Every time I decide to play Ast, I find a thread that destroys my enthusiasm.

[Kinseykinz]

Do what makes YOU happy. F- the others.

Also, I have a 3 healers, and I like each for different things.

WHM=big soft cuddly raid blanket of love and fuzzies. Also, Holy has it uses for quick-kill trash content (dungeons)
SCH= solo time dungeon farming
AST= PVP sex machine. Also, it's very nice for low-manning many (albeit not all, EX primals/Coil).

But these examples are what I like...another player could come in and tell you something different.

As to 'is AST worth it?' There is nothing in the game atm, you can't do on AST...even Alex Savage, no matter what the forums will tell you. Also, just because something isn't 'preferred' doesn't mean it 'can't do'.

Also, while I don't know where I read it/saw it this week, but when Yoshi P was talking about AST and potentially still adjusting it/buffing it he basically said these things:

1. We can't simply buff it b/c it'd be too OP

and more to the point.

2. (I'm paraphrasing this) but he basically said: As I've been playing the game and getting paired with different AST's, I've noticed the difference between the skill levels of bad and good AST's to be very great. IE, a subtle way of saying, 'a lot of AST's people bump into, SUCK' and due to this, people view the whole role as underpowered/not as useful when in fact, it's their experience with bad players flavoring it.

So basically, the role also has a 'PR' problem. Just like DRG's in 2.0 did. (LOLDRG). Since most people's random exposure to people playing AST is likely while that player is leveling, you likely ARE in fact seeing people who are undergeared and/or still learning the job and who don't 'main' it. Also, not everyone leveling a role is a 'main' on that. For example, I'm leveling Ninja now. I have ZERO plans of really playing it once it's leveled, but I might as well do daily stuff and level something right? Same thing happens with all other roles, including healers.

And since AST is new, and there's not many of them...it's harder for people to remember what good AST play looks like vs. Bad...whereas, people are use to SCH/WHM enough now to know when they had a subpar WHM or SCH in their group. So when you get a 'bad' SCH/WHM in your group, you don't think 'the role is bad' you think 'that was a bad healer, whereas, the assumption still is the role AST is the reason for the fail and not the player. On the flip side, when you ARE good at AST, it's like taking candy from a baby if you wish to collect Commendations - because people's expectations on AST are so low so showing solid skill on the role is typically very noticed by randoms.

But it is a fun and dynamic role to play... but of the 3 healers, it's the one that requires the most precision overall. But if that fits your playstyle, then you will love it.

[basketofseals]

I like AST as a healer, but I just can't get over how god awful their dps kit is.

Gravity in particular is especially difficult to use since you have no way of mitigating damage while DPSing. It's a shame, because visually it's one of my favorite spells.

[DarkmoonVael]

I like AST as a healer, but I just can't get over how god awful their dps kit is.

Gravity in particular is especially difficult to use since you have no way of mitigating damage while DPSing. It's a shame, because visually it's one of my favorite spells.

In diurnal use Synystry on tank, Aspected Benefic, Aspected Helios and Collective Unconscious regen (wheel of fate) on tank, time dilate them all, cleric stance, grivity spam. The regen is powerful enough to keep a tank that uses cooldowns alive. Celestial Opposition can be used to stun all the mobs for an additional 1-2 Gravities, then Essential Dignity is there to get them back up if health is too low.

This is how i keep tanks up when wanting to gravity spam. Maybe others have a different way.

[Blitzace]

Whats the use of Unconscious as it goes away the second you move away or cast something else? i see alot of people cast it and then move along

[DarkmoonVael]

Whats the use of Unconscious as it goes away the second you move away or cast something else? i see alot of people cast it and then move along

It does 2 things. It provided the damage mitigation of sacred soil (10% damage mitigation, only whilst being channeled though), whilst putting a 150 potency, 15 sec duration regen on people. Whilst channeling it, people can move in and out of it to refresh the regen, not that is really happens as you never have the luxury of channelling it for long.

Usually put it up until the regen goes on people then move. Regen can be time dilated which makes it very very powerful.

