The positive Astrologian thread!

People don't know the difference between criticism and bashing things with misinformation. People need to play AST better, that's a fact; just look at every thread about the job's flaws and at least half of the complaints will be based on bad examples of cooldown usage or dumb ways to apply the buffs. Most of the other half of the complains will be based on people assuming that AST needs to do something it doesn't, which is replace SCH or WHM in a party to perform the 2.x meta; that's also dumb, since a new job always requires new strategies. If you take that out of criticism, there's almost nothing left for debate. I don't think AST needs a reworking and I don't think it has problems that need immediate fixing; WHM and SCH also have "broken" aspects, like bad traits for example, and they do their job just fine.

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Originally Posted by TatoRazzino

People don't know the difference between criticism and bashing things with misinformation. People need to play AST better, that's a fact; just look at every thread about the job's flaws and at least half of the complaints will be based on bad examples of cooldown usage or dumb ways to apply the buffs. Most of the other half of the complains will be based on people assuming that AST needs to do something it doesn't, which is replace SCH or WHM in a party to perform the 2.x meta; that's also dumb, since a new job always requires new strategies. If you take that out of criticism, there's almost nothing left for debate. I don't think AST needs a reworking and I don't think it has problems that need immediate fixing; WHM and SCH also have "broken" aspects, like bad traits for example, and they do their job just fine.

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It's tough to argue against the math, Tato. I can't credibly claim that my raid group accurately represents most of the other groups out there, but our numbers are consistently higher when I or anyone else plays the SCH/WHM combo than with anything involving AST.

While you may or may not be tempted to throw the "well, the AST players need to get better" line, this experience is hardly unique on the forums. Many of us have been playing for over a year and have cleared every raid that the 2.x series had to offer. I seriously doubt that we collectively have a L2P issue when it comes to this Job. Much more likely that AST just produces less for equivalent effort. That is what I want to see addressed, as I believe that things are more fun with the Jobs in a given role at least have their own niches.

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Originally Posted by Assirra

Well might as well remove this thread since it turned into another criticism thread.

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I've been an active participant in the discussion of this thread for the last few pages. I don't see a reason to close down the thread because it hasn't been "yay, AST is awesome!", but at the same time there hasn't been any raw negativity either. It's been a fairly civil discussion regarding specific facts and opinions of AST. Most people who are passionately discussing AST-buffs do in fact enjoy AST, but they see some flaws that could use some obvious changes to make AST more competitive. I know I personally enjoy the job as a whole - AST is extremely engaging, challenging, and fun. I just wish the reward ratio was better for the amount of work I have to do.

To use another fighting game example - there will always be low tier and high tier characters. But a mark of good balance is when those low tier characters, despite being low tier, are still competitive in nature.

While the AST kit is functional, it would be doing it a disservice to say its competitive when compared to the items WHM and SCH bring to the table. The goal is to not bring AST to God-like levels that some pro-AST players believe the intent is, but to bring it up enough so that any combination of healers will function for any progression group looking at high end play. At that point, you leave it to the players to decide how they want to shape their group.

At this juncture we have seen about five to six A3S clears (the current highest cleared content) and unfortunately, none of them have seen an AST as far as I can see (though every other job / class in the game has had representation). This is indicative of ASTs competitiveness in the high-end progression scene and should indicate to S-E that a few small changes are required for AST.

To use a more specific example, let's consider a post from everyone's favorite poster on the forum:

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Originally Posted by Vlady

I do not understand your issue? I double astro heal A1-A4 without issue all the time. Also have enough mana to keep my 3 dots up along with the utility of our cards which from my own experiences is another 150-170 dps unless you get a unlucky spreak and pull nothing but bole. I easily contribute 200-300 dps from my dots and a malefic cast every now and then along with arrow/balance/spear on my brother who plays a machinist he normally clocks another 150-160 dps through an entire run which is on par with scholar personal dps.

