Astrologian Healing

So, I finally decided to take Astrologian into some end game stuff to test it myself. I enjoy the concept of Astrologian behind the cards. I really do, but after a slightly bad experience with A4 and a smoother run, I was a little concerned about Astrologian in general. Their direct heals and their ways of refreshing MP is certainly troublesome in long fights that do a lot of damage.

I understand that the Astrologian will really be a supportive role with supporting buffs and dependent on their co-healer...But is this more of a detriment than a benefit?

The purpose of the thread is mostly to see what people think themselves. o:

Yeah I'm less than impressed myself and are currently levelling my WHM as well. They did promise us some adjustments so we shall see which they come up with, but for now they are just way to weak.

I remember plenty stressful fights on whm back in 2.0 because players would ignore mechanics. While I have noticed a slight bit more difficulty, I wouldnt say its more a detriment. Also keep in mind alot of healers out there arnt very good, so covering for someones weak play makes it seem alot worse. Last 3 groups I did on Bis ex the sch had much lower Hps than I as astro and yes I was including his eos hps. (and before people say he was dpsing and letting the other heal cover, I had higher dps also)

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引用元：Lorielle

The purpose of the thread is mostly to see what people think themselves. o:

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With a good group, decent co-healer AST can easily sustain a group.

AST has to be less concerned with topping people straight away to maximum HP and more concerned with topping people to a safe HP level. This requires players not to do stupid things and maybe absorb orbs when they are only at 25% HP and have no defensive CDs up (mana ward/perfect dodge/tank cds etc)

3.0 WHM/SCH probably feel stronger because they have more oh-shit abilities to heal through stupid, and their SHPS (Stupid heals per second) will be higher than AST. In my opinion, 3.0 AST is no different to 2.0 WHM - little time to DPS, difficulties managing mana and could really only afford one res.

Over time, the trend of stupid will decrease, as people become more familiar with their classes and AST will seem less restrictive/unattractive.

That being said - I still push for changes to Nocturnal stance and collective unconscious :) These are pretty weak and situational atm.

Hmm.. Healing to safe levels is a thing, but it's the most optimal thing(depending on the fight). When constant big AoE damage is happening, it's really difficult to just 'leave' someone at a safe HP level because a number of things can happen(Taking a Ball then getting hit by Perpetual Ray is my favorite one). I understand that your Co-Healer will be there as well to finish the job in keeping people up, but that's more on paper than practice.

What I feel like essentially is that AST is more designed for fights that are not so AoE heavy. The Vault final boss is a good indicator for that. While I can clear that just fine, it's still stressful because of how much damage goes out to the tank and everyone else, even if they're doing mechanics properly.

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引用元：Lorielle

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I've farmed A4 as an AST together with a WHM in my static and we did it very very very easily with a PF group. When we both initially tried it through DF, both of us struggled because the DPS wanted to play a game of "Who can commit suicide on these orbs the fastest!" in which both of us were blowing mp like mad trying to get them up and the tanks kept alive. By the time the last phase rolled around we didn't have the mp to survive Nisi.

Moral of the story? Every group is different, but an AST can easily heal A4 as long as the group isn't trying to kill themselves, in which case even a WHM will struggle.

Does AST need some work and love? Sure, totally. But Alex NM is easily healed as a AST in appropriate gear w/ a group that isn't failing at mechanics.

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引用元：Lorielle

The Vault final boss is a good indicator for that. While I can clear that just fine, it's still stressful because of how much damage goes out to the tank and everyone else, even if they're doing mechanics properly.

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The vault final boss isn't that difficult to heal. In that fight you should have aspected helios rolling constantly and only top people with helios if you have aspected helios already running (and the regen tick is greater than 8 seconds). Only opportunity someone has to die is if they don't break their chains fast enough (They decide to stand there and continue dps the boss) or they incorrectly dodge the knights/aoe fire more than once.

Don't forget to use synastry, on a dps while your topping up another dps or the tank. Aspected benefic is also good to get someone out of very low HP.

The issue with AST isn't that it's bad; it can do the job fine. It's that AST lacks flexibility and front-loaded healing compared to the other two Jobs, and it generally takes noticeably more buttons and more MP to accomplish what the other healers can do with less work.

