability to swap between a terrible single target HoT and an okay (but not quite as good as Medica II due to range issues) AoE HoT, you are still giving up Divine Seal, Presence of Mind (well, mostly, cards can cover for this RNG pending), Assize, Asylum, Fairy, Lustrate, Indomitable, Deployment Tactics just for the ability to....be able to cast weak HoTs or weaker bubbles?

As long as the AST is a "versatile" healer that is constantly pretending to be a WHM or SCH due to the stances, the class will always be in a constant state of flux where it ranges from being base overpowered compared to either/both other healers, or underpowered. The very first thing anyone should consider when thinking of fixing the AST is to first delete the 2 stances and turn them into (potentially mutually exclusive) cooldowns. The versatility of the class can be designed directly into the cards, as well, by simply changing the cards to have both offensive and defensive/utility power in each one.

I'd go a step further and completely redesign Synastry as the class mechanic by turning it into Beacon of Light, as I've stated in other threads. Beacon of Light is basically what Synastry is now, but is permanently up and reduces the mana cost of heals that target the Beacon target (and +10% healing apparently now as well). This would make the class a bit better at lightly healing the main tank while healing the group as well, makes the class good at healing the Syn target, and with 2 more buttons to push from not having terrible stances, the class would have the cooldowns it desperately needs to complement the completely RNG but more versatile/useful cards.

If you change RR to be a random mechanic chosen when you draw a card, and then make Shuffle/RR mutually exclusive that rerolls one or the other, and you no longer have to think about sacrificing cards to RR for greater benefit, but you still preserve the randomness of the class.

That's it, done. Alter the potencies as required for balance, but you now have:

• A versatile healer that
• Is its own healer apart from the others who
• Specializes in group utility as opposed to strict brute force healing or smart-cast healing with strong DPS.

This solves the greatest problem the AST has: As long as it has stances, even with the ability to stance swap, it will always be directly compared to the WHM/SCH.

If you kill the stances and design the class with a specific role in mind that is apart from the WHM/SCH, it can stand on its own, and suddenly becomes a choice instead of being strictly inferior or superior.

Though this doesn't do anything for CO/CU, those abilities just flat out need to be reworked as it is, with the goal for CU being: It must be so powerful that it is always the best ability to use for every GCD between start and end (unless something unrelated to its power forced you to stop channeling it) while CO needs to be something worthy of a 150s cooldown, which it just flat out isn't right now.

Personally, I'd start with combining CU's 2 effects into 1 (10% damage reduction and 200 health per tic), others have suggested shields and the like. For CO, I'd make it work like a group-wide Synastry, possibly at full potency, and make it insanely strong for group healing, but on a long, prohibitive cooldown.