[basketofseals]

In diurnal use Synystry on tank, Aspected Benefic, Aspected Helios and Collective Unconscious regen (wheel of fate) on tank, time dilate them all, cleric stance, grivity spam. The regen is powerful enough to keep a tank that uses cooldowns alive. Celestial Opposition can be used to stun all the mobs for an additional 1-2 Gravities, then Essential Dignity is there to get them back up if health is too low.

This is how i keep tanks up when wanting to gravity spam. Maybe others have a different way.

That is way more work for way less DPS and costs way more mana.

WHM can dps completely safe under holy and they have an AoE DoT they can throw out. They also have PoM to make their DPS higher.

SCH can pre-shield and have their faerie carry them while they get their dots up and bane them. SCH also has no problems with mana while gravity eats mana up faster than DRGs eat the dirt.

I'm not saying it can't be done, it's just underwhelming.

[DarkmoonVael]

That is way more work for way less DPS and costs way more mana.

WHM can dps completely safe under holy and they have an AoE DoT they can throw out. They also have PoM to make their DPS higher.

SCH can pre-shield and have their faerie carry them while they get their dots up and bane them. SCH also has no problems with mana while gravity eats mana up faster than DRGs eat the dirt.

I'm not saying it can't be done, it's just underwhelming.

Ok then throw in your aoe oGCD stun, your cards (hello enhanced balance on blm/smn), and the fact that AST is incredibly fun to play.

Also it costs far less mana than WHM for the simple fact that like for like spells cost less, and far more bursty than SCH.

AST dps kit is not as underwhelming as people seem to think, esp with their 2 native dots not having accuracy requirements.

That being said, whm aoe dps right now is a bit OP due to assize, but this does not mean AST aoe is bad.

[AzureFlare]

2. (I'm paraphrasing this) but he basically said: As I've been playing the game and getting paired with different AST's, I've noticed the difference between the skill levels of bad and good AST's to be very great. IE, a subtle way of saying, 'a lot of AST's people bump into, SUCK' and due to this, people view the whole role as underpowered/not as useful when in fact, it's their experience with bad players flavoring it.

I dearly hope he at least expected this to happen with the amount of subtle interactions between abilities that players kind of need to figure out themselves when it comes to AST, whereas I find WHM and SCH more straight-forwardly documented. On top of that the notorious lolRNG and some abilities being different (and harder to use) for the sake of being different.

On topic: If you like it, play it. Pretty much every combination of jobs, as long as roles are fulfilled, can clear whatever content is put out in the game. You might need to work harder for it than others, but that's the fun part of it.

[basketofseals]

Ok then throw in your aoe oGCD stun, your cards (hello enhanced balance on blm/smn), and the fact that AST is incredibly fun to play.

Also it costs far less mana than WHM for the simple fact that like for like spells cost less, and far more bursty than SCH.

AST dps kit is not as underwhelming as people seem to think, esp with their 2 native dots not having accuracy requirements.

That being said, whm aoe dps right now is a bit OP due to assize, but this does not mean AST aoe is bad.

Stun is only up every two minutes, while WHM gets theirs every pull, but balance is nice when you get it. My problem is that AST has to blow lots of cooldowns to do what the other healers can just do with the normal abilities. Again, it's not bad, it's just a lot of trouble for not really any pay off.

[TatoRazzino]

Stun is only up every two minutes, while WHM gets theirs every pull, but balance is nice when you get it. My problem is that AST has to blow lots of cooldowns to do what the other healers can just do with the normal abilities. Again, it's not bad, it's just a lot of trouble for not really any pay off.

And some other jobs have to burn cooldowns/stacks to do what AST can do with just their normal abilities. One cooldown from AST and you can comfortably solo heal tank splits, while WHM/SCH have to burn one or two things and micro-manage a pet to do. Having to burn cooldowns to do what other jobs do naturally is part of having different balanced jobs.

Also, to counter-balance the lack of stun you have a skill that scales with the tank's HP, a card that increases defense, a bubble that also does that and etc. There are lots of tools to deal with this kind of thing, and the DPS kit from AST is far from awful.