AST is actually a very fun healer class with a great concept, so I'm hopeful that the upcoming tweaks will bring it better in line with WHM and SCH. Ideally I'd like to see it retain its higher skill floor for effective healing, but with a bit more reward for the effort as well as a truly competitive card system that makes up for its slightly-less-than-OP healing powers.

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引用元：Rewind

The vault final boss isn't that difficult to heal. In that fight you should have aspected helios rolling constantly and only top people with helios if you have aspected helios already running (and the regen tick is greater than 8 seconds). Only opportunity someone has to die is if they don't break their chains fast enough (They decide to stand there and continue dps the boss) or they incorrectly dodge the knights/aoe fire more than once.

Don't forget to use synastry, on a dps while your topping up another dps or the tank. Aspected benefic is also good to get someone out of very low HP.

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Yes, AST does Vault just fine. It's a really fun dungeon for healers, and yes, it is more stressful if people fail at mechanics. On the other hand, if players handle mechanics correctly at the last boss, it's quite easy for any healer to take care of.

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引用元：Rewind

The vault final boss isn't that difficult to heal.

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Yes, I know. But that's not the point I was getting at. It's in general what AST is weak against. The thing it's easier to manage here because it's a 4 man(though the gear at the time is definitely a factor, but this isn't any different from end game content in that concept).

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引用元：SDaemon

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WHM/AST is a viable combo and far less stressful than SCH/AST because you can stack your HoT's at any given time also with WHM being a easy AoE healer. Not to say SCH is bad at healing or anything, but it's not as easy. But keep in mind, that you are still relying on WHM to do the big healing rather than being on 'even footing' where WHM and SCH are more or less.

How I see it is there's two different kinds of 'Dependent'. WHM and SCH depend on each other to do the same thing. AST 'depends' on the Co-Healer to make up for what they are not as capable of doing.

Yes, I know AST is capable of doing the content. But the issue I am seeing is it's not on the 'even' footing as the two. Or at least, I feel that way.

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引用元：Lorielle

How I see it is there's two different kinds of 'Dependent'. WHM and AST depend on each other to do the same thing. AST 'depends' on the Co-Healer to make up for what they are not as capable of doing.

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I don't know if dependent is the right word - reminds me of a child dependent on an adult rather than two individuals working as a team/couple? At same time AST could focus on tank healing whilst WHM is left to raid etc

Each team dynamic is different - I don't think AST is incapable healing through raid damage, rather the approach is different - topping HP on raid damage in one quick heal versus using aspected helios and leave the raid to reach maximum HP in 5-7 seconds after that heal went off. To heal through sustainted damage (tumults on titan are a good example) they would have to possibly use aspected helios, consider using collective unconscious if people are stacked or use a helios. Might be a bit different from WHM but still achieves the same results?

The main thing i've had issue with on astrologian is MP (note i'm 58 ast, 60 whm), we have to burn MP on cures more than the other healers due to our slightly lesser cures and overall lack of reliable cooldowns to aid our healing woes in drawn out or heal intesive fights.

On WHM i can divine seal regen and pop out an occasinal cure or cure 2 when needed while DPSing for non straining fights like the vault's bosses, but on AST i consistently find myself strapped for MP because of various factors (dps taking unnecessary damage or dieing, tank not using cooldowns, huge pulls, tank not waiting for any MP between pulls, etc.).

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引用元：Rewind

3.0 WHM/SCH probably feel stronger because they have more oh-shit abilities to heal through stupid, and their SHPS (Stupid heals per second) will be higher than AST. In my opinion, 3.0 AST is no different to 2.0 WHM - little time to DPS, difficulties managing mana and could really only afford one res.

Over time, the trend of stupid will decrease, as people become more familiar with their classes and AST will seem less restrictive/unattractive.

That being said - I still push for changes to Nocturnal stance and collective unconscious :) These are pretty weak and situational atm.

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While i generally agree, I don't agree with your assessment that we should consider it fine for AST to not be able to handle oh shit situations very well when the 2 other healers CAN in fact recover from party stupidity to a certain degree. Why should we consider it fine that AST only really works when party is playing properly and are unable to cope when things go south?

AST is "similar" to Bard/MCH IMHO,

These 2's maximum DPS potential is mathematically lesser than other DPS classes.
These 2 bring precious utility to the group in form of Mana Regen/TP Regen.
You got 3 other DPS to cover up a bard/MCH's lower DPS.

