Astrologian impossible to balance as it is

[FeliAiko]

You're never forced to use Nocturnal Sect. Ever.

I'll be sure to remember that whenever I see two ASTs paired together in an instance.

Only stupid people see a WHM in the party and go all like "oh man, I have to be in Nocturnal!".

Or rather that people made the natural, logical decision that the 'SCH-like stance' - which Nocturnal was advertised as being, not some PVP niche skill that you keep mentioning - would be a better complement to the WHM's toolkit in a party, instead of being a secondary WHM-type. Except the Sect sucks as doing what's intended in a raid setting (which Jobs are designed and later adjusted around in the first place), while Diurnal doesn't, so it wins out.

For raids, they compete for the main healer spot if a party wants to optimize anything, so Diurnal is the default sect to go. You're only using Nocturnal if you want to, which makes the whole "nocturnal needs a buff" point invalid.

Nocturnal needs an adjustment (could call it a buff if you want) simply because it falls short in its intended purpose (a substitute for the SCH role in a party) and lacks any synergy with the AST's toolkit like Diurnal does. How SE decide to do this (if they ever do so) is something we can only speculate on of course, but adding Sect-exclusive benefits to some of their existing skills or just making you able to swap Sects would be one of the options I'd suggest.

You can't swap Sects, that's true - even though you should be able to, because there's absolutley no reason not to be able to do it. Also, I mentioned Titan Egi and Fists of Earth because they're two things you don't use in raid; nowadays, you don't even have much reason to use Ifrit in raids, for crying out loud, so that makes two SMN spells you don't use. Add Tri-Bind to that to make it three. No one is crying

I'd hardly put an ability that's designed to completely change the way you heal on the same level as actual niche, situational skills. If using Titan/Ifrit/Fists locked the respective Jobs into a stance that completely changed the effects of certain abilities in their toolkit, or Noct was like MNKs fists (something to switch to freely at any time) then the comparisons made would be more fitting.

Furthermore there's been plenty of complaints on how bad Tri-Bind is in the past. Hence why SE felt inclined to rename it, then create a better ability under the original name (supposedly they considered making the original Tri-D apply all 3 DoTs but felt it would be too powerful at that level). Also I'd hardly call pointed observations on how poor Nocturnal is and suggestions on how it could be changed (a point you even agree with) as 'crying'. The fact you deem it as such says quite a bit about your perception of things...

And I'll say it again: you're not obliged to use Nocturnal anywhere, even when paired with a WHM, so what's the whole point?

Of course no-one is truly 'obligated' to use Nocturnal, but it would be stupid to have two D.ASTs in a party, or a WHM/WHM-type. This is where going into Nocturnal would be a natural logical decision, except for the fact that the stance is poor so you just get a SCH instead.