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On SCH
I've clocked 520 personal DPS on Oppressor with Selene out and an i180 weapon in A1
I've clocked 800+ personal DPS in A2 using Selene and an i180 weapon
I've clocked about 420 DPS in A3 using Eos w/ 52% Overheal (which basically means I can afford to use Selene and be YAY, more buffs!) and an i180 weapon
^ All examples with me paired with a DF'd healing partner

If the best AST can bring to the table is 460 DPS which includes their buffs (and we seriously don't know how accurate that 150-160 additional DPS via buffs may actually be) and I can basically do that as a SCH alone and still continue to buff my party with Selene (who, if you look back at the last few pages of discussion, we've theorized can be between 90-180 group DPS), what does that speak of the dichotomy between AST and SCH?

Again, I will re-iterate. The "please-buff"-AST isn't looking for buffs to make AST God-like, they're looking for buffs to make them competitive with their WHM and SCH counterparts. Bonus points to S-E if they can continue to make AST healing even more unique too.

The Ewer card description was changed when it is applied to the Dark Knight. Anyone know yet what exactly was changed?

I got shamed for using Noc stance in A1 normal ._..

Sorry but call me bad call me stubborn IDC but if I'm paired with a whm I will go into noc stance. (and no the WHM did NOT carry I did most of the tank healing while they focused on party and I did the buffing (had to ewer the whm so many times because they kept going out of mana for some odd reason despite rarely any damage occuring, switched to regen stance due to the dps causing too many wipes however.)).

I had to solo heal my first A1 normal because the other healer dc'd at the beginning of the oppressor fight and noc stance was a life saver for topping the party off, I only ran out of mp towards the end when the fight was over.

The Ewer card description was changed when it is applied to the Dark Knight. Anyone know yet what exactly was changed?

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Originally Posted by Cynfael

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Your numbers will always be higher when you play WHM/SCH if you're using the 2.x meta strategies. Those strategies don't exist in the game code, but are emergent patterns of playstyle that come with time. If you apply the same strategies with AST, you won't get the same numbers. That's something true for every video game and it has nothing to do with the AST job. My raid group has been getting worse results in A1 Savage because I'm playing SCH. We can clear Faust, but my WHM healing style does not allow me breathing room to go into Cleric Stance. He's not using the 2.x meta, so the WHM/SCH pairing is hurting the group; with AST I'll be able to back him up more with heals and this will give us both breathing room to DoT. I have cleared everything there is to clear in 2.x with both WHM and SCH and have been playing AST since 3.0 early access.

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Originally Posted by Galadrium

The Ewer card description was changed when it is applied to the Dark Knight. Anyone know yet what exactly was changed?

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The Ewer card changed. It's not good on DRK anymore, because that MP draining stance you guys use prevents any MP refreshing.

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Originally Posted by Ghishlain

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This is something I think everyone needs to stop saying, in my opinion. In 2.x, DRG was the outcast that no one wanted in their raidgroups because it didn't add any raid utility and couldn't outdps anyone. Did they "fix" it? No. They made minor changes and addressed the broken parts – there were mechanics that made it impossible to clear because DRGs would die no matter what. That didn't make DRG competitive. Because it doesn't need to be. Raid progression groups, like I've been saying since forever, use 2.x metas, because it's easier and doesn't require any learning curve other than the fight itself. AST doesn't adapt in ANY way to the 2.x meta, and it doesn't have to adapt. It's FINE that there are no A3S clears with AST. There were A1S and A2S first week clears with AST. I daresay 90% of the groups won't get there no matter what you do. You could play Jesus with my group and they won't raise their DPS.

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Originally Posted by TatoRazzino

Your numbers will always be higher when you play WHM/SCH if you're using the 2.x meta strategies. Those strategies don't exist in the game code, but are emergent patterns of playstyle that come with time. If you apply the same strategies with AST, you won't get the same numbers. That's something true for every video game and it has nothing to do with the AST job. My raid group has been getting worse results in A1 Savage because I'm playing SCH. We can clear Faust, but my WHM healing style does not allow me breathing room to go into Cleric Stance. He's not using the 2.x meta, so the WHM/SCH pairing is hurting the group; with AST I'll be able to back him up more with heals and this will give us both breathing room to DoT. I have cleared everything there is to clear in 2.x with both WHM and SCH and have been playing AST since 3.0 early access.

