ASTROLOGIANS: possible improvements.

Ok, I know that there are many topics about astrologian-being-so-bad.
Anyway, my intention is not to complain about this job, simply because I think that it's really cool and fun to play.
We must admit that Scholar and White mage, after lvl 50, get strong abilities. Scholars, known in 2.0 to be weak at group healing now can Emergency Tactics Succor or Indomitability. White mages now have Asylum, Tetragrammaton and Assize: instant healing abilities they hadn't in 2.0 cause they were Scholar's exclusive.
Scholars and White Mages improved a lot. Astrologian is in a very difficoult position: it's a buffer, but it's a healer. Astrologian isn't a White Mage or a Scholar, should be versatile to fill the Healer slot without complains.
As many people noticed, Astrologian gives a good support (not so higher then SCH, maybe also lower depending on RNG). Astrologians can have problems in MP management expecially in Nocturnal Set and could not be so efficient when high healings are required (for example during progression, when your party makes mistakes because is learning the new mechanics).
Anyway, I think that Astrologian will be viable in Alexander (savage) but maybe SCH+WHM is still the best option for a party, expecially when you haven't enough gear and you need shields/strong heals/high dps.
After comparing all the abilities of White Mages, Scholar and Astrologian, I decided to write a list of "changes" that could be made to improve this job that I would really love to play in Alexander (savage).

DIURNAL/NOCTURNAL SECT

• Both Diurnal and Nocturnal should give a healing bonus of 5%. Diurnal Sect should give 5% spell speed bonus, Nocturnal should give 5% critical hit rate bonus.
• We should be able to switch Sect during fight, with a cooldown of 3 minutes. During a long fight like t13 maybe we would switch 2/3 times but only if really needed.
• When Benefic II procs, the MP cost of Benefic II should be halved.

NOCTURNAL SECT.
The actual problem of nocturnal sect is that your shields are not efficient as SCH and they can give MP management issues. A possible solution to improve Nocturnal Sect:

• When the Nocturnal Shield is broken (Aspected Benefic), you have the chance that you will proc a Free Aspected Benefic so you can double your shield for free.
  This one would work like Crit Adloquium, that atm is a very stronger shield then Aspected Benefic.

ABILITIES CHANGES

• Aspected Helios should have a larger radius. Please.
• When you use Collective Unconscious, if you move or if you cast something, the duration of the bubble will be halved. If you move at 18 seconds, it will become 9 seconds and so on.
• Using Celestial Opposition will grant the following: STUN 4seconds, +5seconds on party buffs, and restores own HP and the HP of nearby party members. Potency: 300 (like Assize/Indomitability)
• Lightspeed: Reduces cast times for spells by 2.5 seconds while reducing magic potency by 10% instead of 25%
• Essential Dignity recast time should be reduced to 30 seconds.

CARDS
Astrologian can only count on cards. Scholars and White Mages have a lot of buffs to improve their healing potency (divine seal, Precence of Mind, fey Illumination, Dissipation etc). Astrologian could have them too, but using cards to make them more efficient not only in supporting the party dps, but also in healing.

• The Bole: Reduces target's damage taken by 10%. Increases HP restored by spells (only casted by the Astrologian) by 10%.
  It would work like a Defensive CD+Convalescence.
  Duration: 15s
• The Balance: Increases target's damage dealt by 10%. Increases healing magic potency by 10%. Duration: 15s
  So you have to choose, depending on the situation: you want more dps or you want more healing? It's like when playing SCH. If you want more dps > Selene, if you want more heals > Eos.
• The Arrow: //
• The Spear: Reduces target's action recast time (also on GCD) by 20%. Duration: 20s
• The Ewer: //
• The Spire: //
• Time Dilation: it can be used on yourself.
• Shuffle: you can't draw the same card when using Shuffle. Please.

Let me know also your ideas :)

About allowing switching sects mid fight. Here is my take on this from another topic :

I'm reluctant about switching stances midfight. It might make the class overcomplicated, and not in a good way. Think about it, the same spell , cast for regen, switch stance, cast again for shield. It feels unnecessarily clunky.

-For lighspeed, my opinion is still reduce/remove cooldowns.
-Cards: they should allow holding more than 1 card at the same time. This is to offset the rng nature of the system. Increase card's duration to 25s.

I like the idea's, though it might make astro a bit OP in the right hands. But not like sch isnt OP in the right hands so thats fair.

These are some pretty sensible ideas. To be honest, i dont think a healing potency increase shouldn't be tied to either stances, as i really dont see any reason why our spells can not have the same healing potency as WHM/SCH in the first place. The ability to switch sects in fight is something that may have originally been intended for AST, as we were told it was on a long cooldown so we would need to master when to switch; bringing this back in would be welcome.

Benefic 2 proc, yes, but maybe not 50% of the cost, maybe reduced to 75%. The reason for this is that the more experience i am getting with the class, the more i am realising how powerful it is to move and cast instant heals, the slight reduction in the cost kind of offsets this power (like sch power to move and heal comes with having to decided on what to do with the 3 stacks of aetherflow over the next min, closest analogy i can think of).

Collective unconcious, i really just think we should be able to chanel this initially, then leave and the bubble stays up, having to stay on the spot for its duration or lose it is unwieldy in raid content. So what you are saying bu minus the duration cost if you move :).

Cards, yep they all need 2 "modes". Helps make their situation use slightly more palatable. Although ewer and spire do need a little reworking as well. MP and TP refresh maybe?

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Originally Posted by Krixus

I like the idea's, though it might make astro a bit OP in the right hands. But not like sch isnt OP in the right hands so thats fair.

