Things currently wrong with frontlines that the community would like to see fixed

[Mutemutt]

The zerg style gameplay is definitely the biggest thing I don't like about the latest frontline modes, but them being flooded by summoners is a close second.

For AoE healing, Equanimity is slightly better for AST than SCH/WHM because of your ability to choose between Medica and Succor, but CU is not very good outside of a coordinated team - you're giving up your mobility and several GCDs (thanks to the shoddy way the buff is applied) to maybe get the HoT on half of your party. Whispering Dawn is a more reliable (if slightly less powerful) version of the same effect, on a shorter cooldown.

You're still missing the forest for the trees, though! Outside of Retrogradation every 2 minutes and ED every 40 seconds, AST is tightly GCD locked - your cooldowns, even Synastry, are all about giving you better healing per GCD, rather than a faster GCD or OGCD burst options. As fights go longer, this becomes a significant disadvantage - if you're ever crowd controlled or otherwise forced to stop casting, you don't have anywhere near the ability to recover compared to WHM or SCH's OGCD and passive options.

I feel like sch is the only one you can say isn't bound by gcd and ast is the only one you can say isn't bound by cast times. You can't bug ast with normal attacks like the other healers; the only thing that will force essential dignity is high burst on a target. You can often force whm and even sch into using their emergency heals just by constantly bugging them, keeping them from getting casts off normally. I can find use in equanimity for sch and whm but for ast... pretty questionable since lightspeed trumps it in every way.

And am I the only healer that places so little value in aoe heals and HoTs? Only dangerous aoe damage I see is cometeors and when 3 or so smns bane buffed DoTs and usually my first response to either of those is the healer limit break. Indomitability, Assize/cure 3 and lightspeed helios is just the back up or the "this isn't even worth my lb" option. Being brutally honest, Medica 2's HoT is just about as useful as protect in keeping people alive: fodder to keep retro/wither/one ilm punch/glory slash from hitting an actually useful buff.

[Guesswhat]

Looks like they need to rename Seal Rock into Summoner Rock.

Whatever makes you think that??



oh...

[xxczx]

JP PvP matches are literally zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

If you look on XIVPvP it's SMN after SMN, at least with EU/NA servers they have at least some difference in classes, not everyone and their mother rolls SMN

[lovelikewinter]

- Your group got hit by a Bane? Pop Retrogradation and Focalization

That's not how DoTs work...

[Kyani]

The zerg style gameplay is definitely the biggest thing I don't like about the latest frontline modes, but them being flooded by summoners is a close second.

And am I the only healer that places so little value in aoe heals and HoTs? Only dangerous aoe damage I see is cometeors and when 3 or so smns bane buffed DoTs and usually my first response to either of those is the healer limit break.

You're not wrong - AoE healing is only really useful in very small bursts (but it's very good then). In practical terms, though, you only really want to spend one GCD on your AoE, which is when Scholar is at its weakest / Astrologian is at its weakest - that's where my perception of AST as a weak AoE healer is rooted.

The 3 good HoT effects are legit, though - their presence is why Bane is wasted damage, and they're equivalent to casting half a basic heal on someone every single GCD for the duration. Having lots of strong HoTs makes triage healing a lot more effective, and it's the only way to keep people topped off through movement. Medica II's not really as good, though - it counteracts Bane, but for the most part it's Meter Padding Central :x

JP PvP matches are literally zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

If you look on XIVPvP it's SMN after SMN, at least with EU/NA servers they have at least some difference in classes, not everyone and their mother rolls SMN

It's funny - they flock toward a percieved imbalance, but don't really have a great idea of how to counter it. A giant pile of summoners like that is soft to paladins and warriors, especially after Adrenaline, but there doesn't seem to be much of that present at all.

[TheWaywardWind]

You've really never been Aura Blasted off a high node, huh? You poor, sheltered thing. Aura Blast and Mythril Tempest are super obvious when you're on the recieving end of them, and they're both game-winning effects.

You've never really utilized Retro to it's full potential, huh? You poor, incapable thing. Retrogradation is super obvious when you're on the receiving ending of it, and they're both game-winning effects.


Just because you can't properly time it doesn't mean others still can't, sweetheart.

[Dimitrii]

Sorry Knives but saying ASTs are pathetic at AOE healing is stretching it immensely.

You're right that was a gross generalization on my part. Since the job is so popular now I've been stuck with some mediocre double ast heals sometimes and it gets frustrating to see at the end of the match my team having raked up so many deaths, with no one having gotten healed for more than 50k hp cause the astros couldnt keep up (which forces me to switch to whm to help midway way through the match). Its why I would still much rather have a whm or sch healing alongside the ast as opposed to double astro in 72 man (24 man of course no issue with double ast). That being said it is pretty insane what can be done with the job in the hands of skilled players (though of course there's only a handful of players like that on primal maelstrom just as there's only a few for the other GCs and other data center GCs). Its godly at babysitting a player as well, I have been left absolutely speechless at times at the situations the ast from primal mael's excal premade group has gotten me out of alive when I have no business surviving the ordeal lol (though the heals from that server premade are generally insane to begin with so its not really fair to compare them with pug versions).

Whatever makes you think that??



oh...

I'm a little surprised actually at the low dmg on this screenshot for these summoners for a 72 man match. I wonder if the JP play the job differently than we do in NA/EU.

[xxczx]

I'm a little surprised actually at the low dmg on this screenshot for these summoners for a 72 man match. I wonder if the JP play the job differently than we do in NA/EU.

JP servers are less about the zerg that's why lol, they play Seal Rock a whole lot differently than us.

[Kyani]

You've never really utilized Retro to it's full potential, huh? You poor, incapable thing. Retrogradation is super obvious when you're on the receiving ending of it, and they're both game-winning effects.


Just because you can't properly time it doesn't mean others still can't, sweetheart.

You'd look like you had a point if you replied to anything I said with anything other than a whiny mad-lib, you know. Retro is not obvious unless your important buff is the one it chooses, and no one - not even Scholar - regularly sheds all other buffs to the point where you can pinpoint it in a sea of enemies.

Retrogradation's effect is the definition of marginal.

[Pence]

JP servers are less about the zerg that's why lol, they play Seal Rock a whole lot differently than us.

Actually no. JP is much more about the zerg than NA servers. NA is very, very tame compared to a JP match. I was surprised when I first transferred at how crazy and active it was by comparison. I'm pretty sure adrenalin was replaced with Adderall.