Lightspeed sucks

Amazing in PvP
Amazing for FATEs
Gives you very good kiting potential for its duration.

But when it comes to "Real" content its lackluster compared to the other Healer's cooldowns. After the very useful first instant heal, its just a -25% potency for 15 seconds.

Old WHMs are very used to "Move Casting". In most situations, 1 instant Heal is enough. I would of preferred a second swift-cast on a shorter cool-down over lightspeed.

Maybe this ability is just designed for Easy FATE/PVP?. Its kind of like the Surecast of AST (actually its not that bad) useful in very situational times, good for the first instant cast.
But its not very good every single time like PoM,DS, Illumination are.

AST is already more mobile then WHM with Aspect benefic and Dignity.

Don't understand the need to attach -25% potency to this ability, it already has 150 sec cooldown.
I would like if they added 50% Reduced mana cost for its duration.

p.s was there really a need for the enhanced disable trait? why isn't disable just 10% to begin with ffs. No need to waste a trait. Could of been enhanced light-speed: give an additional effect to light-speed or removed the healing penalty.

Haha, title: "Lightspeed sucks" text: "Actually, it's not that bad." Make up your mind :P

It's a buff, so you can cancel it anytime you want to. you hit it oGCD, hit a heal to instantcast it, then cancel before you cast the next one. It's like the scathe of healing.

EDIT: And if you think it's bad, compare it to Presence of Mind... It's about the same, no?

Well basically Lightspeed is crap version of swiftcast for most endgame situations. There may be that occasional situation where you need to heal on the move for more than 1 cast.

Presence of mind increases your HPS and DPS output every time you use it. (even letting you cure spam instead of cure 2 to save mana)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nyalia

EDIT: And if you think it's bad, compare it to Presence of Mind... It's about the same, no?

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Presence of Mind and Lightspeed have 2 main differences:
1) Presence of Mind doesn't lower Potency.
2) Presence of Mind Increases Spell Speed by 20%, while Lighspeed decreases the cast time by 2.5 seconds.

Lightspeed is "better" for normal spells that have 2 second cast times, while Presence of Mind is better for spells with longer cast times.
I do agree with sharazisspecial that SE should have added a reduction in MP cost on Lightspeed though.

I only ever use Lightspeed when I'm DPSing and have Ewer at the time. >3>

*EDIT*
Something else, I forgot to mention about Presence of Mind is that because it boosts Spell Speed, it will increase the speed of your ticks on your DoT and HoTs.

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Originally Posted by Mimilu

*EDIT*
Something else, I forgot to mention about Presence of Mind is that because it boosts Spell Speed, it will increase the speed of your ticks on your DoT and HoTs.

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That's incorrect. The skill only effects Cast Times, lowering them by 20%. It doesn't increase the "Spell Speed" stat on the attributes window anymore. Similar to the new Selene buff, it acts as a "haste" effect, but doesn't effect the actual spell speed stat.

Also, Light Speed is great for a spell like Stoneskin or Ascend, however, using it on heals is fighting an uphill battle. While it lowers the cast time, it doesn't effect the GCD (AFAIK), coupled with the -25% potency decrease, you're fighting an uphill battle trying to keep up with damage. It allows more front-loaded healing, but overall, it's a lower amount. You're better off using Benefic II or Helios without Lightspeed if the damage incoming is that high. The only time I'd say it's useful with heals, is if you've somehow allowed the tank to drop below a manageable HP level; however, Swiftcast+Benefic II or Essential Dignity would be a better option in this case, or Aspected Benefic (since it's an instant cast).

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Originally Posted by GideonHighmourn

That's incorrect. The skill only effects Cast Times, lowering them by 20%. It doesn't increase the "Spell Speed" stat on the attributes window anymore. Similar to the new Selene buff, it acts as a "haste" effect, but doesn't effect the actual spell speed stat.

Also, Light Speed is great for a spell like Stoneskin or Ascend, however, using it on heals is fighting an uphill battle. While it lowers the cast time, it doesn't effect the GCD (AFAIK), coupled with the -25% potency decrease, you're fighting an uphill battle trying to keep up with damage.

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Really? I could have sworn Presence did Spell Speed. Maybe they changed it during the patch?

Also, because you'll be spamming spells after using Lightspeed, you'll burn through more MP. Having said that, Luminiferous Aether does have an advantage over Shroud of Saints, only having a 120 CD versus Saint's 180 CD.

Ive been adamant about not buffing AST healing output.

But im not against QoL changes. Giving Light speed 50% mana cost reduction. Just to make it less situational and less "use it for one cast then right click it off" lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mimilu

Really? I could have sworn Presence did Spell Speed. Maybe they changed it during the patch?

Also, because you'll be spamming spells after using Lightspeed, you'll burn through more MP. Having said that, Luminiferous Aether does have an advantage over Shroud of Saints, only having a 120 CD versus Saint's 180 CD.

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Fairly certain. I tested it after the patch, and it decreased CDs by 20% but the Spell Speed stat in the attributes page stayed static.