Now ASTs:
AST Healing Throughput is lower than other Healer classes.
AST brings........not that great utility to the group as of Patch 3.01.
You better hope your Co-Healer's great, cause he/she's the only 1 that'll be covering you.

I think the mentality when SE was designing AST is they wanna make a support type like Bard/MCH, but didn't take into account that Bard/MCH has 3 other players to back up its short-comings, unfortunately AST only has one.

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引用元：Thela

Why should we consider it fine that AST only really works when party is playing properly and are unable to cope when things go south?

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Hm, I mainly think it can't heal through stupid in pugs because you can't easily communicate what's happening. AST has enough utility when you are raiding in a static to heal through stupid, as long as the stupid isn't yourself ofc. As long as you can alert others to what is happening should be able to recover (i.e tell tanks to pop some cooldowns whilst you res someone or heal stupid).

Also depends on what type of stupid -
For example, WHM died in A4 last phase, was able to heal fine as AST until WHM was ressed and ready to go again - success
Tanks weren't stacked correctly in ravana, was able to have heal ready & disable so MT didn't die (whm was in cleric too early) - success
DPS stacked too close whilst popping orbs in A4- fail, even with a WHM in the party. - i think a scholar MAY have had some instant heals to assist the WHM but it would be a very close call.

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引用元：Rewind

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I wasn't quite sure what word to use, but it's the best to describe what I thought.

They're not incapable of healing through raid damage. It's a struggle sometimes. That's the problem. Aspected Helios is just a Medica II with a weaker Cure Potency. But the thing is, base Medica II is fairly weak by itself if the damage is consistent across the raid. WHM skates away because they have abilities to increase the healing output. ( I can't speak for SCH due to not knowing what changed from 3.0 introduction )

If you try and let Aspected Helios to top up, it may not work properly(solely dependent on the fight itself though). Such as a transition from Forelegs > Manipulator > AoE Damage. Aspected Helios should be running, and you could even CU while waiting, but the problem comes in line that you can't sustain that when damage is already coming back out faster than your still HoT is ticking(though CU is being tweaked, so liable to change). This is excluding heals from your Co-Healer.

Also a Co-Healer death being recoverable depends on the phase of A4. Phase 1 for example, is highly recoverable because nothing is really happening. Phase 3 is a bigger struggle because there's much more raid damage and mechanics going out. Phase 2 is a toss up.

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引用元：Thela

While i generally agree, I don't agree with your assessment that we should consider it fine for AST to not be able to handle oh shit situations very well when the 2 other healers CAN in fact recover from party stupidity to a certain degree. Why should we consider it fine that AST only really works when party is playing properly and are unable to cope when things go south?

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I've handled "stupid-omg-wtf" moments plenty. A WHM and SCH could have coped with them easier given their toolkit, but an AST can handle it nonetheless.

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引用元：SDaemon

I've handled "stupid-omg-wtf" moments plenty. A WHM and SCH could have coped with them easier given their toolkit, but an AST can handle it nonetheless.

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Sure, i've handled it plenty as well, but i usually end up with an empty MP pool in the process ;)

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引用元：Thela

Sure, i've handled it plenty as well, but i usually end up with an empty MP pool in the process ;)

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Same, though my co-healer (typically WHM, though this applies to SCH as well) is, more often than not, in the exact same situation mp wise. The problem is that they can get their mp back more reliably/easier. Making use of ewer and spear+aether has helped considerably, but its just a band-aid, so to speak.

I'm not going to say too much until the Astologian changes come out, but currently they're alright but not the greatest. They get the job done, but other combinations can do it better. This mostly has to do with how our healing is tied to the GCD system like White Mages were and still are (but with more off-GCD heals, Assize and Tetragrammaton), but has no reliable ability to make each GCD worth more in situations where damage spikes more than your non-crit GCD & off-GCD can handle.

White Mages and Scholars both have that and more, which I believe would make them more favourable in progression type raiding. In other content? Pick whatever.

Yes AST and WHM are the best pairing for AST as they compliment each other well with being able to stack regens If Aldo stacked with Noct stance shields they would work well together too but at this moment in time they don't.

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引用元：Thela

Why should we consider it fine that AST only really works when party is playing properly and are unable to cope when things go south?

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We shouldn't, it's a horrible argument to make.
The only way that a penalty like that is fine is when there's a significant upside when things are going smoothly and there isn't.

