Thoughts from a 60 AST & 60 WHM

[Aeliott]

This might be an unpopular opinion but I think AST's heals should remain as they are, nor should they get a buff to emergency situations. To me, AST is much more of a support class than BRD or MCH and I think they should focus on that. Keep AST's healing as risky thing to take - make them worth the gamble in what they can bring that the others can't. We have 2 dedicated healers - if we're going to judge or balance AST in relation to them then it will NEVER be as viable due to the Sect stuff. Why have Aspected Helios when you can have Medica II? Why have Nocturnal Shield if you can have Adloquium? They are at the end of the day a healing class, and their healing is passable in most situations, but they need to be thought of as the high risk high reward support healer, not the crappy in-between version of the other 2.

So the cards need to be stronger. Make it so that Selene's speed boosts don't make AST seem like a waste of time especially. If you want absolute safety in healing take the other 2, but I say give AST the niche of noticeable support at the expense of a healing safety net if things go wrong. The _only_ change I would make to AST's healing would be to make Nocturnal sect more viable somehow (more potency? Even if the shields rival SCH it's not like they're spammable and SCH has a wealth of other things to the point it will not be outclassed) - and perhaps an additional healing effect to Celestial Opposition - similar to how Assize works. Oh and make Lightspeed reduce GCD by a fair chunk at the expense of duration - run with the Time Mage theme.