AST MP cost for a spell

I juat realised that the MP cost for AST spell is almost the same with SCH and WHM.
The cost is around 10% lower compared to WHM and SCH (lower cost is only applicable for Benefic 2, Helios, and Asp. Helios).

AST should have lower MP cost for its spell due to limited option to regain MP (also no MP from Ewer anymore).

Maybe reduce the MP cost for all AST spell (include damage spell) to around 25%?
Or
Give us an additional way to gain some mp back (like 5% MP gained from using Play?)

Ref:
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/jobguide/astrologian/
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/jobguide/whitemage/
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/jobguide/scholar/

Our MP costs are actually slightly higher due to SCH and WHM having about 0.0908s (at least I think it's about that long) animation lock per Broil/Glare.
Malefic costs 160mp/s
Broil/Glare costs 154.4mp/s
Not a massive amount, but it adds up over the course of a 11-14 minute raid fight.

AST has quite a few instant heals along with Lightspeed as well, so although it's MP requires a little attention it can't be that bad when some players are solo healing certain Eden Savage raids.

whm can run savage with less than 800 piety, same with scholar. meanwhile you need at the vwry least 1200 mp to function as ast in a speedkill situation. and thats just bare minimum. i have 1500 piety and i can only raise once or i run out of mp. thats not "a little attention" considering its hundreds of substats wasted into piety， not to mention it makes progging as ast awful

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kurando

AST has quite a few instant heals along with Lightspeed as well, so although it's MP requires a little attention it can't be that bad when some players are solo healing certain Eden Savage raids.

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Lightspeed doesn't help as much as you think it does. Yes, MP costs are lower, but mp is still ticking down, it's not thin air where MP is completely free. AST also has no way of recovering mp outside of lucid dreaming, compare that to WHM who has assize or SCH who has aetherflow + 3( or 6 if dissipation is up) stacks of energy drain they can use.

I do notice the mana costs feel a bit heavy when I try to use Nocturnal Sect as AST. I think that one could use a mana refund mechanic when a barrier is fully used up. Of course, an internal cooldown of maybe 10 - 20s may be needed so Aspected Helios doesn't become busted with it. The Neutral Sect barrier from Diurnal Sect doesn't need this from what I gather.

The play card spell granting some mana for both sects I could get behind.

Not to mention SCH big heals use a different resources than MP, Aetherflow helps pump out extra heals as well as other ways to mitigate damage along with LD.
WHM has Thin Air for legit no MP cost for about ~10 seconds, Assize for weak DPS, Heal AND MP gain alongside freecure procs (15% is very low but a proc is a proc) and most of all Lilies which gives WHM 3 MP Free heals along with LD
AST? Lightspeed for half MP cost and LD for MP regen. That's it. No more Ewer and no more Buff Duration extension from old CO Effect. Even though you have Lightspeed, you're still using MP albeit half the cost. AST also lost MA Lady healing as their 'free' heals

AST got the short end of the stick this expansion. Durations got slashed, potencies still needs a few tweaks, cards and divination still needs tweaks as well. If Time Dilation and CO Buff duration extension came back, AST would feel better to play IMO especially so since it was such an integral part not only for their kit (Moreso now with these low durations) but also for their Identity as an Emissary of Time and Space.

AST MP management is really just fine for me. From E1S-E3S I don't think I ever even need to cast Helios, in fact, both Helios and Benefic are no longer on my main bar.

https://i.imgur.com/Tobov7z.png

I haven't needed to think about piety, the only part of E4S that's giving me heal issues is the mass spike in raidwide in phase 3...and I mean that's gonna be more setting my skills up to go off during rather than MP management.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kurando

AST has quite a few instant heals along with Lightspeed as well, so although it's MP requires a little attention it can't be that bad when some players are solo healing certain Eden Savage raids.

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Yes, but "this works fine in savage raids so it should work everywhere" isn't necessarily a good balancing approach. I actually think AST's mana situation is sometimes worse in easier content, because you get a wider variety of player skill levels there, so the damage is less predictable.

That said, I kind of agree that AST's mana issues aren't that bad at the moment, as long as you remember to use lucid dreaming. (Nocturnal has a much bigger issue than diurnal, but then nocturnal has a lot of issues.)

There are only two real problems I have.

First, mana restrictions mean AST is less able to cope with unexpected disasters than the other healers. The most fun I have on SCH and WHM is when something goes completely haywire and I get to heroically fix the situation. On AST, I'm much less able to do that.

Second---okay, the thing is I don't actually have a problem with AST having a mana shortage. Different strengths and weaknesses for different healers, and all that. But I think weaknesses should be interesting. If AST is going to have a mana shortage, then it should be part of a whole mana-management playstyle. Instead of having the same mana regen as other healers and fewer abilities to regain it, it should have lower base regen and more abilities to regain it.