I only have Conj to lvl 15 so I cannot speak to the whole breadth of the healing classes. With Scholar and AST both at level 60, I feel the AST has enough strengths to be viable. From my own experiences, Scholar has better global cool-down ability with their pet picking up heals, a much stronger mana refresh ability, and better single target dps. Placing your faerie in boss fights really makes a difference, and overall, the class allows you to pull through some would be wipe situations. The strengths of the AST is it has greater access to the stronger heals, you can spam your 680 heal and both of your aoe heals if need be without waiting for cool-downs. AST is also a lot more mobile than Scholar, I can run around quite a bit and still not worry much. I think that overall Scholar is the better class to bring into a fight for healing, and that AST functions better as Diurnal Sect with a Scholar versus going Noc with a WHM or fellow AST.

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引用元：Huneidu

I only have Conj to lvl 15 so I cannot speak to the whole breadth of the healing classes. With Scholar and AST both at level 60, I feel the AST has enough strengths to be viable.

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I think its time to get Stoneskin... omg man... level your conj to 34 xD

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引用元：Arcana

I think its time to get Stoneskin... omg man... level your conj to 34 xD

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I had nothing to lvl 50 but SMN all of 2.0. I went into Scholar because AST got to 60 halfway through the MSQ and I did not want to waste XP. I am really bad at leveling up classes. I got Bard and BLM to 35 for the SMN stuff and that was it > >

As of now I feel like AST is designed towards speed healing. Im really looking forward to the changes they will make with Lightspeed, Collective Unconscious, and Celestial Opposition.. I'm thinking they would probably decrease gcd along with cast time for Lightspeed to make casts way smoother, this should make up for the 'weaker heals' ASTs have as they would be able to cast more stuff during a short period of time. As for Collective Unconscious, I feel like they should put some other kind of benefit to it considering the restriction: being unable to move/do anything while keeping it up, preferably mana regeneration over time for Duirnal Sect, and regain 10% of maximum mp or something for Nocturnal Sect.. because as of now I use this skill to take a break from healing too much on Duirnal Sect (HoTs + Collective Unconscious regen) and obviously mitigate damage for a short period of time for Nocturnal Sect. Either way, you'd be bound while the skill is active so mp regeneration sounds fitting. I'd be pretty happy with these fix along with whatever they would think of adding to Celestial Opposition and out-of-combat Spread.

tldr; Im content with where AST stands right now, but I do agree they need a bit of tweaking.

I just wish AST had 1 more skill to recover MP. Currently SCH has Aetherflow & Energy Drain (not to mention a bunch of free MP healing), and WHM has SoS + Assize. Both of them are self-managable, while AST only has 1 single MP recover skill that is slightly better than SoS if RNGesus is ever shine upon us, & we have to devote 2 other skills to support it (spear on spread).

I would be much happier if Ewer & Sprite recover some MP/TP (even just a tiny bit) instead of only decreasing the cost for a short time (since no one is gonna extend them), they would be much less situational & make AST more useful to the whole pt as a support role.

Imo asts have no middle ground.
Ur either really good or really bad lol
Asts r imo stronger than the other 2 healers if the party is top notch and executes everything perfectly. This will allow them to not have to heal stupid ( really tough cuz they r not bursty) & this allows their buffs to shine as it is just pure gravy on top of the already amazing team.

But on the other hand there will be derp parties tht will be too much for asts and their buffs will be wasted on themselves etc cuz the failed mechanics etc r too much for their healing potency.

I would prefer that Luminiferous Aether works like Shroud of Saints rather than Quelling Strikes.

Because you pop it right away like quelling strikes to reduce emnity, but then that's the mp regen effect pretty much wasted since the mp regenerated is more than you use and was used while having full mp.

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引用元：EZ5902

I would prefer that Luminiferous Aether works like Shroud of Saints rather than Quelling Strikes.

Because you pop it right away like quelling strikes to reduce emnity, but then that's the mp regen effect pretty much wasted since the mp regenerated is more than you use and was used while having full mp.

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Why would you pop it right away? Shroud also reduces enmity, but you never really need to use it for that if things are going the way they should be anyway. I don't see why you'd ever use the AST equivalent for the enmity dump either.

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引用元：Yumi_umi

Snippy!

