Quote Originally Posted by Ninimo_Babamo View Post
Aperion, we get it, you want AST shields to be good. But, sadly, they arent. Once you get your AST to level 60 and start trying end game with it, you will see, very much so, that it is a heavily gimped stance. It has far less heal potential than its regens. There is never a reason to use shields over hots with AST unless you are just in an instance with tons of trash and don't want your regen to pull threat off the tank the second the mob is pulled. Take this from someone with AST, WHM, and SCH all i185. Astrologian doesn't suck, but its shields sure do.
This isn't actually about AST shields, but everyone seems to be focusing on how lacking the AST shields are. Something I'm not arguing against as I'm well aware of the lower potency, combined with no crit shield bonus, means sub-standard shields. To go back to my original statement, I'm wondering if we're meant to play the AST in the sect that matches our co-healer. The topic has been derailed into a discussion about Nocturnal Sect and shields because of how ready people are to point out the shortcomings of that sect.

Look, guys, I've presented a theory, and no one has come back to me with "we tried this". Instead all I'm getting are people pointing to the shields and saying the AST would never use them when paired with a SCH. Maybe the AST never does get to use them, but gets to do other things. I was hoping to get feedback from other healers, not dismissal.