All These Astro suggestions!

It seems like a lot of people want Astro to change, and I agree with that statement, but I personally believe the way to do this is to take them out of the shadow of white mage and scholar and give them their own niche.

By giving them a 'white mage' stance, and a 'scholar' stance, by very design they're going to be in constant competition with the other two jobs as to which does x job better.

Personally as it is now, I believe astro/scholar groups to be the best, as astro, regardless of lower potency spells,can solo heal just as well as a white mage can, with just a little more required effort, while also having the added bonus of their cards to increase the groups' dps. Without the freecure's or mana reducing traits/abilities that white mages have, I (personally) find that Astro's have no problem with their mana management abilities as well.

(2/2)

My suggestion is to take away the regens, and the shields from astro and to give them a separate gimmick, one that is different to what we have seen before from the other two, as to strengthen the identities of astro itself, as well as the identity of the other two healers.

As it stands, i love astro the most, but do wish it was it's own healer, and was loved or hated for how it played vs how it compared to the other healers with the same gimic.

Oh and keep night and day stance, as Im sure the spell speed vs potency can still be useful <3

1) You can bypass the character limit on posts by editing your post after you make it. Most use a placeholder of some sort on their initial post, (mine is "TO BE EDITED MOMENTARILY"), then replace it with their full post.....

2) Honestly it seems like they were wanting AST and DRK to be the middle ground of the healer and tank worlds, rather than just be something completely different. They seem to be built around satisfying people of both playstyles, (Reactive VS Preventative on the healing front, and Damage Mitigation VS Damage Dealing on the tank front), while not being the complete change that going from one to the other is. I don't think that's a bad way to do it personally, because it also draws in the people who didn't like either playstyle's nature in and of itself, but liked aspects of them. They are still something new though, as you pointed out with AST's cards being able to help the party's DPS more, but while still being that safe middle ground....

Thanks for that tip!new to the forums and all that :3

but yeah, i get what you mean as per catering to those wholike their jobs, but im thinking about when another healer enters the mix. Will they also have shielding? regening? a new trick?

if theyre different ,will astro then get a new stance to play like them?

I just worry of the future of my favorite job

Understandable. Chances are that whenever we get a new healer, it'll be something entirely different since they now have the middleground healer. At that point, AST will probably continue to be the middle ground, but with one or two skills that are similar to whatever the new healer's niche is, while the other skills are a mix of those in line with WHM and SCH with a skill or so of their own that still lets them be different....

Just my estimates on the matter. Anyhow, I wouldn't worry about it right now since it'll likely be quite some time before we see the next expansion and new skills added. Right now it seems most of the people complaining are the ones who don't want a middle ground healer, but want one that has it's own role entirely, which is understandable, but not what I think they were going with with the class.....

Yes, AST is just a copycat
It could be unique but SE decided to create a hybrid. (a terrible choice).
I still believe SE will do something about it...
I can dream....right?

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Originally Posted by Muahbec

It could be unique but SE decided to create a hybrid. (a terrible choice).

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I wouldn't consider it a terrible choice, just not the choice you would prefer. Clearly given how many people I see in game who main it, there are a lot of people who like it as is. If you're judging it to be a terrible choice based on the forums complaining threads alone, then you should really keep in mind that it's a very small group of players over all that use the forums compared to those who play the game, and that their views don't necessarily reflect the community as a whole....

The problem isn't with AST. They did what they could to fit it into the current game. The real problem is that they designed themselves into a corner with WHM and SCH. They lumped all of the traditional healing archetypes into the two of them in a way that made them work perfectly as a team. When adding a single healer into a meta designed around WHM and SCH, they had to make a compromise to make it work.

Sure, they could have tried something new, but what were they left with? HoT? Nuke healer? Damage mitigation? AoE focus? ST focus? Its all covered with WHM and SCH. I saw a lot of healing through DPSing and a life drain mechanic thrown around before HW, but how would that pair with WHM or SCH in a way that would make it viable enough to be a suitable replacement?

They did what they could.

Hybrids are not a problem and every game uses them. Uniqueness comes not from what each spell does individually, but in the way they interact with each other. Compare the Melee DPS and you'll see how every single one of them has similar toolkits while keeping their uniqueness from different interactions and some exclusive off-GCD skills. The same can be said about AST: in Diurnal, you're faster than any of the two healers, which means you can take a lot of spell speed out of your build and still get more GCDs than the other two; WHM has no mitigation for magic damage, while you can block part of the damage with your bubble, debuff the boss and, if you're lucky, add more defense with your cards - to balance that, ASTs don't have a third tier healing spell (Cure III); in Nocturnal, you get access to magic shields that extend your target's HP, and unlike SCH you have access to a 650 healing spell and a 300 AoE healing spell on GCD - SCH can only reach those potencies with a cooldown; SCHs have to either burn stacks (which sacrifices their other skills) or cooldowns to reach the same numbers, but they also have more sustained DPS, which makes them the best off healer in the current meta. So, no, you're not a mini-WHM or mini-SCH in either of the forms; you have different options and the gameplay is also different. There's absolutely no need to rework the job and change how it plays out, and you can bet that the next healer will also have a similar base toolkit, but will have uniqueness from different interactions and from a few exclusive spells/skills. It will be move obvious because when they're launched every healer will have more spells/skills. If AST isn't unique, then no job in this game is.

Honestly, I like AST as it is. It's neat to be able to combine the playstyles of both WHM and SCH, and have the unique card/buff mechanic (among other things) that makes the class what it is. The post above mine sums up my feelings pretty well. :P

If I had to throw out some kind of idea though, I'd be interesting to see AST made into an even more buff-focused healer. (WHM is raw/reactive healing, SCH is shields/preventative healing, AST does both, has their cards, and would have additional buffs on top of those.) Something I've seen before in several MMOs is a set of active party buffs that can be switched on and off. Perhaps for AST, such party buffs could be tied to the active sect.