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Err..Yes, if there's not much healing going on, then Astrologian will be excellent in their buffing role. But the flop can be said when it comes to DPS. ASTs fail horridly on the Single Target DPS and AoE DPS compared to the other two. And with the bad MP Regen AST has, it begs to question why you would bother doing that. However, even if the party does execute mechanics perfectly, there will still be damage done. Depending on the content in question, it may or may not be a little more for AST to handle by themselves.

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引用元：RickiFake02

I don't see why you'd ever use the AST equivalent for the enmity dump either.

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The same reason why you'd use Shroud of Saints? There are situations where the sudden dump would be helpful.

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引用元：RickiFake02

Why would you pop it right away? Shroud also reduces enmity, but you never really need to use it for that if things are going the way they should be anyway. I don't see why you'd ever use the AST equivalent for the enmity dump either.

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Because when you dps and heal with ast, you get emnity fast.

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引用元：EZ5902

Because when you dps and heal with ast, you get emnity fast.

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Not to insult but this must be a joke. I'm rarely over half a bar of enmity in comparison to my tank on any of my healers and I dps as much as possible. It's only for refresh, using LA at max mp is a terrible terrible idea. Though if I could choose I would swap it for shrouds effect, it can be handy to shred hate before adds pop on certain fights.

Mega-wall of text that will explain in-depth of what AST is meh and why it really has trouble standing up to the other healers. I originally hit AST right off the bat and leveled it to 60 with the story and did all of the end-game content, and with this, not once did I ever feel like there was anything truly overwhelming nor harder, and with this I want to make a point, yes, AST can do all content fine, yes, nothing is "harder" with a AST in the party, and yes, having a AST in the party does improve the raid. HOWEVER, the point that people are failing to truly understand is that with AST, at least imo, is that you're your co-healers "eos/selene". What do I mean by this? You bring more utility to the raid and overall you have lower potency heals (on both ends). Now, is this a bad thing? No, it really isn't, however, that does put more stress on your co-healer be it by a small amount or larger. At this point I want to refer to a earlier comment as well, which worded it very well and in a different way.

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引用元：DreamWeaver

AST is "similar" to Bard/MCH IMHO,

These 2's maximum DPS potential is mathematically lesser than other DPS classes.
These 2 bring precious utility to the group in form of Mana Regen/TP Regen.
You got 3 other DPS to cover up a bard/MCH's lower DPS.

Now ASTs:
AST Healing Throughput is lower than other Healer classes.
AST brings........not that great utility to the group as of Patch 3.01.
You better hope your Co-Healer's great, cause he/she's the only 1 that'll be covering you.

I think the mentality when SE was designing AST is they wanna make a support type like Bard/MCH, but didn't take into account that Bard/MCH has 3 other players to back up its short-comings, unfortunately AST only has one.

