Astrologian "BUFFS"

[Remilia_Nightfall]

snip

Point is, you cannot make AST on par with SCH on Nocturnal and WHM on Diurnal. While that would be "balanced", it would make both WHM and SCH obsolete as you could just roll an AST and be both with the flip of a switch.

[justinjarjar]

Point is, you cannot make AST on par with SCH on Nocturnal and WHM on Diurnal. While that would be "balanced", it would make both WHM and SCH obsolete as you could just roll an AST and be both with the flip of a switch.

While AST has cleared A1S with WHM partner and may be in a better place then people make it out to be, in no way would or should you see double AST even if the healing was on par with WHM in one sec and SCH in the other. The same way you do not see double WARs, healers work better with two different healers. Right now the preferred combo is WHHM/SCH and most groups are not taking AST at all. The only success I have seen is WHM/AST however which shows that AST cannot handle being a primary healer and only WHM right now seems to be able to. Not that I think AST needs to heal like a WHM and SCH in each sect, just that in no way would you make the other healers obsolete. Also the play style is completely different between the three classes, with SCH being the most different with the pet and the raw dps and healing of the WHM.

[Tyla_Esmeraude]

Point is, you cannot make AST on par with SCH on Nocturnal and WHM on Diurnal. While that would be "balanced", it would make both WHM and SCH obsolete as you could just roll an AST and be both with the flip of a switch.

Would that really make the other 2 obsolete though? If all 3 of them were at the same level, people would play their favourite healer anyways, with non-impact card buffs adding just a tiny plus if bringing an AST. Our cards are not that game breaking and even less with their randomness.

[SuzakuCMX]

*snip*

Most people aren't asking for carbon copies of SCH/WHM moves either. They just want the aspected Benefics to be on par with their SCH/WHM counterparts which still leaves AST wanting for....everything else SCH/WHM has.

[Remilia_Nightfall]

Would that really make the other 2 obsolete though? If all 3 of them were at the same level, people would play their favourite healer anyways, with non-impact card buffs adding just a tiny plus if bringing an AST. Our cards are not that game breaking and even less with their randomness.

It depends what you mean by "same level". Making diurnal pour out as much raw healing as WHM and nocturnal as much potential mitigation as SCH yes, it would make those two classes obsolete as with AST you would be able to do both of those things as well as them, and those two things are what it is needed in raids, mostly. Everything else is just added fluff.
Set aside the "people would play their favourite". No, people will play whatever is FOTM or simply whatever is more powerful/versatile.

[Codek]

It depends what you mean by "same level". Making diurnal pour out as much raw healing as WHM and nocturnal as much potential mitigation as SCH yes, it would make those two classes obsolete as with AST you would be able to do both of those things as well as them, and those two things are what it is needed in raids, mostly. Everything else is just added fluff.
Set aside the "people would play their favourite". No, people will play whatever is FOTM or simply whatever is more powerful/versatile.

People are already picking the more powerful/versatile classes....that's kind of the problem here.

I'm not sure why you think having the classes equal in potency suddenly translates to having AST be better then the other two.

And, just because AST can fit in both roles, doesn't mean we get to play both. Technically, the role AST is suppose to play is based off the other healer in the party. We don't really have much say in the matter as it's usually pre-determined before we enter an instance (let alone during a boss fight). Sadly, It just so happens that Nocturnal is so bad right now that most AST will play as a double WHM combo then pretend to be a SCH.

AST/AST combo is also another whole mess of failure to go over. It sure won't be becoming the second coming anytime in the future.

[Rubiss]

Snip

AST brings more to the table than just healing. They are also a buffing class. While their buffs don't seem to be anything special at the moment, the entire point is that they bring something different to a party. It feels as thought a majority of Astrologian threads and ideas just want Astrologian to be as good as a Scholar in Nocturnal and as good as a White Mage in Diurnal while still being able to support the party with buffs.

AST has been out for a little over a month, with Savage only being out for two days as of writing this. I don't even think players are able to properly judge how good Astrologian is. Remember when Scholar first came out?

The point is, AST seems to be a support healer type. With this in mind, I would expect the overall healing potency of AST to be lower because they ideally support the party with buffs. If anything their "buffs" need a buff.

[Remilia_Nightfall]

I'm not sure why you think having the classes equal in potency suddenly translates to having AST be better then the other two.

Not "better" per se, but versatility is still a tool that only AST has. It might not help once you are in the field, but it is still a peculiarity that must be taken into account. Of course we could argue that since we can level both WHM and SCH on the same character, this kind of versatility is useless for any serious player - but that is a different can of worms. Point is, AST needs to pay for this versatility somehow.

Mind you, I am a SCH healing alex savage with an AST. I am fully aware of its issues. I am just saying that simply boosting potency, while a possible solution to make AST more viable, would not be very smart in the long run. We need something unique that does not kill AST identity. i.e., something with cards.

[ckc22]

Point is, you cannot make AST on par with SCH on Nocturnal and WHM on Diurnal. While that would be "balanced", it would make both WHM and SCH obsolete as you could just roll an AST and be both with the flip of a switch.

Exactly. Inb4 you get called a troll by everyone on this board though.

[RazeLandale]

Point is, you cannot make AST on par with SCH on Nocturnal and WHM on Diurnal. While that would be "balanced", it would make both WHM and SCH obsolete as you could just roll an AST and be both with the flip of a switch.

I think that's more a whm specific concern. Since most of ast's moves are straight from the whm playbook. Not really so with sch, even in noct stance, because there's more to scholar than just shields.