Astrologian or White Mage

[winsock]

Personally, I chose WHM over AST as a main healer so to speak. Not sure how helpful this will be, but here is a reason I went with WHM:

Surprisingly, the WHM's 4 man / overgeared raiding performance played a major role for me in this decision. WHM will typically outperform AST here (esp 4 mans). As such, when I: queued for a roulette, responded to a fc member's request to join a duty in-progress, joined a farming run, etc. It would be on WHM.

In more difficult content, I end up choosing WHM because I've been keeping that job familiarity the freshest having used WHM for just about everything else earlier in the week.

[Fived]

I went with AST just because I feel it is more engaging... Not better, or more used in (x) situation. I tell people it is like healing with a little mini game going (cards). So that keeps my ADD in check will running content. So if you tend to get a bit bored with WHM, I would suggest going AST.

[Velox]

Every tool that WHM has, AST has something similar (assuming Diurnal sect). As a bonus, AST has cards and a lower GCD. Since the last patch, I think it's safe to say that currently AST is a WHM + more utility, making it a slightly better healer in the current meta.

[loreleidiangelo]

I prefer Astrologian, obviously, but I do think WHM is the more "new-player-friendly" healer by far. This might just be my impression because I was a WHM main for some time pre-3.0, but it seems seems like WHM has the more forgiving healing cooldowns of the two, and less "distractions" to be had via the lack of the card mechanic.

As others have said, though, this gear tier will make it very possible for you to use and gear both, and see which playstyle you prefer.

(In terms of spell effects/aesthetics, I think AST wins hands-down. >__> Sorry WHMs.)

[GeekMatt]

Astrologian requires some depth of knowledge into all other jobs in order to use your support skills properly (you can't just throw a buff on someone for example, it can screw up their rotation). Whm is a job that's a bit easier to pick up, but rest assured if you're someone that wants to be great at your role there's plenty of depth to whm, which you can work on mastering over time.

[myahele]

Up until lv54; an AST plays somewhat similar to a WHM, but with the card buffs. I play both, but I prefer WHM as my main healer while AST is reallly there to just take a break as a WHM and/or more casual content.

The card buffs are quite fun, but they're very ranged based. To the point of near uselessness for the duration of a quick Trial roulette

[DotsNnots]

I think I like WHM the most because there's no variables. SCH Fairy I can only control to a degree; if it's not in the right place when it casts a buff, it'll miss party members, and her logic isn't the same as mine. With AST you have RNG cards; you never know what you'll get or what impact it will have.

With WHM I feel in control of all my variables (except accuracy -_-;; ).
I do think it's guilty of a lot of over-healing (especially with medica II or regen), but as long as it's not at the expense of mp management and/or dps I don't see that as a problem. ABC's - always be casting.

To be fair though, my SCH is only 47, and I haven't really touch AST much other than to unlock it. I will eventually, because I want to understand the full mechanics about each for 8-man stuff and/or to be able to switch if I'm partying with someone who only has a WHM. So my opinions might change, but I still think I'll gravitate towards WHM for the lack of variables.

[Pentt]

Every tool that WHM has, AST has something similar (assuming Diurnal sect). As a bonus, AST has cards and a lower GCD. Since the last patch, I think it's safe to say that currently AST is a WHM + more utility, making it a slightly better healer in the current meta.

AST still lacks WHMs safety net, which is why most groups still take WHM for progression. The gap is definitely smaller then it's even been though.

[Amiaze]

I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts and opinions, or perhaps which you main (If you do) and why so

Welcome to the forums!

I also mained WHM and switched to AST. I prefer AST, although that's mostly because I like the way it looks and the fact that it keeps me busier during dungeons and raids. I loved that I could switch between healing and DPSing with WHM, but AST also lets you fiddle a lot with your cards and makes you decide what cards would best suit the party at any given moment. So if you like staying very busy and multitasking, go with AST. It's healing may not be quite as powerful as WHM, but it has other abilities that you can use to make up for this, which gives you more healing options. But if you'd rather have something more straight-forward with not as much micro-management, I would recommend WHM.

I will admit that I occasionally miss a beat with AST because I might get too focused on trying to draw the right combination of cards and not notice something simple, like an enemy's tankbuster loading up or that someone has a debuff they really need to have removed. So that might be something you want to keep in mind when deciding. Either way, both are really fun jobs.

Hope that helped!

[_slowpoke_]

Every tool that WHM has, AST has something similar (assuming Diurnal sect). As a bonus, AST has cards and a lower GCD. Since the last patch, I think it's safe to say that currently AST is a WHM + more utility, making it a slightly better healer in the current meta.

Haha, no. (D.)AST has no replacement for Assize (neither offensively nor defensively), nothing even remotely as powerful as Cure III, no instant aggro dump (though their general enmity issues have been addressed in 3.2), no real replacement for Benediction (ED is more of a replacement for Tetra), no freely placeable HoT bubble (CU doesn't even allow you to do anything while maintaining it), no knockback, no repeatable AoE stun, no AoE DoT, no E4E, and D.AB is weaker than Regen. Plus, AST has no Stoneskin II, and their multi-target heals have some minor range issues (Medica II has 25y range, both Helios and AH are 15y).

Unique things that AST has is their cards (which are heavily RNG based), Disable (WHM's Virus only works on physical attacks), Synastry (which, granted, is often almost too good), their two time manipulation abilities and the fact that CU also functions as a Sacred Soil if needed. Lightspeed serves somewhat similar purposes as PoM (minus the ability to use it as a DPS cooldown), both have Swiftcast and a way to apply Heavy. Also, AST's two DoTs can't miss.

Look, I like AST, I play it myself and basically consider it my secondary job, but in terms of raw overall utility, WHM still completely destroys AST and I'm pretty sure this won't change in the future. AST is an extremely cool job and an absolutely viable healer in general, but when compared to WHM in an endgame progression scenario, it's just way less consistent, because it lacks the safety nets and raw healing utility of a WHM.