Pipe Dreams: Mystic

[Shurrikhan]

I'm surprised there haven't been any comments on this in the months since you've posted it, and now just have to hope I'm not tainting anything by posting comments after it.

I'm not sold on the Duality concept, largely because it seems to be doing the opposite.
It takes 3 heal casts to have the same toolkit access to healing abilities that all other healers have at any point, or 3 dps casts to reach their cleric stance (again, for them, basically instant).
These do nothing on their own. One must first ascend, and cannot then ascend oppositely for 90 seconds without consuming a 1-minute cooldown.
**[Though Teetering Scales helps, it seems too little (at best roughly triple cooling speed) and for a problem that need not exist.]
**I do like that we can at least gain stacks in the opposite alignment while Ascended, but with a 90-second CD on Ascend this really don't feel as beneficial as it ought to. I may just be unable to see what I'm supposed to do with it.
Slightly off-subject: There seems to be no reason not to stay ascended for a particular role. Which means an extra button being pressed with zero thought upon reaching 3 stacks. If the stacks at least had real value and especially if they could be consumed in a different way, and then enhanced (preferably each in creative manner, not just a basic buff) instead of unlocking the additional special abilities, then the stances might make sense. As they are, they might as well be a passive conversion of the 3-stack effect upon reaching those 3 stacks.

I cannot imagine a playstyle forming from this that would be any more fun than Cleric Stance unless accentuated by more than just otherwise-locked abilities and the Ascension passive benefits. If it is to be a dps-healer (or, THM healer) that works in a sort of swing between roles, there needs to be more to cause its players to actually swap sides or "swing" it, even if the mechanics encouraging that are as simple as greatly increased passive mana generation during the swing and quickly diminishing to below-standard MP regen when finishing said swing (diving further into full healer or full dps).
**Affecting MP Costs alone will not work. There are many times where even a 90% mana-cost-reduced dps or heal cast is simply not worth casting without additional benefits. A blend might be effective. I don't know, I'd have to really think about it.
**Admittedly the dependence on this "swing" would still have to be fine tuned or outright rethought again. With the above ideas MST would have a balance of higher mana regeneration but less consecutive/intensive healing time available to it than most healers. As traditional healers are not especially running into mana issues as is, that may effectively crush the job.

Tldr: when I think 'duality' I think the ability to quickly access two opposite mentality/toolsets and for them to synergize together. This has neither immediacy nor synergy as far as I can see, yet.

On the topic of ability spread:
I like that your saving hotbar space by pairing the Ascension-unlocked abilities, swapping Icons and effects according to current Ascension, but unless MST has already reached the same ability count as other jobs, this should not be necessary. Rather, each should probably have some tactical viability anywhere along the swing, even if typically inferior to either of the pure sides / Ascensions, and the Ascension effects affecting more than just their basic damage or healing so that we really feel like we have a large toolkit manipulable by the very things that make the job unique.

I like the effects of abilities like Stave and the Purge trait a lot. The transfusions could, imo, use some work, but this should come with whatever you think of for the stances, etc. The Sphere abilities seem aesthetically interesting but nothing all that special, and likely annoying to some users (consider Salted Earth).

Just my officious two cents.

Edit: Okay, extra cent. Did you mean for it to feel more or less like a Priest / Archon? Somehow a lot of the extra aesthetics of Mystic I expected don't really seem to be here. (Even if they were mostly just shikigami animations before debuffs.)