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Just as MCN/BRD, you need to slightly lean on the other three DD's to pick up your slack, it's not a huge gap they need to cover, and hell you can even help the certain type of DD's cover your DPS by helping theirs (casters and foe's requiem), but there is a gap that is there, mechanically, accounting for all potencies and buffs, no matter how good you are you can't out DPS the other jobs (BRD pre-3.0 talk, dunno how it is now). The same is true for AST, you have the tools you need to heal and you have your own little "flavor" on them as well, and hell you can even give the party good buffs and turn some sour situations into manageable ones (RNG permitting), and this brings up a conjectured point too, that mechanically you are not going to be as good as a WHM nor SCH, and this is where things get.... "fun", because now we now need to add the utility, and self-utility they have and bring as well.
Stances
Lets break down each stance, as I think this will be the fastest way to get all points done, and we'll start with Nocturnal stance since it's easier to get through. First and foremost, this stance is very underwhelming and when compared to the other stance, is a major lost for potencies for MP usage, and even with the 5% buff they get in the stance, you'll be running out of MP a lot faster than you would be in Diurnal. However, where Nocturnal barriers currently are, it is the one step down from SCH's barriers that you can take, lower potencies and no Critlo buff, but is a major, MAJOR, jump, and like I said, it's the only step-down you can take. IMHO, they only way they can either make Nocturnal be relevant is either increase the healing buff to 10%, or hell, if they really want to try and make people use it, 15% (highly doubtful), or allow stance dancing. Now flip side, Diurnal stance, any good AST will be in this stance for the current content. This stance too, is the one step-down from WHM, and honestly is in a very good state as-is. This covers both stances and potencies, which brings us to the next topic, self-utility.
Self Utility
AST has one move and then watches its 2 minute CD count down, Luminferous Aether. With the patch both WHM and SCH got more self-utilities (albeit SCH is really and OH SHI- one). WHM was given Assize (10%) with the expansion and, of course, has Shroud of the Saints. SCH has the lovely 1 minute 20% MP regain known as Aetherflow, but wait there's more! If they're truly hurting they can expend their stacks with ED for more MP! (Accuracy permitting), along with this they were given the true oh shi- of Dissipation for 3 more stacks (albeit you'll bee needing to use some of that MP for a re-summon, but they still have that option available). So, compared to the others, AST can't really get too MP happy or, just as 2.0 WHM's, will suffer and things get sketchy there-in. Now to utility, where AST shines.......... kind of.... .
Party Utility
WHM has three moves for party utility, heavy (Stone (T5 Dreadknight)), Stun (good for a pause to catch up on healing on big pulls), and Bind/Knockback, more on knockback here (Levi Ex. when add cc Stun is depleted and he starts his cast for the water pool that gives terror, T9 Demolish from Green Golem). SCH has DPS utility to the party with 3/5 guaranteed dots, 15% Damage down/reduced stats on one given enemy (Virus), Heavy (Misama/Miasma II) 10% damage down on physical attackers (Eye for Eye), 10% damage mitigation in a 8 yalm radius (Sacred Soil), 50% Up-time on a 3% Weaponskill speed increase for the party (Fey Wind), AoE Divine Seal (Fey Illumination), and a 20% Magic damage down (Fey Covenant). With cross class BLM and WHM also have access to 15% reduced stats/damage down on STR and DEX, and a 3m Eye for Eye. And finally, we get to AST (we'll get to cards later, for now we'll focus on normal utility first.) AST brings a AoE stun (Celestial Opposition, 2m CD), 10% damage down for one move (Disable), 10% damage down in a 5 yalm radius (kind of, Nocturnal Stance Collective Unconsciousness) and Heavy (Stella).
Spike Damage, and why it matters to AST
Now, why did I exclude the biggest factor of AST out of the utility list, it's the biggest mechanic of the job right?! Here's why, it's RNG, but hell it's fine, you have ways to manipulate that, but look at the above list, let me ask you, when comparing the list above of things you can guarantee to happen, SCH without a doubt wins, but then comparing the remaining two it's a scrimmage. Now this brings us to our next point, moves for when things spike and things get harder. When I was leveling AST I had a lot of people ask me what it was like (Leveled it to 50 in 14 hours of launch so I had a lot of friends interested what it was like at the level cap), and I responded that AST is a sustaining healer, when spike damage happens you honestly look to your co-healer to help. AST has one move to counteract spiking damage, Essential Dignity, and hell, I'll give you this is a good move too, it scales linearly to 1000 potency at 1% HP, but this is quite literally your only move to use and it's on a 40 second timer, past this move is the damage is outputting your healing, you have a problem that your co-healer needs to cover for you. WHM has DS (30%) for when stuff hits harder, they have Benediction when shit really hits the fan, they have Tetragrammaton, a 700 potency instant heal for free every minute, and they have Assize for 300 potency on a minute and half for when your party takes a bit more than you're willing to be comfortable with. SCH's have a free* (1 Stack) Lustrate for a 600 potency heal that they can hold 3 at any given time and possibly have 9 readily available (Aetherflow ready to be used, Dissipation), they have Fey Illumination as a AoE DS (20%) and that is also utility for your co-healer, and fairy, as well!, they have Indomitability free* (1 stack) for a 400 potency AoE for use when they're uncomfortable with the parties HP, and Emergency tactics, changing Adlo to a 600 potency heal or Succor to a 300 Potency heal. As you can see, WHM and SCH have a lot of ways to counter-act big spike damage, or hell, healing in general when stuff is sour and all AST has outside of the sustaining heals is..... Essential Dignity at a 40 second timer..... Now we've covered both stances and party utility (cards aside, but we'll get right to that).
AST's Job Mechanic only steepens the gap
Now let me ask you, with all this given information, you can see that AST really, REEEEAALLLY falls sort in a both stances (albeit this is needed because of cards) and both party and self utility they don't offer much, but you might be saying I'm ignoring the biggest thing with AST, the buffs! Well, now that we've covered everything, you can see that AST takes a very heavy, and steep slope on all three aspects of potency, self, and party utility for the jobs mechanic. Now I'm not going to bash on RNG here, but I will say this, this may be biased and a big one-sided view but AST even falls short here, why? Because they get wasted without proper communication, and to be honest, outside of a raid group with voice chat where you can get immediate response from members, they're not going to be seeing their full potential. On raids, whenever I get a spire, ewer or spear I ask "everyone good on TP; anyones CD's ready or near ready? You good co-healer?" With this you get a true maximization of the buffs from the cards. Now cutting down to pugs you can semi-counteract having them be useless but using macros (of which I did when leveling (Ex. TP Cost down <t>!, Balance <t>, Damage increased!, Spear <t>! Recast time on CD's reduced!) but even then I found to be hit and miss, although I will say this did help as I saw more people actually popping CD's or buffing when I buffed them with cards (sometimes.....).
In Closing
As you can currently, everything is doable and nothing is ever truly "harder" with an AST, but there are too many demerits going against it that cannot be ignored when compared to the other two classes to where it's currently in its "ehh" position.Two last ground I would like to cover is Collective Unconsciousness, at least in Nocturnal stance, and lightspeed. For CU this move has a heavy cost of not being able to move or cast anything and puts more stress on your healer to heal others while you don't act, or ultimate simply use it on one move (personally would just like a change to allow you to move within bubble or just not move but be allowed to cast.) For lightspeed the only true use I ever could possibly think out of this is T9S Spiral formation Heavensfall, where you need to heal but have high movement where healing isn't possible and you have on-going damage -still- going out, what can change on it so it isn't as big as a nerf than a buff? Either cut potency cost as well or give it a refresh for MP, meh. Those are just my two cents on the moves. With this it pretty much covers all grounds of healing and AST as well, if you made it this far I would like to thank you for reading this mega-wall of text and would like some feedback too, would you disagree, would you agree? Thank you for you time. o/

