Overreaction to Astrologian buff.

[PetiteMalFleur]

I don't think the people complaining actually raid or realize the full potential of the other two healing jobs. I've been playing my astrologian all afternoon and the buffs are amazing. Do I feel they overpower white mage or scholar? They do not. They brought astrologian up to par to give them a viable spot in progression raiding.

[Taranok]

They brought astrologian up to par to give them a viable spot in progression raiding.

I'm not so certain the AST is up to par yet. It's nice that Arrow/Bole/Balance last long enough to be worthwhile now, and it's nice the AST has the best baseline healing throughput in the game, as well as for A.Benefic to be an actually good regen now, but the class still "feels" worse than my 58 WHM does. There's just a lot to be said about having reliable support when you need it.

Don't get me wrong, the patch did a lot to address quite a few problems of the class, but I'm not quite convinced it can replace the WHM in its role or the SCH in its role. Which, honestly, I'd rather the devs just quit pretending it should be either a WHM or a SCH and just made it its own thing with its own role.

Do note, I have not done any savage yet, so my opinion definitely is not made with perfect knowledge of the current fights.

[Amiaze]

I don't think the people complaining actually raid or realize the full potential of the other two healing jobs. I've been playing my astrologian all afternoon and the buffs are amazing. Do I feel they overpower white mage or scholar? They do not. They brought astrologian up to par to give them a viable spot in progression raiding.

I think this sums up how we should approach AST. Personally, as a WHM that uses AST, I don't feel threatened by AST at all. Simply put, SCH and AST will never be able to keep up with WHM's reactive healing potency; similarly, WHM will never be able to keep up with SCH's proactive shielding. AST can be both proactive and reactive, but there are drawbacks. There is RNG built into the class; Balance, with a Royal Road buff, would certainly help burn through a DPS check quicker...if you managed to draw it rather than Ewer three times in a row. But even without it, WHM and SCH both have good DPS capabilities.

I think this is part of the reason that the RNG is there in the first place. Throughout any raid, there will be brief moments where AST really isn't bringing anything amazing to the table (such as, as I mentioned in another thread, Ewer with a WAR/NIN/BRD party). But when you get Bole or Balance during, say, T4 or A3, you'll be happy that it's there.

Even if AST did become preferred over WHM, that would just encourage me to find new ways to heal with WHM and challenge myself.

[echoica]

I don\\'t think the people complaining actually raid or realize the full potential of the other two healing jobs. I\\'ve been playing my astrologian all afternoon and the buffs are amazing. Do I feel they overpower white mage or scholar? They do not. They brought astrologian up to par to give them a viable spot in progression raiding.

Exactly this ^^