What does everyone think about those AST buffs?

[Archvile78]

So i wonder, with the Balance card + extended + TD + CO are we looking at 1min30 10% damage buff lol?

[AlphaSonic]

I'm happy for the buffs, that's it. I was expecting Collective Unconscious restore MP while channeling, but well, I can't complain.

[Evanoel]

So i wonder, with the Balance card + extended + TD + CO are we looking at 1min30 10% damage buff lol?

But... but... isn't that what AST needs to be considered on par with the other healer classes? :/

[Archvile78]

But... but... isn't that what AST needs to be considered on par with the other healer classes? :/

I just think its pretty awesome.

[Tashim]

the mana regen problems stem from a lack of scaling with max MP. refresh and ewer wont give you more mana back if you stack piety, but assize and aetherflow do. As such, I expect mp problems to get worse as new content / more gear becomes available.

However, AST does have exceptional healing-per-mana ratios. We'll just need to learn to make good use of that efficiency.

[RazeLandale]

Basic heal potency buffs

Generic, but nice.

Aspected diurnal changes

Helios actually seems like a bad trade. Benefic is nice since it was so heavily nerfed version of regen. Most spells are, or were, just a bit weaker than their whm counterparts, but a.benefic was considerably weaker.

Aspected noct changes

Does nothing to fix the fundamental problem with noct. Baseline spells benefic II and helios are better, as a general rule. And exceptions to the rule don't warrant giving up regens.

Synastry

Sweet.

2 min Celestial opposition

Well...it lines up with LA. I don't know that mps as much a issue anymore, and really, it should be more than a enhanced LA trait. It remains, the worse timestop spell.

Collective unconcious

Better for a raid. Probably worse for free healing in a dungeon post gravity spam. Buffed a.benefic probably makes up for that though.

Card buffs

Really nice. I get why spire and ewer weren't touched, but where's the spear? 30s spear might actually be useful, it'd be a lot less of a 'maybe it'll do something' crapshoot, because at 30s you'll probably pop SOMETHING. But for arrow/balance/bole that's pretty huge.

[Kaizersan]

AST's lack of dps is due to the fact they increase other people's dps so it makes up the difference especially now with how far you can extend balance on someone.

[OmegaFlare]

OMG this is so insane. Synastry and lightspeed will give AST virtually no problem at all healing thru double preys in AS1. Solo healing 2 tanks in A3S? No problem. Essential Dignity (instant cast with 0 MP) is even better than tetragrammaton imo because it has only 40-sec cd.

The biggest benefit of AST is the 30-sec balance card which is vital in dps checks like during double hand in A3S. Combust II is better Aero III with 45 potency for 30 seconds. I think AST will put WHM out of work. They might have gone overboard with the buffs but we shall see. One thing is for certain, I will be leveling my AST as soon as I log in next time. Time to ditch the whm

[Mog77]

snip.

Thing is, it was possible for astro to solo heal content already. I've seen astros solo heal ravana before like it was no big deal, we bring solid dps buffs to the entire raid along with mana and tp regen, these things are not to be overlooked. Think about having a 35 second enhanced arrow on yourself, and how that will affect the amount of healing you will be able to put out combined with synastry and solid healing or shielding, it's not to be underestimated. Or using that kind of logic, put that arrow on your white mage instead and twiddle your thumbs because his healing will go completely nuts, especially if he pops POM at the same time.

tldr, we make everyone else overpowered just by rolling our cards and getting lucky.

[Velox]

But... but... isn't that what AST needs to be considered on par with the other healer classes? :/

Well there really isn't a guage in this game for being on "par" since people will always attempt to find situations where they can solo-heal every fight to maximize DPS. (I guess you could say party damage potential is the real standard in FFXIV). Basically it just comes down to if A, B, and C can all solo-heal every fight, then the one with the most utility is the best healer since utility (buffs, mitigation, debuffs, etc) is the only difference between each healer currently.