Another comparation between AST and WHM

[GideonHighmourn]

I feel like that'll put AST on track for emergency buttons. Essential Dignity is already really powerful and doesn't really need to be adjusted in any way short of a very slight reduction in its' recast time.

I'd have to agree, overall. I'd personally love to see the proc effect on Enhanced Benefic II be changed to reduce the CD of ED, which some have suggested. Regardless, I'd really just like to see the healing CDs improved. Currently, it feels like playing a 2.0 healer in 3.0 content. It's doable, but not as potent (in emergency situations) or as flexible as it could be compared to WHM and SCH.

[Vlady]

Cant argue with that.I just feel the ben 2 proc should be tired more to our mana efficiency over letting essential.I am not against the proc making the next ben2 free.

[Leiloni]

Cant argue with that.I just feel the ben 2 proc should be tired more to our mana efficiency over letting essential.I am not against the proc making the next ben2 free.

Our mana hasn't been a huge issue since the last patch. I would much rather they fix healing first and a few changes to cards to make them shine more (but these too are at least improved with last patches changes). I actually had a few Alex runs recently in DF where the WHM's were running low on MP, despite me pumping out tons of heals. I actually threw a WHM a Ewer today which I never do.

[Khyan]

To me sch need a slap in the face they got way too much

Please don't touch/nerf other job because your job is weak. It's wrong.

Of course AST need buff, but SCH don't need a nerf at all. SCH can't use his powerful CD all the time since you need aetherflow to use them, and some of his CDs are really situational (emergency tactics) or arguable (dissipation). It's fine as it is.

[Fallen_Owl]

Just a thought here: do you guys think it'll be broken if Royal Road buffed the current card instead of the next one? This way, we cancel some rng without changing too much. And it could help AST prepare a little bit better.

[VanEinstein]

Just a thought here: do you guys think it'll be broken if Royal Road buffed the current card instead of the next one? This way, we cancel some rng without changing too much. And it could help AST prepare a little bit better.

You mean treating it like any other cooldown, rather than burning a card to make it happen? I could go for that. As it stands, the only effect worthy of burning a card for is the extended duration. Royal Road being a cooldown that improves a card you've just drawn would be fantastic. You could actually use it to much greater effect then, and not get stuck with the wrong improved effect on the wrong card. "Oh happy day! I have just extended my bole effect to everyone in the party!"... likely said no Astrologian ever.
The same could be said of things like ewer or spire in an all melee dps or mage-dps composition respectively. Whats a bunch of mages going to do with TP, or a bunch of Melee going to do with MP? I'd rather drop the that Ewer on a single target in that case.


Of course I could see some issues with my interpretation of your statement, too. In this case I suppose RR would have to get it's effect trigger straight from the card its improving, meaning that ewer and spire could never have an extended duration, but rather only be spread to additional players, and Spear/Arrow would be subject only to the improved duration, while Balance/Bole had the 'Enhanced' effect. Frankly, I could live with that. It would present me the option in all cases to improve each card in some way on demand, and "on demand" skills is something that Astrologian is sorely in need of.

Even if Ewer/Spire were restricted to single target vs being spread to additional targets, this would be very helpful in duty finder scenarios in which you lack a Bard or Machinist, or one in which you do have said jobs, but they are unwilling to use their support skills (I see this all the time). Unfortunately it's not quite so useful with Ewer... Black Mages hate having their rotation thrown off by the MP regen. Perhaps if they switched Ewer/Spire back to the way it used to be, as duration extending? I don't know. Tough call :/
As for the rest of the cards, I could see there being moments when I'd be willing to burn my RR cd to beef up Bole (though I honestly wish it were better than 15%... perhaps 20%?), or extend the duration of a Balance card during a burn phase.

There's also of course another issue with my interpretation. Cards that have been spread would be unable to function with with RR since it wouldn't be a buff that sat waiting for a card to be played anymore. Spread cards would be more like keeping that card you know you're going to need at some point that you cant leave up to RNG.

Bah! I doubt any part of what I'm saying is useable or likely, because without going deeper into other skills and rewriting those too, I've just backed myself into a corner with new problems as I try to fix the old.

[Roxas_Andrade]

Just a thought here: do you guys think it'll be broken if Royal Road buffed the current card instead of the next one? This way, we cancel some rng without changing too much. And it could help AST prepare a little bit better.

Maybe it could work if SE swapped back the effect of Royal road, so you would make powerful bole/balance, spread arrow/spear and extended ewer/spire.
But I like the way it is now, you can have all the effects for all cards.

[Ghishlain]

Noc is a very potent single target healing stance that can operate with some impressive recovery ability tied to a 500 potency instant cast fronted heal and shield along with single target healing stronger then a scholar when not factoring the pet additional embrace.

Just as an FYI - Aspected Benefic still gets the 5% bonus on healing power so Noct Aspected Benefic is actually 2 * floor(250 * 1.05) = 524 potency instant eHP heal. With that being said, it's not exactly fair to compare AST to a SCH who isn't using a Fairy since the Fairy is an essential part of their kit. Saying a SCH without a Fairy is like saying an AST is not using their cards and not making use of a Sect.

Also have some food for thought. SCH + Fairy embrace on a single target is at least 520 potency @ 442 MP versus Noct Aspected Benefic 524 Potency @ 707 MP. AST slightly wins the heal race in that respect at the cost of a lot more MP.

I'd have to agree, overall. I'd personally love to see the proc effect on Enhanced Benefic II be changed to reduce the CD of ED, which some have suggested.

I've suggested in a different thread that Benefic II proc have something to do with what Sect you're in. Diurnal is always about time (faster heals / healing about time) while Noct is about power (higher potency / shielding effects). So, with that in mind, I suggest:

• Diurnal Sect - Make Benefic II an oGCD ability
• Nocturnal Sect - Either make Benefic II more potent (perhaps 20%) or reduce the MP cost (perhaps 25%)

[Vlady]

Wow.I could support royal road being a cooldown that doubled the effect of your card in play.

[Adventica6]

whms throughput cd's divine seal/presence of mind + there 3 off gcd big heals is what makes whm a better choice and people know that.

As someone else said, it's not about potencies, it's about hard healing cooldowns that matter, divine seal regens, presence of mind cure spams, full heal off gcd tetras, insant no mana aoe assizes, swift cast holys, the list literally goes on.

And this is why there is a thousand threads on the issue.