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Still trying to go with that, "I played poorly on SCH, therefore AST is fine." argument, I see.

So, Tato, just to get this straight ... You want people to stop giving their opinion on why AST isn't fine, while you give your opinion on AST being fine? And you're also basing your argument that "AST is fine" around your specific raid group's DPS/healer being deficient at properly playing the meta to clear content?

Right ...

You're so quick to tell other people to "git gud" or "l2p" but you admit your own raid group isn't "git gud" since your WHM is incapable of solo-healing enough for you to properly use SCH. That doesn't mean "AST is fine" compared to WHM/SCH meta.

And by "metas" I don't mean the sole party composition, I mean everything. Raiders know that anything inside a raid group can make a difference between higher and lower numbers. During my T13 (pre-DF) progression, my group couldn't pass adds, no matter what we did; then, we tried something different: the OT would bring adds closer to cut some of the DPS moving around. That did the trick. Anything inside a raid can be reworked for better results. With WHM/SCH, it's easier to figure out these tiny details that make DPS go higher because we've done it 13 times over the past 2 years. The reason the other two new jobs require less group effort is obvious: tanking/dpsing playstyles usually don't affect the whole group, but healing does. It's more comfortable for a SCH to just go into Cleric and for a WHM to just bend themselves backwards to solo heal. With AST, WHMs have breathing room to DPS and, obviously, SCHs can't just hop into Cleric and forget everything.

I'm doing over 540 dps on Faust as SCH, and I only DPS for half of the fight, because my WHM partner can't handle solo healing Faust. During Oppressors, my WHM uses Cleric Stance everytime he sees me casting any healing spell. It's stressful, because SCHs don't have half of the AoE potency a WHM has. I'm not the best SCH, I know that, but I can't solo heal AND DPS AND support AND shield while my WHM is slacking. He can't even heal himself when he gets prey. His "healing" style doesn't allow any room for a SCH in the party. If he wants to DPS, then I'll let him. AST will make it easier for both of us.

I think Tato's situation is something that we actually need to experience ourselves. I'm quite interested in Tato's raid group's WHM healing style and what they're doing. If you could elaborate, Tato, that would be nice :o

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Originally Posted by GideonHighmourn

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You totally misread me, dude. I'll make myself clear: I don't think there is any reason for jobs to be "competitive". What does that even mean? There's no reason for different jobs to perform the same with the same strategies. The healing strategy "1 solo healing/1 dpsing" is always going to work better with WHM/SCH; there's no reason to make AST competitive in that field. If your group wants to do that, then go WHM/SCH. There's no reason to buff any job just because it doesn't fit in a specific strategy.

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Originally Posted by TatoRazzino

I'm doing over 540 dps on Faust as SCH, and I only DPS for half of the fight, because my WHM partner can't handle solo healing Faust. During Oppressors, my WHM uses Cleric Stance everytime he sees me casting any healing spell. It's stressful, because SCHs don't have half of the AoE potency a WHM has. I'm not the best SCH, I know that, but I can't solo heal AND DPS AND support AND shield while my WHM is slacking. He can't even heal himself when he gets prey. His "healing" style doesn't allow any room for a SCH in the party. If he wants to DPS, then I'll let him. AST will make it easier for both of us.

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That has nothing to do with "the meta" or why AST is/isn't better or on-par with other healers. You're just telling us that your WHM is playing poorly and needs you to make up for his slack.

You may as well play two WHM at that point.

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What does that even mean? There's no reason for different jobs to perform the same with the same strategies.

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And this is what you misunderstand. No one is asking for AST to perform exactly the same function in the previous meta that WHM/SCH would have. They're asking for them to be able to match/compete with their own meta. Currently, AST doesn't compete in the previous meta or create their own, new meta which can compete with the previous one. This is what leads to AST not being taken in progression groups.

