Astrologian impossible to balance as it is

[AzureFlare]

The issue is that Astrologian as it is cannot be balanced. It's not a simple matter of increasing potencies (again) or homogenisation among the sect specific abilities (again). Square-Enix has decided to do this twice now: Potency increases and removing sect reliance on Collective Unconsciousness. If a third time would be required, Square-Enix would need to consider the possibility of reworking Astrologian as whole or keep it like this till 4.0 and hopefully the new spells and/or abilities can salvage Nocturnal Sect.

Except the fact AST can't be balanced (true because by nature asymmetrical jobs can't be balanced, again, video games in a nutshell people) has nothing inherently to do with waiting for 4.0 or a rework. Heck, the problem isn't even balance, the problem is that there seems to be measurements with two cups for AST/WHM and for SCH and apparently it is a major issue if we shift some numbers so N.AST doesn't have to be in a huge discomfort until said rework is done.

Your analysis is great and spot on, and then you come with a bunch of hypothetical situations 'if we do x, then y, so no' and semi-rhetorical questions to push forward the need for a rework (which multiple people have already done and encouraged, rightfully so) and somehow drop all thought about even trying to change Nocturnal Sect while we wait due to said situations and questions. From an infrastructural point alone, assuming a regen-healer/mitigating-healer combo is the assumed (best) way to go and using SE's own numbers, that's utterly stupid: you'd make the AST populace compete with the way bigger WHM populace until whenever that rework comes and by far not enough people can fulfill that off-healer spot nearing its potential.

So what if CU suddenly has a 1 minute cooldown in Nocturnal, or Aspected Helios did a 150-200% shield instead, or TD acted like Deployment? Clearly, there's a need for a SCH-like healer more so than a WHM-like healer, and given your extensive analysis, there hardly seems to be an issue giving Nocturnal such a thing since they'll still be behind SCH anyway. So what if an AST has to know their abilities more thoroughly because they differ so much upon sect? Just teach them, put Nocturnal on level 30 instead of tacking it on at level 50 so they get the time to learn. People are already favoring regardless which one is statistically superior anyway. So what if we buff the potencies again, be it for Noct's sake only and only on Noct abilities? Again, just give Noct something so it won't have to spend another half a year (or even worse) struggling to do what a SCH can do while picking their nose and telling the rest of awesome it looks.

And the reason I was comparing SCH 2.X to 3.0 WHM/AST specifically is that SCH 2.X had clearly defined weaknesses/struggles to overcome, just like WHM and AST still do. Many of their newly introduced abilities (and the older reworked ones) overcame those struggles, giving SCH an even bigger amount of comfort while it is the only healer capable to heal by literally following another player after pressing Summon/Summon 2. If you want to speak of identity: what is it that Indomitability, one of the biggest offenders in my opinion, adds to the identity of a SCH? Was SCH really about burst-AoE healing? Did they really need a 400 potency, AoE instant heal that rivals Asylum and Assize, or CU and CO combined in terms of healing output? AST isn't the only offender of breaking identities, but it seems to be the one that gets the most lashing for doing so even from its own players, and that seems to be the be-all-end-all reason to ever buff N.AST more than anything.

N.AST can remain the GCD-heavy, fairy-less SCH with WHM healing abilities it is right now while giving it something to work with for the months to come. It won't have the spectacular oGCD healing SCH has, or the burst-AoE healing WHM has, or the regens WHM has, or the AoE damage SCH has, or the fairy that SCH has, or the superior on-demand mitigation abilities SCH has. But it can have superior single target base healing, superior AoE regular healing, a method to shift DPS to be closer to SCH and paying for those gains by the luxury of having an instant, single-target shield and cards. Just give it something so it can provide the same HPS, regardless it be through mitigation or actual healing, while providing similar raid DPS and fix the identity later. It isn't impossible to shift the two closer towards one another, but again, even if it will take time to do so while preserving more of the precious identity everyone looks at, doesn't mean it should be left in the gutter while said hypothetical rework is being made.