3.2 Astrologian Changes

[TheWaywardWind]

The buffs were needed for a variety of reasons. Anyway, a general summation:

The Good:

- The LA buff is fantastic and absolutely needed for Astrologian, and it brings it up to the level of where it needed to be. WHM has Assize, SoS, and tons of free cure/reduced MP costs on things, and we all know SCH's MP management has always been good. This brings AST up there and even surpasses both of them in terms of MP management, but only if you really need it to.

- The enmity buff is absolutely welcome for us savage raiders.


- The Shuffle buff was absolutely necessary. This is how it should have been from the beginning.

The Bad:

- Some of the cards effects are still not where they need to be. Spear is still useless, and while Ewer and Spire have been improved, their uses are still relatively niche, but the buff IS welcome.

- Gravity is still obtained only at level 52. It should be switched with Combust II.

- The PvP nerf, while necessary, is far too much. -30% would have been fine, -50% is ridiculous.

The Ugly:

- Nocturnal Sect, for the large part, is still a mess. It's skills don't work well in sync with AST's toolkit, Square. Time Dilation is objectively better with Diurnal, as you get to extend buffs AND HoTs. So is Celestial Opposition. The only time Nocturnal was better was in PvP, and you just took that away. Why haven't you fixed this yet?

- Aspected Helios still sits at 15y.

[Kerrigen]

- Aspected Helios still sits at 15y.

15y and 3s cast time, combining the worst aspects of Succor and Medica II.

[Roxas_Andrade]

Now we should change our macros from

/ac shuffle
/statusoff "spire drawn"
/statusoff "ewer drawn"
/micon shuffle

to

/ac redraw
/statusoff "spire drawn"
/statusoff "ewer drawn"
/micon redraw

[Ghishlain]

15y and 3s cast time, combining the worst aspects of Succor and Medica II.

As an FYI, Medica II is also a 3s cast.

[Ragology]

In Phantasy Star Online, the Disciple of Magic classes were called "force" and there were 4 variations each with their own innate ability.

Only one of the four types got bonus range on their support spells. That's what I think of when people mention white mages advanced medica II range.

[loreleidiangelo]

The Ugly:

- Nocturnal Sect, for the large part, is still a mess. It's skills don't work well in sync with AST's toolkit, Square. Time Dilation is objectively better with Diurnal, as you get to extend buffs AND HoTs. So is Celestial Opposition. The only time Nocturnal was better was in PvP, and you just took that away. Why haven't you fixed this yet?

A suggestion I've seen parroted about a few times that I think is an excellent suggestion is to make Nocturnal Sect the Astrologian's "buffing" Sect, where the role focuses less on healing (much like the current SCH/WHM dynamic where the WHM handles the brunt of the healing), and focuses more heavily on keeping rolling buffs going to support the party. The ideas were things like, Draw CD reduced by half while in Nocturnal Sect and Shuffle being able to be used repeatedly while in Noct Sect. Other card/buff-related changes were suggested for TD/CU/CO as well. I liked these suggestions, because when you talk about what a SCH brings to the party it's very rarely their mitigation SPECIFICALLY that's mentioned, it's usually that coupled with their ridiculously-sustainable relatively accuracy-free DPS along with their superior mana regeneration to upkeep it. (Not to mention Selene's comparably weaker - but considerably more consistent! - AOE haste boost that can be used independently of the SCH's own actions.) Looking at the "bare bones" AST toolkit while in Noct, they have access to most of SCH's primary mitigation tools, they just don't have the sustained capacity for SCH DPS, so if the devs were to translate that discrepancy into an increase of party-wide DPS via card buffs, then I think that AST would fulfill a similar niche to SCH in raid, but with a different playstyle.

Honestly, "weaker heals with awesome buffs" is how the job was originally advertised to me (original potencies reflect this), it's just that it seems like the devs couldn't figure out how to balance the card buffs right so they just boosted heal potencies instead. :/ It's kind of a shame, really - I'd love to play a more technical, challenging healer job if the support payoff was actually worth it.

[Ghishlain]

In Phantasy Star Online, the Disciple of Magic classes were called "force" and there were 4 variations each with their own innate ability.

Only one of the four types got bonus range on their support spells. That's what I think of when people mention white mages advanced medica II range.

Agreed. Medica II range is the exception and not the rule with AoE heals.

[Fevelle]

AST got the best MP refresh in game, plus a bonus to Ewer, not to say anything about Redraw, that makes drawing an Ewer easier when you need, and yet there are people complaining about 5 yalms difference between Medica II and Aspected Helios... Seems fair.

[AlexanderThorolund]

I don't know how im going to live without noct godmode in pvp. I know it had to change, im just not ready for it.

[Houston009]

As an FYI, Medica II is also a 3s cast.

Succor: 15y, 2.5s cast.
Medica II: 20y, 3s cast
Aspected Helios: 15y, 3s cast