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Originally Posted by Ghishlain

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Read the OP.
This thread was about posting the things we love about about the astrologian.
This was not about a "civil discussion" you got enough threads for that.
So yea, this thread has converter from "hey let's talk positive to yet another discussion thread and hereby lose it's meaning.

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Originally Posted by Assirra

Read the OP.

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To be fair, the OP kind of went along with the topic change in the last several pages of the thread.

Regardless of what the intended topic was ...

I still really enjoy AST. I played today a bit in the roulettes, and was having a particularly lucky streak with Draw. Kind of made me smile for a bit; it was a nice departure from drawing Ewer/Spire/Spear constantly!

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Originally Posted by GideonHighmourn

And this is what you misunderstand. No one is asking for AST to perform exactly the same function in the previous meta that WHM/SCH would have. They're asking for them to be able to match/compete with their own meta. Currently, AST doesn't compete in the previous meta or create their own, new meta which can compete with the previous one. This is what leads to AST not being taken in progression groups.

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Yeah, I'd like to see a situation where WHM/AST is useful, letting the WHM do the bulk of the direct healing while the AST boosts the group DPS significantly and provides damage mitigation (disable/shields) and/or emergency heals.

The problem is that even with something like that, the SCH would still end up doing it better right now.

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Originally Posted by GideonHighmourn

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People are asking that in almost all threads, Gideon, and most of them are not even trying to learn AST properly. There are people saying that the only thing that raises dps is an Enhanced Balance and that they're having trouble setting that combo. That's basically the worst possible strategy for cards to be used; there's only like 3% chance you'll get that combo in two Draws. Another example: people get a Bole and say it's shit when there's no tank buster. They don't realize that, by using the Bole during normal damage, gives you (or your healing partner) breathing room to conserve MP or DPS - that's value right there. It's like saying that a crit Adlo when there's no tank buster is shit because you don't need that for regular damage. You, as a main SCH, knows that the purpose of the double shielding in Adlo is not to shield tank busters; your regular Adlo has to be enough, otherwise your tank will get busted like 70% of the time.

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Originally Posted by TataRazzino

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Once again, your default argument goes right back to "l2p", which has absolutely nothing to do with how the class performs in the previous meta, or how it fails to create it's own.

Even in all the best possible scenarios for AST, they currently do not fit into the previous meta or create their own, new meta that can compete with the previous meta. This is why progression groups don't bring AST.

This is the point (or underlying problem) most people are trying to make about AST, even if they don't explicitly state it.

Yes, of course, when they use AST as if it were a WHM/SCH in the previous meta it's not going to perform properly. Why do people do that? Because AST doesn't create it's own, new meta that can compete with the previous one. Which is why people don't take AST on progression. Which is why people complain.

(EDIT: This will be my last response of this manner in this thread. I've tried to stay on-topic, but I get really irritated when people's immediate defense of a class or response to concern is that people need to "l2p" or "gg get carried".)

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Originally Posted by TatoRazzino

People are asking that in almost all threads, Gideon, and most of them are not even trying to learn AST properly. There are people saying that the only thing that raises dps is an Enhanced Balance and that they're having trouble setting that combo. That's basically the worst possible strategy for cards to be used; there's only like 3% chance you'll get that combo in two Draws.

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Sure, but that's kinda their point...it's so rare that you'll get something impactful that it's almost comical.

Yes, the other cards CAN have utility, but you'll likely not get them at times when it'd matter, and pretty much every single effect can be done better and/or more reliably by other classes.

(I still think it'd be cooler if the deck behaved like an actual deck and you had to cycle through all the cards before re-shuffling and getting a new set, or something similar.)

