Is AST recognized as a viable healer yet?

[Kemas]

More than viable. It's competitive. The problem lies in inexperience. A LOT of people began playing with the expansion without prior knowledge to mechanics and the ast buffs furthered the problem despite being an amazing potential booster for people who already knew how to play the job. Mch and drk have these same sorts of traits- inexperienced players not utilizing the abilities to the fullest. All 3 of these jobs have cd's that essentially need to be used on recast to get their full benefit. The inexperience comes in when people become hesitant/unaware of how to use their abilities to the fullest. With ast the use of luminiferous aether is the big one. Pre and post buff I've seen complaints about ast enmity generation which is quite literally a non issue with proper cool down usage. The same goes for mp management. I've noticed this to be the hurdle for a lot of drk's as well with not using blood price correctly. TLDR reread your tool tips and learn to maximize your abilities to their fullest and ast is a phenomenally versatile healer with the best raid utility, second to none when used correctly. They don't necessarily replace whm or sch but in most current content it's best to combine ast with one or the other to speed things up.

[Jijifli]

They're good. It's just some people don't trust our cards. I once had players get mad that I gave them cards because, "They don't like bad jobs pretending to do good."

[Nalien]

Astrologian is fine, but I still think Nocturnal Sect sucks... It really shouldn't be a Adloquium clone, it should be a copy of the spell Phalanx from Final Fantasy XI. That has a duration and lasts for it, that benefits from Time Dilation. That would actually make me consider using Nocturnal Sect outside PvP, and it would stop me thinking "This is just cheating" in PvP. Perhaps it's a silly complaint, but yeah... Diurnal Sect benefits from Time Dilation, you extend the duration of your Regens and their single casting does more as a result. Nocturnal Sect does not benefit in this way, it's a cheap Galvanize clone that will always wear off when you take damage, I'd rather it be something new, and having it benefit from Time Dilation just makes sense to me.

I'd also quite like it if the Cards had a set random order, rather than just a random order. What's the difference? A set random order would prevent getting Spire back to back. Your order is randomly set as, for example, Bole, Spire, Ewer, Spear, Arrow, Balance. You now have to work through that order, at which point it is reset and you get a new random order (Shuffle would also do this). This would let you actually try and predict the future; "I just drew Bole then Spire, so next could be...", rather than; "I just drew Spire, then Spire, then Spire... Next will probably be Spire...". It would be something you really have to pay attention to in order to get any benefit out of it, and I really think it would just thematically enhance the Jobs gameplay. I want to be drawing cards and attempting to foresee the future, currently I fell like I'm just rolling some dice...

[Jijifli]

snip

Nocturnal stance is kind of crap, but at least when I get double AST in Duty Finder queue's there's an option to keep our things seperate. That was one fault with SCH SCH actually.

[Kassiekane]

snip

Correct. This is something that most people don't know or refuse to accept.

They're good. It's just some people don't trust our cards. I once had players get mad that I gave them cards because, "They don't like bad jobs pretending to do good."

Lmao

[Kemas]

Nocturnal stance is kind of crap, but at least when I get double AST in Duty Finder queue's there's an option to keep our things seperate. That was one fault with SCH SCH actually.

If you think nocturnal sect is crap you're largely under utilizing the jobs potential. For all current 4 man content it's the superior sect. I'm able to toss a 1.8k shield up on the tank, swap over to cleric stance and dps to my hearts content, only dropping it to refresh the shield and if needed an essential dignity to top him/her off. Diurnal can sustain the tank but you get a direct result from nocturnal sect that is hard to rival once you overgear content.

[Nalien]

For all current 4 man content it's the superior sect. I'm able to toss a 1.8k shield up on the tank, swap over to cleric stance and dps to my hearts content, only dropping it to refresh the shield and if needed an essential dignity to top him/her off. Diurnal can sustain the tank but you get a direct result from nocturnal sect that is hard to rival once you overgear content.

That honestly doesn't seem like much of a boast... With Diurnal I'm doing exactly the same thing, the only difference is I can extend my nuking time with Time Dilation and Celestial Opposition. Not to mention Diurnal is actual beneficial to nuking, where as Nocturnal does nothing. I mean... My Astrologian is gimp (i180) and I'm providing 1.2k/tic currently... Not seeing much allure in a 1.8k shield compared to that... I really can't see that shield lasting for anywhere near the duration of my Regens... Granted I'm throwing in an extra spell with Aspected Helios to maintain that 1.2k/tic, but... Well, is there ever a situation where DPS don't manage to eat unneeded damage? I'm letting Aspected Helios do all the work there and continuing to nuke.

Nocturnal Sect died for me the moment I got Time Dilation, the synergy between that and Diurnal is just too nice, it's effectively an extra 6k HP healed for nothing. Nocturnal basically just exists for pre-pull buffing at this point...

[FoxyAreku]

Yes it's more than fine now. However White mage/noct AST is way better than Scholar/diurnal AST as far as compositions go.

Nocturnal Sect died for me the moment I got Time Dilation, the synergy between that and Diurnal is just too nice, it's effectively an extra 6k HP healed for nothing. Nocturnal basically just exists for pre-pull buffing at this point...

This is very incorrect and you should be ashamed. The time dilation thing is nice but it's only 5 more ticks of regen and you could just re-apply the shield for noct, not like it's expensive.

Only reason to use Diurnal is two situation-4 man preference, or 8 mans when you're with a scholar. I facepalm whenever I see someone pick diurnal when we have a whitemage, all the over healing, none of the mitigation. :/

[Hayward]

I've never cared much for these imaginary "Hardcore Raider Seals of Approval" in XI or XIV. For the most part, these "viability" labels are based on intellectual laziness, misleading or outright dishonest stats, and a little bit of uneasiness that someone playing the new job will find it's potential and knock them out of a raid spot.

If Astrologian weren't viable for 3.0 content, I really believe SE would never have released the job. As things stand now, AST is very much even with SCH and WHM.

[Nalien]

This is very incorrect and you should be ashamed. The time dilation thing is nice but it's only 5 more ticks of regen and you could just re-apply the shield for noct, not like it's expensive.

And... My point was that rather than reapplying Nocturnal Aspected, I'm just continuing to nuking... Not only am I nuking faster, I'm nuking for longer... Why would I opt to reapply something frequently when I can provide some additional DPS instead?

I facepalm whenever I see someone pick diurnal when we have a whitemage, all the over healing, none of the mitigation. :/

I honestly don't see this as a problem when the over healing is coming from Regen effects... It's not like I'm going out of my way to stop nuking to over heal and waste MP by casting Benefic II when Benefic isn't even necessary, it's Regen. If it's causing over healing I don't really care, I'll just continue nuking while you're reapplying Nocturnal. I might be over healing, but I'm casting less heals. Regen based over healing is the ideal situation IMO, the only reason it'll cause MP issues is from the vast number of nukes I'll be casting...

The only drawback with Regen is terrible tanks and pulls.