balance through Balance

[MoroMurasaki]

I didn't think that this topic would get this salty but at the same time I feel like I should have known.

I've read through all the comments and just want to address a few things...

I never said nerf AST I said nerf Balance. If one move in your kit is your entire identity then I feel like my point is made. Even if they gutted AST's healing power down to the bare minimum needed to clear content and left Balance alone AST would still be a mandatory part of any raid group. AST's aren't really even healers at this point they're just a damage bump that happens to heal. This is a problem.

I said in my first post I was against homogenization and I stand by that but I am still open to the idea of adding damage buffs into the other healers kits to compensate for leaving Balance alone.

I do not think that with the Balance nerf they should bump AST's personal DPS. AST would still be bringing an assumed 10% damage bump to the party. That is more than satisfactory. Unless Balance dropped to something crazy low AST should still definitively have the lowest personal DPS.

I don't enjoy how this turned into a hate thread. Have your arguments elsewhere, have worthwhile discussion here.

[MintnHoney]

I do not think that with the Balance nerf they should bump AST's personal DPS. AST would still be bringing an assumed 10% damage bump to the party. That is more than satisfactory.

To be clear: if the AST uses Balance on the party, then it is a 10% increase to outgoing damage for all party members in range of the target (unless an enemy is targeted, in which case, the user is the epicenter) for 30 seconds (where either the Ewer or the Spire must be used for Royal Road).
If it is single target, it is either 20% increase to outgoing damage for 30-60 seconds (depending if either the Arrow or the Spear were used for Royal Road, or if the Balance is used raw) or a 30% increase to outgoing damage for 30 seconds (if either the Bole or the Balance is used for Royal Road).

So if you meant what you said with regards to party buffing, then we're already there.
If you're saying to reduce the potency back to what it was, then halve each of the increases (but not the time limit increases) and we'll be back to where we were before Balance/Bole/Ewer/Spire were buffed.
Incidentally, it's also important to keep in mind that this does not increase attack magic or attack skill potency, as, say, Cleric Stance does. It's still an increase in damage, obviously, but the calculation seems to be different (in my experience, 10% increase from Balance is just a little teeny bit stronger than Cleric stance, basically granting about a rounded up 100 damage more on my lowest and highest hits with the 10% damage increase from balance than the 5% potency increase from Cleric stance, so take that as you will).

Also, @Supersun, I would imagine the reason why Berserk wasn't given to WHM, is because WAR has it as a personal ability. As for Haste, I have no idea.

[MoroMurasaki]

To be clear: if the AST uses Balance on the party, then it is a 10% increase to outgoing damage for all party members in range of the target (unless an enemy is targeted, in which case, the user is the epicenter) for 30 seconds (where either the Ewer or the Spire must be used for Royal Road).
If it is single target, it is either 20% increase to outgoing damage for 30-60 seconds (depending if either the Arrow or the Spear were used for Royal Road, or if the Balance is used raw) or a 30% increase to outgoing damage for 30 seconds (if either the Bole or the Balance is used for Royal Road).

I appreciate the clarification, my brain is a bit fuzxy as it's 3:50 am by me at the moment. You got what I meant though, halving the original 20% potency to 10% so that the group 10% would then become 5% when spread over the party. Thanks for the help!

[Supersun]

Also, @Supersun, I would imagine the reason why Berserk wasn't given to WHM, is because WAR has it as a personal ability. As for Haste, I have no idea.

Not necessarily a problem. For example in FFV White Mage has the berserk spell while there also is a Berserker class (which is probably what the War berserk is homage to). I mean the Whm spell could simply be giving a target the status that a War gets when using Berserk. Heck it could be interesting if Whm gives the OLD berserk when using the spell.