That being said, I'm not sure how that addition would fit in with the already existing card buffs. Could throw off the class balance, clash with the existing card buffs, etc. It's not something I think SHOULD be implemented, I just think it's an interesting feature that I've seen in other games that could be neat. (Plus I've always liked "buff" classes.) If it doesn't come in the form of additions to AST, it definitely provides an idea or two for another healing class.

Hmm now u got me worried for future planning if they add a 4th healer.... If ast is middle ground between whm and sch.... What would happen if a 4th healer comes? Would ast become none existant?.... Would there be a new trinity sync between the new healer with whm and sch which forces ast to be the sideline healer?

Now im concerned for the future of ast because of its hybrid role.... Especially if they make a 4 healer

Im thinking way ahead of time would this hybrid role ast got cause issues in future if they add brand new healers to the game :(

@Miyha

It can be an idea for the future spells/skills AST is going to get. And they're very good. It would be nice to see AST getting more buff options instead of more healing tools.

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Originally Posted by Yhisa

Hmm now u got me worried for future planning if they add a 4th healer.... If ast is middle ground between whm and sch.... What would happen if a 4th healer comes? Would ast become none existant?.... Would there be a new trinity sync between the new healer with whm and sch which forces ast to be the sideline healer?

Now im concerned for the future of ast because of its hybrid role.... Especially if they make a 4 healer

Im thinking way ahead of time would this hybrid role ast got cause issues in future if they add brand new healers to the game :(

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You don't have to worry about that, Yhisa, because there are plenty of things they can do to take AST of the hybrid weak healer position. There are several healing/buffing mechanics that FF XIV doesn't have and that exist in FF XI and WoW, and that could be implemented in this game. For example, WHM in FF XI has two stances Afflatus Solace and Afflatus Misery, which work like this: Afflatus Solace records the amount of HP the WHM restores by their Cure spells and Afflatus Misery recorded damage you took; this value was used to buff other WHM spells, increaing their potency and adding utility to them. One of the effects they could give was granting Stoneskin to the Cure spells (Stoneskin then would work for WHM in FF XI like Galvanize/Nocturnal Field work in FF XIV, by the way), but they buffed other spells as well. AST could get a mechanic like that, or they could get buffs that would blast into heals when conditions were met, such as Druid's Living Seed in WoW. FF XIV used WoW strategies before in the AST toolkit (Synastry), so there's no reason why they couldn't do it now.

[EDIT: MidnightTundra pointed out a mistake about Stoneskin in FF XI, so I corrected it here]

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Originally Posted by TatoRazzino

(Stoneskin worked in FF XIV like Galvanize/Nocturnal Field work in FF XIV, by the way)

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Off topic, but I think Stoneskin still works similary to Galvanize and its XI namesake, just a lot longer and with a less mutable value to work off of.

BTW if you have ideas for new abilities I do have a thread for AST on the forums</selfpromotion>

On topic. As for AST being the middle ground, that makes a lot of sence, but even then there are some things AST can do that the other 2 can (WHM and SCH lack a Synastry counterpart for example plus the cards)

Y

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Originally Posted by Morningstar1337

Off topic, but I think Stoneskin still works similary to Galvanize and its XI namesake, just a lot longer and with a less mutable value to work off of.

BTW if you have ideas for new abilities I do have a thread for AST on the forums</selfpromotion>

On topic. As for AST being the middle ground, that makes a lot of sence, but even then there are some things AST can do that the other 2 can (WHM and SCH lack a Synastry counterpart for example plus the cards)

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It's similar, but not the same. The Stoneskin effect I'm talking about was a special effect that WHMs got in FF XI when healing under Afflatus Solace, while Stoneskin in FF XIV is a pure shield with no heals attached to it. I only mentioned it to say that SE has already transferred some of the things WHM had in FF XI to SCH so it wouldn't be weird if they added mechanics similar to the Afflatus stances to AST. It could be themed to astrological things, since it's basically a way of manipulating aether for future use. I don't know it's just something that could be done :)

[EDIT: MidnightTundra pointed out a mistake I made, so I corrected it]

Stoneskin for RDM/WHM/SCH (the spell) was a flat value shield placed on the caster based on MND and enhancing magic skill (with a soft cap). There wasn't any healing attached to it.

WHM was the only one who got "Cure-skin".

I kinda wish AST had a similar mana regeneration mechanic similar to sublimation from SCH in ffxi. I always was a fan of it.

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Originally Posted by MidnightTundra

I kinda wish AST had a similar mana regeneration mechanic similar to sublimation from SCH in ffxi. I always was a fan of it.

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That might not happen for the same reason why DRK didn't have the usual 'damage yourself to attack" moves, then again BLM has Convert and this IS the healer job we're talking about

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Originally Posted by MidnightTundra

Stoneskin for RDM/WHM/SCH (the spell) was a flat value shield placed on the caster based on MND and enhancing magic skill (with a soft cap). There wasn't any healing attached to it.

WHM was the only one who got "Cure-skin".

I kinda wish AST had a similar mana regeneration mechanic similar to sublimation from SCH in ffxi. I always was a fan of it.

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I mixed the Stoneskin effect from Afflatus Solace with the spell Stoneskin, that was my bad. But that proves my point: it was a WHM thing in FF XI and now it's a SCH/AST thing in FF XIV. I intended to talk about the Stoneskin effect of the WHM heals in there, not the counterparts of the other jobs.