Astrologian impossible to balance as it is

[Sidra]

I am not sure I agree with the premise of this thread, as I find AST to be pretty well balanced atm. With respect to Diurnal vs Noct - one thing to consider is shields are niche while regens are universally useful. For 95% of the game, if I could I would trade regen for Adlo on my SCH in a heartbeat. Shields are used, primarily single target ones, when there is a full hp threat of death which isn't that often. Noct isn't weak. There isn't much difference from a Diurnal vs Noct AST except that regens become shields, the rest of the job stays the same. Regens are simply more useful. I can go entire encounters without casting Adlo on SCH, but why would I ever go a whole fight without casting a regen?

The other thing to consider is that a Diurnal AST still has mitigation tools in Disable and Collective Unconscious.

AST needs to be balanced as a whole, there is no problem with Noct sect being niche. I thoght Titan Egi and Fists of Earth were great examples. The 4.0 healer add should be more off-healer focused to compete with the SCH slot, as AST currently completes much more fairly for the main healer role.