Thank you for White Mage (also some thoughts on Ast)

First, I would like to thank the developers with the changes to White Mage, while it took me a few levels to get used to what it's expected of me as a healer with the new expansion. I must say in my 4-5 years running as a White Mage, this is the most fun I've had, to the point that I'm more comfortable with my skills as a player.

At first I was amazed at how many instant skills the kit holds now, but I find this to be to it's benefit; as it lends the class to be flexible on how and where to put attention.
It is incredibly rewarding to use Afflatus Misery for, not only being the strongest damage spell we have, but also for being won after a series of lillies used. And it's up to you as a player to know if you rather use all of your instant skills for dps purposes, or save it for heavy damage output to the benefit of your party.

Overall I am extremely happy where White Mage stands today, and I am having an incredible amounts of fun with the game.
So truly, thank you!

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With the recent changes to Ast, I feel as though it's an entirely new class. I had to relearn again the way players would benefit from having an Astrologian in their party and I believe it stands at odds with how the game asks us to be healers.

Most of the skills Astrologian's hold as of now serve to buff the party.
This new set up can be viable with a support healer, however in dungeons the lack of healing aid becomes more of a burden-- especially with bigger pulls.
Divination stands as it's own enemy, as the cooldown is quite long thus slowing down the buffing and being detrimental to Ast as their role as a buffer.

Even with the mentality of learning it as a new class, I don't find Astrologian to be as fun anymore. There feels no reward for constantly buffing the party and it's hard to maintain either way as I constantly have to spam healing spell for the lack of a backup plan heal.

I do not mind the changes to the cards, while I do feel their intricate designs are a bit wasted now-- I can easily work around their new system.
I, myself, find that the bigger problem of the class is the lack of ability to mantain a constant pace with active heals and buffing, letting the class have no real reward system and a lackluster healing capabilities for the amount of damage this new expansion gives.

Overall I still thank the team for the changes to White Mage.
I am still having a lot of fun with the class.

And I admit to not having a fully leveled Astrologian, despite being discouraged to level up the class for how relatively sad the class feels at the moment, it is my mistake try a comment fully upon it without the full experience.I won't give up on Astrologian any time soon, I still love how beautiful the skills look when casted but now it stands in a very odd middle.

I am usually very quiet about these things, yet I am very happy where White Mage stands right now so thank you very much and please don't change it!

I had mained as an AST since the beginning of HW, but I find it so disappointing to play now; I am doing a bunch of work for little to no pay off. The buff that the cards provide are minuscule especially for a one-target buff, and as stated above, Divination is a joke with the most infuriatingly long cooldown. There is no satisfaction in playing the class anymore. Granted, AST had problems before, but with weak buffs and weak heals, the class just seems kinda of... useless for a lack of a better word.

Because of that and how they have reworked WHM to be a powerhouse, I have now switched back to WHM as my main. So far, I have found WHM to be much more rewarding; I can keep up with the big pulls while it still being challenging at times without being extremely stressful. I find that I use most all my skills, and just in general it has had improvement and I will likely keep it as my main for the rest of the ShB MSQ.

I've always loved WHM, but this is definitely the best it's ever been. If there's one change I'd like to see, would be the two Afflatus heals changed to oGCD.

Whm feels great that I will agree, but saying Ast is amazing is a no. I mained it since HW. Even back when it first came out, and it feels like complete trash, and it's the weakest healer this expansion.

Actually i found ast to be easier to heal with oO. I think whm feels so sluggish - i can't do big pulls with it, though i had whm healing me just fine, when i run as tank, so i know whm is certainly capable - i can do big pulls with ast and sch, and I find sch to be easiest, but then again it's the healer i played 99% of the time, and is most comfortable with.
I'll cap out whm/ast too though, and try to improve with them, it's fun to swap Jobs from time to time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NorthernLadMSP

I've always loved WHM, but this is definitely the best it's ever been. If there's one change I'd like to see, would be the two Afflatus heals changed to oGCD.

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Emphatically, me too. I get so tripped up on it because every other class I've played spends their class points off the global. And on the one hand, I like that Afflatus grants WHM mobility (and allows for weaving), but on the other, WHM lacks in the off-global department and sometimes that makes it feel slow and inflexible.