TL;DR: Having a AST healer doesn't make content harder nor easier, they are weaker to both healers in both sense, but once again this doesn't change the difficulty. AST are sustaining healers and have one, ONE move to counteract spiked damage and the others have a set of moves to counteract it. Not including cards, AST falls really short on party and self utility, to which is the cost of having the cards. Now the costly expense of having the cards and being able to buff your team (Lower heals, little party and self utility), you also don't get full use out of them outside of a voice chat or active response on both ends. AST is alright, but WHM and SCH simply offer more without counting RNGcards, with the cards it's still iffy for full use isn't fully gained more than half of the time.....

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引用元：Rewind

Over time, the trend of stupid will decrease, as people become more familiar with their classes and AST will seem less restrictive/unattractive.

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Alex Savage is knocking on the door. Mistakes are just normal during practise/progress. For me as a healer one job is to keep the try running as long as possible. The capabilites to recover mistakes are very important till something is on farm.

Where do the AST fit into this when he depends on a group that do less mistakes?

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引用元：KarstenS

Alex Savage is knocking on the door. Mistakes are just normal during practise/progress. For me as a healer one job is to keep the try running as long as possible. The capabilites to recover mistakes are very important till something is on farm.

Where do the AST fit into this when he depends on a group that do less mistakes?

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Totally agree.

AST dont suck! (if everyone in the raid do his job SuperB) xD People keeps saying this to negate the reality. And this reality is that we AST will be a pain in a progression raid atm in healing terms.

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引用元：KarstenS

Alex Savage is knocking on the door. Mistakes are just normal during practise/progress. For me as a healer one job is to keep the try running as long as possible. The capabilites to recover mistakes are very important till something is on farm.

Where do the AST fit into this when he depends on a group that do less mistakes?

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I never said that AST is good for progression, I've made a comprehensive post on progression, AST and healing here, -> http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...83#post3109683 however most of my comments are regarding cards and why they're not viable for progression

AST has a harder time healing through stupid in the current content, though the current content isnt difficult. If you aren't in a race there is no harm in taking AST. If you are pushing to clear then you shouldn't take astro in its current state but the patch may change the utility of AST between now and then.