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The "problem" (but it's not a problem, ofc) is that White Mage and SCH are already OP, expecially with the new abilities >.< AST looks like a 2.0 healer.

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Originally Posted by lordparanoia

The "problem" (but it's not a problem, ofc) is that White Mage and SCH are already OP, expecially with the new abilities >.< AST looks like a 2.0 healer.

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Well it basically is a 2.0 healer, but the buffs make them worth it. Like I said in good hands astro is already doing fine in content, and soon we will have savage to prove to the non-believers. Sch can spit all day that they have the selene buff which is on par/better than ast. But most sch's I see are using eos... Ok so some of the vets are using selene in harder content, sweet! Buuut most arnt, so you are seeing no dps buff generally, while ast can't pick and choose. So having an astro is a guaranteed dps buff.

Many excellent points. Indeed the AST needs some love.

Urg...I just tried a few tests with Lightspeed and I feel it's wrong in so many aspects.

Correct me if I'm wrong:

I have benefic II with cast 1.85s and recast 2.31s. Re-cast time starts as soon as you cast the spell. So it basically means 2.31s is the duration from this cast to the next cast.

Using Lightspeed, I have cast time reduced to 0 but recast is still 2.31s. So the first cast will be instant, but you need to wait 2.31s in order to cast the next one.

It feels pretty errr to me since the only advantage is the very first cast. The next ones will always be the same as without LS, and well with 25% reduction lol.

Rumor that ASTRO is getting buffed before Savage coil.

Lightspeed improvement
Shuffle recast reduced
some other card improvements
and Cellestial/Collective getting buffed

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Originally Posted by MythToken

Rumor that ASTRO is getting buffed before Savage coil.

Lightspeed improvement
Shuffle recast reduced
some other card improvements
and Cellestial/Collective getting buffed

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I just read someone say the card system will be addressed from the live letter, but heard nothing about these. Source?

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Originally Posted by Krixus

I just read someone say the card system will be addressed from the live letter, but heard nothing about these. Source?

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Question #20

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Originally Posted by Bayohne

Q20. Are there any plans to make any type of adjustments for astrologians?

A20. We’re thinking of making adjustments where astrologians will be able to use Spread while not in combat, or shortening the recast time for Shuffle. We have received feedback on how Lightspeed is hard to use, and so we’re planning to make adjustments so you can clearly feel the strength of this. As for Collective Unconscious and Celestial Opposition, instead of adjusting the stats similar to other healer actions, we’ll make astrologian-like adjustments where they switch between stances. We’ll make these adjustments without waiting for Alexander (Savage).

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Awesome =)

I'm really ok with it if this rebalancing is consistent as they announced. <3

OP, I love your ideas. They all seem very smart balance fixes without making anything OP. I especially love your idea for Celestial Opposition. Right now, I consider it to be the most visually beautiful spell in the game that is almost useless.

One of the biggest problems with AST in my mind, is that Time Dilation and Celestial Opposition have added benefits in Diurnal Stance, that aren't present in Nocturnal Stance, that is extending the time(thus the potency) of our regens. There has to be some way to Balance this or Nocturnal will always be inferior.

I have some thoughts on OP's suggestions. Such as why would they give us a 5% healing bonus to both Sects, instead they would just increase all our potencies by 5% as base, making AST a very strong healer with lower Mana use.

I personally don't think switching Sects in Combat is that big of a deal, there would be very niche uses for this. If it happened i wouldn't be against it however.

Some things i personally think should be changed to help AST are as follows:

Nocturnal Sect: 5% Healing increase. Aspected Benefic and Aspected Helios create a shield 1.5x the amount healed. Shields do not stack with SCH but do not overwrite if the shield is smaller.
Diurnal Sect: Aspected Benefic regens stack with another AST's regen (Why does it not in the first place!)
Time Dilation usable on self.
Royal Road reduces the cast time of Draw to 15 seconds. (please do this!)
Spread can be used out of combat. (reduced chance to Draw Spread card)
Shuffle has reduced chance to draw the Draw Card. (If card in Spread and Draw card are the same 0% chance of Drawing same card). The idea here is that we are holding 2 cards of each type in the deck. Spread takes one out, and the Shuffle card isn't used when redrawing.

Gravity causes Slow on enemies for 4 seconds.
Collective Unconsciousness increases Mana Regen for Duration of cast time.
Lightspeed increases attack speed by 2.5 seconds, reducing potency by 15% (No more waiting on the GCD to recast, This becomes the Emergency Button it was meant to be!)

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Originally Posted by Emonik

I have some thoughts on OP's suggestions. Such as why would they give us a 5% healing bonus to both Sects, instead they would just increase all our potencies by 5% as base, making AST a very strong healer with lower Mana use.

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I wasn't thinking about the technical but I focused on the importance that Sects have for Astrologians.
I don't think that a pure enpowerment would be good. Adjustments must be balanced without changing the playstyle of the job.

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Originally Posted by lordparanoia

Shuffle: you can't draw the same card when using Shuffle. Please.

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Yes, please! The card system is already too random! At least let us to not have the same card that we've just denied!

Honestly Ewer and Spire should stay how they are but add a small amount of mp/tp regen respectively. Obviously weaker than Army's Paeon and Bishop turret but enough that it's noticeable. 10tp per second maybe? If Bard song and turret are 30tp per second this would seem reasonable. Decent but not enough where they can replace BRD/MCH entirely.

I think the reason why the mp and tp buffs are cost based rather than a regen, aside from variety, is to emphasize timing. None of the buffs do anything if you put it up during down time, all of them only makes a difference on someone who's actively engaged in combat and utilizing the bonus while it's up. The BRD/MCH resource buffs are opposite. They are ideally used during downtime. I think this is intended.