Suggested changes to AST Design to bring it in line with WHM/SCH

[Mibgestalt]

No it's not. The whole issue is you will NOT see one white mage in any world top 5 group unless they change something drastic before 3.2. The job is really fun but sucks.

See how easy I can insert any made up statement on the spot? Just because someone makes stuff up out of thin air does not make it true. The only reason no world first had an astro was because white mage was able to stomp curve the astrologian in the pure healing for the first two months of the raids. If new content centers around tank taking massive damage and less on hard dps checks you will see astro make a greater appearance then white mage since the astro is the best tank healer right now.

He's probably a bit more qualified to speak on how high end competitive raiding will go.

There's really no situation where Synastry does something that a WHM/SCH can't do when it comes to single target healing. Like... at the end of the day it's still bombing single target heals for heavy constant tank damage, and a lot of that simply gets wasted due to overheal. Divine Seal + PoM would do just fine in the same situation. Maybe even better given the higher frequency of heals. Higher throughput on paper doesn't mean better once the limits of actual practice are applied.

Now an even more extreme version of a situation like A1S where one healer has to heal both preys/OT might be something only an AST can do, but that probably won't happen.

I don't really agree with all of OPs changes, they seem like too much, but the point about GCD use being on the high side comparatively does feel right to me.