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Originally Posted by Parawill

I think Tato's situation is something that we actually need to experience ourselves. I'm quite interested in Tato's raid group's WHM healing style and what they're doing. If you could elaborate, Tato, that would be nice :o

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I can. Basically, my WHM loves his new DPS skills and wants to use them as much as possible. WHM is quite powerful now, with three DoTs (200/250/290 potency), two off GCD skills (150/300 potency) and a new main burst spell (210 potency). I, as AST, can apply three DoTs as well (200/240/450 potency) and use a 200 burst. Since no one needs to solo heal with AST there, we both can DPS now and then and have fun. The cards will provide utility and we can split DPS in too and, with a little work, we can reach the numbers a SCH can reach on his own. If he was solo healing, I believe SCH would be better, but he's not; he can, but he doesn't want to. He got new toys in the expansion, let him play with them, you know?

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Originally Posted by GideonHighmourn

Once again, your default argument goes right back to "l2p", which has absolutely nothing to do with how the class performs in the previous meta, or how it fails to create it's own.

Even in all the best possible scenarios for AST, they currently do not fit into the previous meta or create their own, new meta that can compete with the previous meta. This is why progression groups don't bring AST.

This is the point (or underlying problem) most people are trying to make about AST, even if they don't explicitly state it.

Yes, of course, when they use AST as if it were a WHM/SCH in the previous meta it's not going to perform properly. Why do people do that? Because AST doesn't create it's own, new meta that can compete with the previous one. Which is why people don't take AST on progression. Which is why people complain.

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Exactly this. I'll happily eat my foot if someone can detail a new, effective strategy exclusive to or simply optimal for AST that allows it to shine as well as the other two healers do.

Despite the fact that AST indisputably has its own style (despite big chunks of the kit being derivative of WHM and SCH), it doesn't seem to produce any superior result for skillful gameplay. You can make great calls, have your mental flowchart of card usage depending on situation and party comp up and running, and you can even be favored by RNG and still fall a little short of what an equally skilled SCH or WHM would contribute. I really don't believe at this point that this new meta for AST exists, at least not until a few more tweaks happen.

This thread derailed hard.

I don't mind civil discussion if we can keep it civil, and still talk about the things that are great. The AST needs help posts are kind of beating a dead horse, positive solutions would be a better topic. And for those of us that are doing A1S as astrologians, any tips and tricks we find to share would be a boon to us all as well. Sunday night on oppressor I wasn't feeling to positive about being able to clear as AST, but Monday night I felt it was within my reach, granted we are still learning it, and overall only have a few hours of practice in over a couple nights.

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Originally Posted by Ariel_Valmont

I don't mind civil discussion if we can keep it civil, and still talk about the things that are great. The AST needs help posts are kind of beating a dead horse, positive solutions would be a better topic. And for those of us that are doing A1S as astrologians, any tips and tricks we find to share would be a boon to us all as well. Sunday night on oppressor I wasn't feeling to positive about being able to clear as AST, but Monday night I felt it was within my reach, granted we are still learning it, and overall only have a few hours of practice in over a couple nights.

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Well, I really, really love the idea of a healer with strong support and proactive skills, if that's any help! :D

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Originally Posted by TatoRazzino

You totally misread me, dude. I'll make myself clear: I don't think there is any reason for jobs to be "competitive". What does that even mean?

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Take a moment to consider the wealth of other mmorpg's on the market, and how many classes some of them have. In fact, let's look at World of Warcraft, because it's the closest example I can think of. Boo and hiss all you like if that's your gut reaction, but hold your horses. When you reach a point where the number of classes of a given "role" or "job" in raid content exceeds the minimum demanded, everyone starts to look at what they believe the most effective selection is, not that which is merely adequate, unless their approach is of a more casual nature. Of course not that WoW suffers this issue quite so much due to larger raid sizes, but it was still an isue (at least up to the introduction of variable size raiding perhaps - I don't know, I wasn't there for that). Anyhow, let's say for example you had chosen to play a particular job at a time when it was at its weakest. WoW has always had those cycles - one as king of the hill, one sitting down at the bottom crying itself to sleep, and the rest all somewhere between. It's not easy to balance so many classes.