Have u even considered its use in mass dungeon pulls.
Lightspeed + gravity with CS=
King of aoe damage.
If they didnt nerf caster aoes then lightspeed would do so much dmg in tht 1 action.
Use ewer / enhanced to lighten the mp spam.
Ppl just straight out assume its ONLY for healing purposes cuz they like o all our dmg is dots lol

God like for stoneskinning party in fights

Stoneskin 2 < lightspeed + stoneskin.
Saving it for just heal spam is bad lol ( -25% ) kinda tells u "hey, u shouldn't be spamming tht with helios etc or else the heals will be pitiful lol "

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Originally Posted by Yumi_umi

Have u even considered its use in mass dungeon pulls.
Lightspeed + gravity with CS=
King of aoe damage.
If they didnt nerf caster aoes then lightspeed would do so much dmg in tht 1 action.
Use ewer / enhanced to lighten the mp spam.
Ppl just straight out assume its ONLY for healing purposes cuz they like o all our dmg is dots lol

God like for stoneskinning party in fights

Stoneskin 2 < lightspeed + stoneskin.
Saving it for just heal spam is bad lol ( -25% ) kinda tells u "hey, u shouldn't be spamming tht with helios etc or else the heals will be pitiful lol "

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The -25% applies to Gravity, as well. Fairly certain that's a waste of MP. It'd be like casting it without Cleric Stance (almost).

While SS+Lightspeed seems useful, it's awful for MP/HP efficiency. Especially on low-HP targets like DPS.

The uses for Lightspeed seem very very situational and limited in capacity. Everyone I know playing AST has avoided using it, myself included.

Lightspeed's potency reduction is not very appealing, but it can still be useful in a healing-intensive situation. In a DPS perspective, it's great for kiting or for using gravbombs (if you use Ewer on yourself, you won't be wasting mana per say).

The healing reduction might be yucky, but it's definitely a skill that should not be overlooked if the situation arises that you need to quickly turn a fight around in your favor.

Has anybody tested out if its an insta-Raise with Lightspeed?

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Originally Posted by Nicolepwned

Has anybody tested out if its an insta-Raise with Lightspeed?

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It's obviously not. Lightspeed reduces cast time by 2.5s. You get a somewhat faster Raise, but it still takes time.

I don't see how reducing your damage by 25% makes you "king of aoe damage".

Gravity is 2.5 seconds cast as well

Theres no reason to cast LS unless you want to slip and slide around the battlefield while doing less damage.

I've only used it in a few situations:

1) Soloing and kiting.
2) Healing the group/tank while having to move to avoid AoEs.
3) Raising (if Swiftcast is on cooldown)

Its not useless, and it doesn't suck, its just not that strong most of the time. I use it if the, rare, situation calls for it. Otherwise I ignore it. If it reduced mana cost by a whole 50% it might be too powerful honestly. 25% would probably be good enough, especially since you can use Ewer.

It's handy if you're in a situation where you need to do a *lot* of movement (which is almost never) or if people are dying way too much. The potency penalty is really weird considering it's not a potency buff otherwise.
That said, there's exactly one place where it's actually part of my strategy: Using the Nascar strategy to kite the adds around when fighting the Myrmidon Princess in Cutter's Cry. Lightspeed lets you do a much better job of healing if the rest of the party has trouble for whatever reason while the ants are busy chasing you around.

Maybe SE could do a little adjust for Lightspeed:
On diurnal, you get no penalty on heals and on noturnal you get no penalty on damage. Or vice versa...

{stoneskin}{please use it}

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Originally Posted by Parapluies

{stoneskin}{please use it}

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Very expensive (almost as much as Helios)
Poor HP/M , weak enough that its situational alot of times. AST now has the worst HPM and mana return of the Healers. So they cant be afford to be doing this.
This may change at 60 with the new hp totals.

GCDs are not being reduced either. So you are giving up alot of full GCDs.
In nocturnal stance you have access to a "light speed stone-skin" with Aspect benefic , its cheaper and has a heal attached too.

Stoneskin has its use in Diurnal stance as a tank (or red circle loving dps) effective hp increase, but its not like you need to lightspeed to do this. As Whms have shown before.

It is going to be amazing for end game raiding. Iit lets you cast any amount of skills while running during mechanics; if you don't need it for 15 seconds you can click it off after needed amount.

As I have posted previously in a thread - T9 it works wonders for aoe healing during mario kart method, there are things like shiva as well where a lot of tanks die due to healers in transit and that's where Astro can fit in with lightspeed like a charm.

Speed run buffing

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Originally Posted by Sylkis

Speed run buffing

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Only long term buffs are still SS and Prot, Prot you could do, but SS is 3 second cast, so you can't cast it while running with Lightspeed on. Stopping even just to cast that will likely make you lose LoS on the tank.

My problem with Lightspeed was that it was too situational compared to the other healers major cooldowns.
Speed run buffing(would not even play AST in speed runs to begin with)
Stoneskin cast reduction

These are things that are just a bit of convenience .
Lightspeed takes up one of our limited ability slots but it seems solely designed around FATES and PVP.
High mobility situations during high pt damage doesnt exist, what i mean is you can move cast in every situation you need to move and heal. Move casting is second nature to good WHMs. Ast even has aspect benefic.

Meh it get its use if you need mass aoe heal while dodgin shit. That's about it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nyalia

Only long term buffs are still SS and Prot, Prot you could do, but SS is 3 second cast, so you can't cast it while running with Lightspeed on. Stopping even just to cast that will likely make you lose LoS on the tank.

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I tested it and Lightspeed works fine with Stoneskin while walking and even running. My question is if SS will be cast at full 10% or at 7,5%...

Lightspeed is cool if you have to dispell a lot of thing while dodgin and all.

But i seriously think that this spell needs some major change ASAP.