Astrologian Speculations! How will it fit in?

[tjw]

The Astrologian in the Job Actions video seems to use the following abilities;

<Draw Card> And she seems to get an attack power buff.
<Activate Card>
Nocturnal Sect stance
<AoE Heal spell with shield effect> (the Diurnal Sect heal spell was shown in the PAX teaser, and had a star effect rather than shield effect. It also didn't seem to be AoE in the teaser spell, so with the more extravagant orbal effect above the Astro in the Job Actions video seems to imply AoE)
<Grand-Cross look alike spell> causes Heavy on target.
<Demi/Graviga> Most likely a quest ability, given the different pose while casting.

Now here's the interesting part that I think I saw:
<buff on self> But it's not active
<debuff on enemy> Again, not active until...
<activates both buff on self and the stun debuff on enemy>

So it seems that Astro can pre-apply buffs and debuffs, and then 'activate' them at the same time. Given that Astro uses celestial magic, which is commonly associated with time and space, I wouldn't be surprised.

[VanilleFang]

<Draw Card> And she seems to get an attack power buff.
<Activate Card>

She doesn't get the buff until she activates the card though. She doesn't get it upon drawing it.

Now here's the interesting part that I think I saw:
<buff on self> But it's not active
<debuff on enemy> Again, not active until...
<activates both buff on self and the stun debuff on enemy>

It looks like... She casts it on herself, then she casts a spell on the enemy. And then she uses a huge, aoe spell that I'm assuming is some sort of heal. I don't see any specific "activation" of the buff/debuff separate from when she initially casts them.

[Ninimo_Babamo]

After watching the newest live letter, it seems to me like the AST can probably be paired with both, or even another AST with ease. The dual stance thing sounds like you can choose to stay in one stance or the other the entire fight. One is based around shields like SCH, and the other around heals like WHM. I think it will be very interesting to see how it plays out, but over the 19th-23rd I will be leveling AST to 50 non stop. I might not even sleep! haha

My hope is that it has very powerful healing potential and very powerful shielding potential but changing between them could be costly. I hope it isn't just a single button to swap like cleric stance.

[VanilleFang]

My hope is that it has very powerful healing potential and very powerful shielding potential but changing between them could be costly. I hope it isn't just a single button to swap like cleric stance.

It's supposedly a very long cooldown, as far as we know right now.

[Ninimo_Babamo]

It's supposedly a very long cooldown, as far as we know right now.

I just hope it doesn't just feel like a cleric stance for AST. The mechanics for astrologian seem a bit more complex than that of WHM or SCH and i really don't want it be annoying to play.

[tjw]

She doesn't get the buff until she activates the card though. She doesn't get it upon drawing it.

That's why I separated <draw card> and <activate>. I merely said that the card itself seems to be an attack power buff.

It looks like... She casts it on herself, then she casts a spell on the enemy. And then she uses a huge, aoe spell that I'm assuming is some sort of heal. I don't see any specific "activation" of the buff/debuff separate from when she initially casts them.

If you notice, the stun effect doesn't appear until she uses the AoE spell. There's likely no animation for when it gets activated by the AoE spell, but after she used the debuff, the enemy wasn't stunned. It was only stunned after she used the AoE spell. That's why I see the AoE spell as the activation ability.

[VanilleFang]

If you notice, the stun effect doesn't appear until she uses the AoE spell. There's likely no animation for when it gets activated by the AoE spell, but after she used the debuff, the enemy wasn't stunned. It was only stunned after she used the AoE spell. That's why I see the AoE spell as the activation ability.

Oooooh. Yeah. I see what you mean. I even slowed down the videofeed and you can actual kind of see an "activation" through the huge blue constellation aoe thing. Hmm.. That's actually a pretty cool idea and might have some interesting implication. Good eye.

[KaerisKlyne]

I'm still really excited, even moreso after the amazing job action video from the most recent live letter. I think it was in fact confirmed a while ago that the stance change for Astrologian has a really long cooldown, so it's likely that if at any point an AST needs to change stance during a fight, it probably can't change back for several minutes afterwards. The most interesting mechanic for me is going to be discovering what sort of buff/debuff changes different card combinations produce.

[Shamirah]

The card system looks like the mudra from ninja to me. Imo you'll get buff/debuff. heal and shield. That's it

[Raminax]

Some cool information on Astrologian cards in this write-up here.

Highlights would be:
- Diurnal Sect seems to be more regen based, rather than plain healing. Nocturnal Sect is the same barrier deal as we've come to expect. Astrologian healing spells have apparently somewhat lower potency/throughput than White Mage and Scholar healing spells.
- Cards can apparently grant these buffs and be empowered further, depending on the type of the card
1) 10% increased attack speed
2) 10% increased damage done
If empowered, they become 50% more effective (I think? Wording is a bit ambiguous).
3) 20% TP cost reduction
4) 20% MP cost reduction
If empowered, they last longer.
5) 20% reduced recast timers
6) 10% increased damage taken (Dud card, where are your gods now?)
If empowered, their potency is halved, but it affects the entire party instead.
- Cards can be further affected through Shuffle, a long cooldown skill that instantly allows you to get another chance at drawing a card. Spread allows you to hold onto a card indefinitely, letting you use it when you wish to. Royal Road puts your current card back into the deck, and empowers the next card you draw, the buff depending on which card was drawn.