I can heal anything as an AST thus far (haven't done savage yet) but having a 60 WHM and 60 SCH it is obvious that the AST is far weaker than either of them.

Both WHM and SCH have eye for an eye (10% entire-pull-wide damage reduction) and virus (for whm only physical side but this is 90% of the encounters anyhow). Both are dependable. High cooldown? Sure. But we know we have them when we need them.

Furhtermore WHM has Asylum which is a throw down and forget version of the astrologians collective unconscious which STUNS THEM IN PLACE THE ENTIRE DURATION. Meaning a Whm can chug along healing but an AST is done and has no other options. SCH's dome is equivalent (although costs an aetherflow).

Most of AST's abilities also seem like totally ripping off other classes.
1: Tetra/Lustrate/Essential dignity all are basically the same thing. "In emergency press X",
2: medica, helios.
3: medica 2, aspected helious and succor.

And worse yet the abilities seem like CHEAP knockoffs, like instead of a rolex... you're getting a dollar store watch with rollex stickers on it:
1: Gravity is basically holy without a stun
2: What the hell is celestial opposition even good for? It's just the stun portion of holy really. I'd be more impressed with the time dilation effect if most card effects weren't single target. Even then the cards effects are negligible over the entire party because they have their effects reduced by 50%.
3: Tons of potencies are just plain lower
4: Their aspected benefic has a lower potency AND duration than a whm's regen. And this is heavily noticeable when leveling because if you're used to whm you can pull off a lot more shenanegans with the WHM's regen (especially if you divine seal it!).
5: Lightspeed is basically a crappy version of a WHM's Presence of Mind... why do I say it's worse? Because POM reduces the COOLDOWN TIMES as well. Meaning a WHM will pump out even more healing than before, and can even be used for damage (yes really). An AST's Lightspeed also reduces heals by 25% at the same time. So even on this level it is weaker.

*Oh wait let me add, their medica 2 equivalent has a SIGNIFICANTLY shorter range than WHM medica 2. And you WILL notice it in dungeons and boss fights and raids. It is VERY noticeable.


Prettymuch the only ability that seems UNIQUE AND EFFECTIVE is synastry.

The entire card system is
- Unreliable pure RNG nonsense. Yes you can hold a card in spread but I lost track of how many times I drew spires over and over and over and over again.
- The cards effects are ignorable / feeble unless you double their potency. The balance is probably the best card giving 10% more damage to a single character, can be boosted to 20% which is then noticeable. But this took luck to draw it in the first place, to draw and give up a bole as well and then use it on a DPS who we hope will juice the most out of it.
- Doesn't make up for the lack of heals/other pains the class has.

It is in no capacity up to the same level as WHM or SCH. Can it heal through content? Yes, but with A LOT more effort and no reward. In fact it's more effort and LESS reward, longer times to run (cause you have to focus on healing more than a WHM who can just spam stone through dungeons. And I can clarify this is possible as WHM cause I CAN AND DO DO IT 100% of the time). There is no reason to take an AST unless you're looking for "hard mode", which most people will not put up with. If a DPS or tank queues up for a raid then they just want in and out of the dungeon. They do NOT care about your feelings, your desires, or even your roleplaying. They want to clear the crap and move on as fast and painless as possible- an AST is weaker by a large margin to WHM and SCH and so people have caught on and are shunning AST.

I want AST to get buffs and I love the look, the playstyle, the feel... but at present they offer only extremely tedious healing and an overall inefficient time.