Quote Originally Posted by RichardButte View Post
I acknowledged that I was saying that for the sake of simplicity, but really, I don't care about the nitty gritty details because they don't make any difference at this point. We already have our answer.

If you wanted to start working toward a useful number, here's what you can do:

Determine how much quicker an AST can end a boss' phase via whatever speed/DPS they bring to a fight on average, specifically looking for phases where the boss flings out periodic AoE burst damage that the healers would benefit from not having to heal if they could push to the next phase more quickly.

From there, it's a question of which is better: the WHM/SCH's emergency options and sustainability vs. the AST's chance to expanded RR Balance the party multiple times to reach the end of the phase more rapidly.

But I'm prematurely going to lean toward victory going to the WHM/SCHs because, even assuming perfect card draws (expanded RR + Balance every minute) and no DPS from SCH/WHM, the lack of healing output and mana base still...won't...justify...bringing...an...AST due to weaker emergency options and mana management.

Is 5% extra damage done (from the classes who are dealing damage) 15 seconds of every minute worth the risk of losing a tank to a lack of burst healing and emergency buttons? THAT is the question, though I'm pretty sure we already know the answer...
there is more to it still than your even getting at there

like the scholar's fey wind is 50% uptime of 3% haste which is also effective on the tanks and healers and no downtime trying to set it up again.
VS
if you somehow manage to get perfect cards nonstop to get 15s of 5% damage for the dps per minute

and that scholar and whm can actually do considerable dps on their own while astro's personal dps is complete garbage and they don't really have the mp to spare on it anyways.
Is that even something you can make a comparison for?
the odds of never actually getting the combo to extend a balance during an entire fight seems to be just as good as getting it only once or twice while a scholar can heal and maintain dots and fey wind and has a whole plethora of damage reduction and emergency healing skills at their disposal too

don't get me wrong i really like playing as astro, it has a lighter feel than the other healers and the actual card mechanics are very fun.
but the numbers for healing output and mana management and utility and damage are just not there


just as one example take collective unconcious. It is actually equivalent strength to sacred soil
but sacred soil is 30s cooldown, ogc instant cast, targeted, and has a mana efficiency component
VS a 90s cooldown, channeled spell, that you have to be in the center of
it's just very clearly inferior in every way. Like with all the downsides they should make it like 30% damage reduction, it actually needs to be so strong that the second healer can handle things on their own while it's channeled or it has no point even existing