RIP Astrologian

[h0tNstilettos]

Less fun than dynamically altering battle posture.

Really bummed about this design-choice, honestly.

I'm actually happy with it. Something different as you need to choose which stance will be more valuable for the fight at hand. Also, I think what Kukajoo said is spot on, though I'm sure there will be exceptions depending on the fight.

[Lillia]

Except its not really a good idea for a healer to basically have 10 different low potency heals.
You'd be spending your whole combat time just slamming spell after spell after spell trying to keep up.

Having it a pre fight decision lets each mode be powerful and unique in its own right without the need to worry about how powerful it'd be to have access to Cure II and Adloq at the same time.
Hell, they may even add a third mode thats all about Regen effects.

Well, I think it could add an interesting change and if the potency is low enough but not too low (I do hope it's not super low.) then maybe it can just be something to just add some unique playstyle to healers. Right now, with no stance change and no potency matching out either healers, it makes Astro the lowest in bracket of healers before it's even released. You may as well burn the whole job concept in a fireplace and forget it even existed if they can't do a thing against the two healers because SCH + WHM would be more effective. @-@

( I still don't want to 100% believe either gestures till I see it myself though, but some sources on certain things would help confirm information better though as well as lay my seeds of doubts to rest. )

[Yuri_Hyuga]

Except its not really a good idea for a healer to basically have 10 different low potency heals...

...Having it a pre fight decision lets each mode be powerful and unique in its own right...

That's not how it would work (or works). I mean, technically, I suppose... but it's essentially the same 'heal,' just converted into a shield.

It's no more interesting, it's a slight mechanical slant on the same spells.

Basically, the idea to have it toggle-able mid combat is much cooler:

Party is hurt, heal up in curative mode real fast; incoming big damage, toggle to barrier mode & prep; big damage taken, barrier's are down, toggle back to curative mode.

If healing only one or a few targets at a time, juggling these two healing-postures would be a very rich, dynamic experience & play very skillfully.

The way it would be balanced is just having the potency of either be less than that of both the WHM & SCH.

This would make it a very interesting mix of both healing styles in combat, with neither of the two's advanced HW mechanics, but instead cards to give it that added richness & complexity.

And you're off with regards to it creating more uniqueness if made a pre-fight decision...

It does the opposite. Basically, having it be predetermined means you're either stuck in WHM or SCH mode...

Sure you can afford that tiny bit of added potency for the inability to toggle back-and-forth mid combat... but you're losing that dynamic gameplay which' where much of the uniqueness would come from.

Having it predetermined actually waters it down, rather than enhancing it.

Not only that, having it toggle-able makes for a far more interesting 'supportive healer' type of role as AST could cake/layer on added, shared effects with the other healer-type mid fight.

Let me stack some barrier on your barrier, let me slather some regen on your regen... but wait! You're merely a WHM & everybody's topped off now, let me handle it from here... BARRIER'S FOR ALL!

Or, if you've got two AST's... think of the synergy two in-sync with one another could have... esp. if raid damage is mixed up, like half the group is 100% while the other half is mildly damaged.

"I got the regen's, you shield up the other half! Oh no, my barrier's got popped, switching out! Don't worry, I just healed em back up real quick--time to shield up with me bro!"

[Viridiana]

He stated it in his twitch stream, idk the exact time as I watched it live

At 1:18:20 he clearly says there's no cooldown on switching stances.

So I ask again. Source?

[Lillia]

At 1:18:20 he clearly says there's no cooldown on switching stances.

So I ask again. Source?

Rather he gives a clearer example of why he thinks Astro would be very valuable in battle and goes to say that inside the T13 fight with bahamut you would switch stance. He clearly says the healer could switch stance then aid the other healer in his example.

That's a few moments before your timer btw, but it'd be pretty misleading if he then turned to say well you can't stance switch in battle after using in a form of an example of astro being able to.

[Sylve]

snip

The problem is, currently, a SCH handles damage preperation and the WHM handles restoration in large chunks.

If an AST could do both at once with nothing more than the press of a button, suddenly AST+AST becomes the best heal comp, period.

Why would you take a SCH when an AST provides the Barriers AND the big heals?
Why would you take a WHM when an AST provides the big heals AND the Barriers?

The answer is, you wouldn't. The AST would flat out replace both those jobs by being able to do two jobs worth of healing on their own.

It wouldn't make it dynamic at all.
Top off the group with WHM mode then switch to Barrier to apply shields, switch back to WHM mode.
Shields go down, damage is taken.
Heal up, switch to Barrier, reapply shields and then back to WHM mode.

Hardly dynamic.

[Viridiana]

The problem is, currently, a SCH handles damage preperation and the WHM handles restoration in large chunks.

If an AST could do both at once with nothing more than the press of a button, suddenly AST+AST becomes the best heal comp, period.

That assumes a lot. A large part of why people avoid SCH+SCH right now is because Galvanize doesn't stack at all, so what makes you think AST shields will stack? Especially given that SE's response to SCH/SCH not stacking is to let one of them go pure heal? And we've already been told they don't have the throughput of the other two classes, so taking two healers who don't have throughput would be a bad idea.

[Lillia]

snip

Because Astro may not be able to provide big heals or heavy shielding with their barrier, it's like the RDM of the healers basically... It can do both but it's not great at either. .-.

Keep in mind that RDM never ever replaced BLM or WHM nor sword users just because they were able to do all three. Rather they were a side asset to them, much like astro would probably be with their cards.

[lololink]

Because Astro may not be able to provide big heals or heavy shielding with their barrier, it's like the RDM of the healers basically... It can do both but it's not great at either. .-.

Keep in mind that RDM never ever replaced BLM or WHM nor sword users just because they were able to do all three. Rather they were a side asset to them, much like astro would probably be with their cards.

No, AST will be able to replace them both, if not they would be useless and not balanced.

[Lillia]

No, AST will be able to replace them both, if not they would be useless and not balanced.

Just saying no they will be able to doesn't really help or explain anything... could I ask you to go further into your reasoning? :x

And to just explain what I see? I see two astro's being able to heal enough to get by but not better than WHMxSCH combo which means two astro healings would be with struggle in comparison to WHMxSCH and the only unique merit would be their cards. I personally would only be more concerned on matter of barrier stacking.

Together with either WHM or SCH I see them working a lot better because they can offer a nice card buff and then the affects the whm or sch's counterpart could offer in a miniature form e.g slightly weaker HoTs or Barriers.