Oh, even better yet, forget WoW. Here's one that should be a lot closer to home for a great many here. Final Fantasy XI (w/ a whopping 22 jobs). I played that game on and off all throughout its lifespan so far, and it's painfully obvious that Square has had a hard time keeping all of the jobs relevant. Red Mage was my baby, but its glory days have long been over, and even with the new toys they have given it, its desirability is nothing like it used to be. Geomancer, one of the newer jobs, has had to receive continual adjustment to make it desirable (I still don't know if it's there yet, it's been at least 6 months since I played last), because Square made the mistake of creating the insanely powerful Empyrean Weapon that made a 4 song bard irreplaceable.

Being competitive is all about being valued equally, and when a class (in this case job) is not, you see them being left out in favor of what people discover works -best- , specifically during progression where it's most important for those with a drive to succeed at the earliest possible attempt. This isn't anything new to 14 either. The DPS were victims of such scrutiny in coil.

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Originally Posted by Assirra

Read the OP.
This thread was about posting the things we love about about the astrologian.
This was not about a "civil discussion" you got enough threads for that.
So yea, this thread has converter from "hey let's talk positive to yet another discussion thread and hereby lose it's meaning.

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I would like to point out that the OP and I have had a few discussions on those last few pages and he's agreed with some of what I've said and I've agreed with some of what he says.

And between the OP and I, despite the RNG buff factor, we enjoy the job, based on the way we've responded to each other.

Again, while the discussion wasn't "OMG YAY AST IS AWESOME!" it was still a discussion stating the pros and cons of the job and how fun the job still is regardless.

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Originally Posted by TatoRazzino

This is something I think everyone needs to stop saying, in my opinion. In 2.x, DRG was the outcast that no one wanted in their raidgroups because it didn't add any raid utility and couldn't outdps anyone. Did they "fix" it? No. They made minor changes and addressed the broken parts – there were mechanics that made it impossible to clear because DRGs would die no matter what. That didn't make DRG competitive. Because it doesn't need to be. Raid progression groups, like I've been saying since forever, use 2.x metas, because it's easier and doesn't require any learning curve other than the fight itself. AST doesn't adapt in ANY way to the 2.x meta, and it doesn't have to adapt. It's FINE that there are no A3S clears with AST. There were A1S and A2S first week clears with AST. I daresay 90% of the groups won't get there no matter what you do. You could play Jesus with my group and they won't raise their DPS.

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As you've rightfully pointed out, DRGs were excluded from progression content because their Magic Defense prevented them from being able to survive certain attacks. S-E fixed those issues, and thus made them more acceptable. While NIN and MNK were both more sought after, now DRG isn't being left in the sidelines due to infeasibility.

The idea for the AST changes isn't to necessarily make them sought after, but instead to make them viable. I don't think AST is as infeasible in the current meta as DRG was at the onset of Final Coil, but there needs to be some changes to make them more desirable.

The fact that there hasn't been a single AST clear in A3S yet indicates a very low desirability for AST. This may change this week, but if we don't see an AST clear this week for A3S, that is a very negative sign for AST players.

Gideon and Cynfael spoke it best and I agree with their point - show us a strategy that can become mainstream that pushes AST's strengths to the forefront of a new healing meta. That's when we can say AST doesn't need any help.

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Originally Posted by TatoRazzino

People are asking that in almost all threads, Gideon, and most of them are not even trying to learn AST properly. There are people saying that the only thing that raises dps is an Enhanced Balance and that they're having trouble setting that combo. That's basically the worst possible strategy for cards to be used; there's only like 3% chance you'll get that combo in two Draws. Another example: people get a Bole and say it's shit when there's no tank buster. They don't realize that, by using the Bole during normal damage, gives you (or your healing partner) breathing room to conserve MP or DPS - that's value right there. It's like saying that a crit Adlo when there's no tank buster is shit because you don't need that for regular damage. You, as a main SCH, knows that the purpose of the double shielding in Adlo is not to shield tank busters; your regular Adlo has to be enough, otherwise your tank will get busted like 70% of the time.