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引用元：Magatsu_Kusanagi

DATT WALL

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Totally agree on most points maybe a slight potency increade on Dignity could make up for missing (well not quite but its not as strong as 3 lustrates or a benediction) oh shit button.
Im totally for possibility of stance dance that would make it easier. I am scholar at heart and I can anytime swift Eos if I notice I'll need the additional aoe heals.
Fey Illu or Divine Seal ability is lacking aswell.
Most annoying for me are tho the cards.... I keep drawing Ewer and Spire in dungeons... I can Royal Road/Spread/Shuffle it but I keep pulling just next Ewer/Spire. Unless I am short on MP or I have a blackmage in party I see no point in Ewer for dungeon and also the Spire is :S unless I have overpowerspamming warrior in party. I support the idea of using Spread out of combat so I could prepare a card before pull.
I see AST with minor lacks in different points but still a good concept and it will be a class to look out for. I will test it in raids, T13 was fun in our late FCOB progression in T11 when we tested how stuff with the pads works in undersized (was just 10 min lvl 50 by then) I failed hard XD

TL;DR - Having done a little bit of 60 content as an AST, the general feel I get from the class is that the core concept is interesting but the job as a whole lacks polish.

To me it feels like Squeenix wanted a healing job that needs to plan ahead much farther than its peers. In theory the astrologian draws, empowers, shuffles and holds cards so that when the time comes they'll have just what they need to alleviate or augment. Same goes for rest of the toolset. Buffs get elongated to counteract some event, a precise Disable weakens just the right attack, Synastry keeps the weakened party member going while focus remains on the tank, regeneration effects keep allies just as healthy as they needs to be.

Some observations:

• Diurnal seems to play nicer with both SCH and WHM than Nocturnal, making the Nocturnal less attractive.
• Spike damage is difficult to deal with, especially if two or three bursts follow each other in short succession. Essential Dignity can help deal with the first one, but later instances can not be as easily dealt with regardless of stance. Diurnal suffers from lowered potency which adds up after a while. Nocturnal lack the double shield value from critical heals. Both cases lead to a bigger mana drain over a shorter period of time as compared to their peers.
• Collective Unconscious feel like a failed attempt at creating job identity or diversity. It's functionally the same as the Asylum/Sacred Soil but unlike its counterparts the spell pseudo-silences and binds the astrologian while having a shorter duration and longer cooldown.
• Disable is a really useful spell. 10% reduction every minute that doesn't have any backlash (like virus). But since it's "the next action" that gets affected Disable tends to get chewed up by auto-attacks. Arguably the astrologian could time the spell better, though this forces the player to react in a much smaller timing window than when Virus is used.
• Celestial Opposition brings a neat AoE buff elongation. Five seconds is alright, but the cooldown feels too long simply for the purpose of elongating buffs in an area around the Astrologian. It makes me wonder if the cooldown is there to balance out the stun effect. But if that's the case, why is there a stun effect if the main purpose is to augment buffs? Would it not be better to splice the effects into two other spells that have a clearer purpose?
• Personally, Lightspeed has only been useful for placing clutch stoneskins every now and then. When used with spells that sit around 2.5s cast/GCD, the ability simply shifts the flow of spells forward 2.5s in the timeline since the GCD still acts as a chokepoint for <number of spells>/<time unit>. Adding a 25% potency penalty on top of this means that the astrologian is better off swiftcasting the critical spell.
• Luminiferous Aether seems to work fine. The only difference is that it has to be used before the mana-intensive or enmity-intensive section starts instead of during or after as it is with Shroud.

The result is a healer that has a situational utility kit that doesn't compensate for the parts of the healer that has been weakened in order to allow of that utility kit. It wants to avoid creating conflict/encroaching on the identity of the other jobs but lacks identity itself. I don't think that the solution is to simply buff the healing potencies of Diurnal or give crit-shields on Asp. Benefic. All that does is to force the astrologian into unfavourable comparisons. The astrologian cannot match the WHM in raw bursts of power, it cannot match the SCH is mitigation and shields. It should not.

What should be done is to lead the astrologian down a path where it gains a distinct and unique identity, a niche from which it can complement the other healers in its own way.

Every time I've completed A4, it's always been with two ASTs. They heal perfectly fine.

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引用元：Kaedan94

Every time I've completed A4, it's always been with two ASTs. They heal perfectly fine.

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Makes me wonder how bad the MP was hurting after the encounter or rather how many Ballads or Turrents were being ran to make sure they kept up with the spike damage. I don't remember if Aspected Helios stacked or not. Both Dirunal or Dirunal/Nocturnal. No one said they're incapable of healing things. It's mostly when things go South that they have issues. Experiencing and Seeing are two different concepts.