What do you want to see on Astrologian?

[Kuwagami]

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that stance-dancing is just something that "overgeared" healers do. Also consider that, while it definitely can happen that a bad player projects their issues onto you, it can also be the case that your own perception of how things are going is skewed. Most players who claim that they simply can't stance-dance because they have to heal so much are actually overhealing like crazy.

Or they're solo healing the duty because the other healer is totally out of their track

[Nadirah]

I can't stance dance because a) I don't want to and b) the ui sucks so bad I can't react fast enough to switch back.

And I prefer HP bars topped off. When they're not things get ugly.

Note, I don't have a static. I also don't trust pug tanks.

[Seryl199]

I can't stance dance because a) I don't want to and b) the ui sucks so bad I can't react fast enough to switch back.

And I prefer HP bars topped off. When they're not things get ugly.

Note, I don't have a static. I also don't trust pug tanks.

I'm not going to criticize you for not stance dancing, since the healing role is to heal, but I find that there's SO much downtime in almost any content when it comes to healing that I feel lazy if I'm not casting something. I'll even appreciate the non- stanced DoT's that some mages put up, at least they're casting something in the meantime. There should rarely be a situation where you have to "react" to dropping cleric stance, unless someone makes a mistake and eats AoE damage, the key is to know each battle, have a feel for the enemy's rotation, and use cleric stance in windows where little damage is coming in.

Hopefully AST floats your boat and provides enough support to where it holds up against DPS healers, I'm eager for it's release to see if it does just that.

[Cynfael]

I can't stance dance because a) I don't want to and b) the ui sucks so bad I can't react fast enough to switch back.

And I prefer HP bars topped off. When they're not things get ugly.

Note, I don't have a static. I also don't trust pug tanks.

How you choose to play is up to you.

That being noted, small points:

1) UI is adjustable to a pretty large degree.

2) Fundamental advice about stance-dancing has nothing to do with statics. Most of my own game time is spent with completely random people in DF.

[Cynfael]

I'm not going to criticize you for not stance dancing, since the healing role is to heal...

Your post was very good, so forgive me if I'm nitpicking this part, but I want to emphasize that players shouldn't be encouraged to take their roles literally. The tank isn't there solely to be whacked on instead of everyone else (they should be maximizing damage while holding threat); the DPS aren't given utility and support skills because they are meant never to use them; and healers don't have a selection of damaging and debuffing attacks for the purpose of pretending they don't exist in group play.

When people around here try to make arguments for not using CS, I keep being reminded of the girl in the CNJ quest line who hates people trying to get her to learn how to do the rest of her job because she literally just wants to heal.

[LycorisSelunis]

When people around here try to make arguments for not using CS, I keep being reminded of the girl in the CNJ quest line who hates people trying to get her to learn how to do the rest of her job because she literally just wants to heal.

That is an amazing point (though they of course threw other reasons in there for that).

That being said, I know I don't trust pugs very much so I don't tend to toss on CS when in pugs though I will throw out some dps abilities. Am I getting the most out of those non-CS spells? Certainly not but I prefer the ability to have immediate reaction if necessary to cancel my dps cast and heal; while CS has a short cd it still has a cd and if I have to cancel a cast and heal, it likely isn't available to turn off yet. I practically only use it for holyspam on whm. If I run with my FC though, I totally just throw a regen on my tank buddy and pop CS for most of the fights.

I wonder just how much dps AST spells will be doing though....some have said their dps wasn't very potent but overall none of the healers seem very potent if you compare them to a dps class, which it seems many of the reviewers tend to play. Will it really be more beneficial to spend time card buffing? Though I am willing to bet you can do all of it, card, dps, and heal. Actually I wonder if we will see people using Light Speed to push out dps/debuffs instead of heals.

[Seryl199]

I want to emphasize that players shouldn't be encouraged to take their roles literally...

I wholeheartedly agree, while my job as a healer may be "keep everyone alive until the encounter ends", healers are unique in that they have the ability to reduce how long said encounter lasts. DD's and tanks can only DPS so hard until they hit a ceiling, when their rotation is perfectly executed with impeccably timed buffs. The only way to move up from there? Healer DPS, reducing the overall time spent on the encounter and reducing resources (TP, MP, cooldowns) spent by the group as a whole.

[Sanguisio]

not to mention just healing can get boring

[Nadirah]

How you choose to play is up to you.

That being noted, small points:

1) UI is adjustable to a pretty large degree.

2) Fundamental advice about stance-dancing has nothing to do with statics. Most of my own game time is spent with completely random people in DF.

I'm legally blind.

The UI *sucks*.

UI mods are why I can participate at realm first level in other games.

[Cynfael]

I'm legally blind.

The UI *sucks*.

Yeah, that makes your experience a bit different than that of the average player. Maybe someone with similar difficulties can make suggestions as to how to improve the UI further if possible.

Although, if it helps (and if you haven't already done so), try mapping your most commonly used actions to the keyboard or mouse. I use Q, E, R, Space, Z, X, and +Shift combinations thereof to minimize the need to click on the UI. Whether that at all addresses your problem I don't know, but personally I find clicking on the UI to be a slight annoyance regardless of eyesight.