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I don't recommend you broadly generalize the many players on this forum as "not trying to learn" how to play AST. Most of us understand the capabilities of each card and how it may best fit with a particular party composition. Some are more obvious than others (Balance and Arrow versus Spear), but many of us recognize that all cards have some value - and that value changes positively or negatively based on your party composition, the existing battle scenario, and resources available.

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Originally Posted by Ariel_Valmont

I don't mind civil discussion if we can keep it civil, and still talk about the things that are great. The AST needs help posts are kind of beating a dead horse, positive solutions would be a better topic. And for those of us that are doing A1S as astrologians, any tips and tricks we find to share would be a boon to us all as well. Sunday night on oppressor I wasn't feeling to positive about being able to clear as AST, but Monday night I felt it was within my reach, granted we are still learning it, and overall only have a few hours of practice in over a couple nights.

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I'd personally like to see Draw reduced to 20s. I think that would alleviate a lot of the "buffs aren't effective" concerns without actually boosting the card buffs to unsustainable value.

Oh, and I do like the AST weapons.

In general, I would prefer staves, but I hate how WHM holds theirs. As if they're trying to choke it to death.

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Originally Posted by Bovinity

Oh, and I do like the AST weapons.

In general, I would prefer staves, but I hate how WHM holds theirs. As if they're trying to choke it to death.

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I think out of the three healers, the aesthetics of the AST in regards to weapons, animations of casting spells and the visual spell effects themselves are the best.

Fun things to do on AST? When running through trash on the Vault and you give your tank Enhanced Bole + Diurnal Aspected Benefic + Diurnal Aspected Helios then Time Dilation all that followed by Collective Unconsciousness. Sit pretty and whistle for a bit. See a big orange AoE under you? Shrug it off because the damage is healed in the next six seconds.

Sweet sweet HoT stacking~

http://i.imgur.com/WRKZCsc.gif

Has anyone mentioned astrologions amazing auto attack animation? The Backhand!

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Originally Posted by Ariel_Valmont

Has anyone mentioned astrologions amazing auto attack animation? The Backhand!

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Death by thousand paper cuts.

.... that actually sounds pretty scary >>;

I don't know but somehow AST is kinda buffed in frontline. Your know they keep spam Noct Aspected Benefic unlike SCH that need cast to Adloquium.

Got a compliment today from a Drk that I was the best AST he ever ran with. Later said..."no really," he said, "you are good."

Keep shining fellow ASTs. One by one we'll eventually change the perception. Kinda just like the AST storyline actually. :)

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Originally Posted by Galadrium

Got a compliment today from a Drk that I was the best AST he ever ran with. Later said..."no really," he said, "you are good."

Keep shining fellow ASTs. One by one we'll eventually change the perception. Kinda just like the AST storyline actually. :)

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I know this thread was founded on bricks of sunshine and panes of rose-tinted glass, but the negative perception will change as soon as the real fixes come. In-universe AST is a surprisingly great healer and a kicker of much ass; actual AST has yet to live up to this expectation.

You know things are bad when it's not at all uncommon to see players react in shock when they meet an AST whom they find to be genuinely good.

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Originally Posted by DarkmoonVael

I think out of the three healers, the aesthetics of the AST in regards to weapons, animations of casting spells and the visual spell effects themselves are the best.

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I agree. I've played every class/job and I find AST to be the most visually appealing in terms animations. Also, dat eso gear is amazing.

Whether or not one person in this thread continually berates everyone else with L2P, the truth is plain to see.

The numbers are in,
The job is not performing up to par, and SE is balancing it to that end.

You should look into your disconnect from reality.
Or did you think WAR was great in 2.0 and berated them all for being SO bad, blah blah create own meta blah blah.


If you take an AST into progression you lose out, it's currently "challenge mode" to roll with an AST in progression, and that is definitely not where any class should be. The benefits do not outweigh the costs.

With 3 healers and 3 tanks available now, the meta should be "encounter specific combinations tailored to said encounter", for tanks this already happens. For healers? "There's a third healer now? I didn't realize."