Another WHM chicken little sees the sky falling. The sky is an AST.

[Ghishlain]

I know I'm just whacking a hornet's nest here, but here's an update translation from various JP websites that have reported on the upcoming patch. Quoted AST adjustment can be found below.

[Astrologian]
Astrologian will have precise adjustments, such as fixing the problem of "draw" biting into your GCDs and solving their MP problems. Overall, their DPS magic spells will have their cast times reduced and they will also adjust the potency and required MP for healing (note:They said aspected helios in the previous live letter).

So, um, speculate away!

[Exiled_Tonberry]

Yep, potency buffs on Aspected Helios. Still not sure if it's Noct exclusive or not, but this is just not sitting well at all with me. It really didn't need a buff.
And from the way it's said here, it may not actually be exclusive to Aspected Helios...

Patch notes couldn't come sooner...

[Kabzy]

So, um, speculate away!

Sometimes they word it dodgy, so they could be saying the tradeoff for the faster DPS casts is a slight nerf in potency. I doubt it though, given that it's already the weakest nuke of the three.

If it actually is related to Aspected Helios, I'd imagine Noct only, seeing as they've always been clueless with that sect. We will have to wait and seeeeee. I would agree with the doomsayers this once though, it would be quite unnecessary to give Diurnal a buff to healing.

[Sebazy]

Potency buffs aimed at noct would make sense given SCH's clear supremacy here at the moment.

If it puts us in a similar situation to early progression in 4.0 where AST was actually the marginally safer choice for the barrier healer slot then that's not a bad thing in my eyes.

[Fernosaur]

OP, I'm sorry you were having a bad day .

I don't think the buff to Aspected Helios is gonna be a potency buff unless it's exclusive to NoctAST, but more of a cast time or MP cost buff. Particularly the later, since they seem to be cutting back on the weakness they admittedly gave AST on purpose. We'll see.

While I do agree that AST will obviously gain more pDPS from these changes, I do think the Lightspeed change is being a little overrated. It will make some fights a bit easier, as you just need to smash one button and then run like a headless chicken, but generally in raids I have found that one Swiftcast and Broil II has been enough for me to position myself to safety and then continue casting. I can't think of any raids where you need to be on the move for that long, and where you wouldn't be able to cast in between moving.

The reason this change is a bit of a big deal is less about the movement utility and more about the MP management, though. Once you have a heavy healing phase properly coordinated in prog, Lightspeed will make AST's biggest weakness (mediocre MP management) a borderline non-issue. Coupled with removing the DPS penalty, this also means AST can get a bunch of weaves in during Lightspeed, instead of turning it off the moment it wasn't needed anymore.

Malefic III's lower cast time will also allow AST to get some more casts off per fight. I'm calculating around 5-8 extra casts on any fight that is longer than 7 minutes, given that you have to use around 3 or 4 oGCDs per minute just to manage your cards. Weaving in ED, Lightspeed, Swiftcast, Earthly Star, etc will also be a lot easier and help AST's personal DPS a super tiny bit.

The MP economy buff is what I think might not be a terribly good idea, though.

Edit: Just saw the translated JP post. Yeah, figured it would be a MP cost reduction buff.

[Shurrikhan]

It's always been this way, and it always will be so long as WHM keeps it's identity as a pure healer. It's just way too razor thin and flimsy of a idea to build on.

While I agree that "pure healer" is too thin a theme to build on, I don't think that's what's denying WHM value at this point. There are many things you could excuse of, or would even be a perfect fit for, a pure healer that would help to mitigate WHM's shortcoming.

For instance, you could as easily have a "pure healer" whose heals grant bonus Attack Magic Potency (say, stacking at gradually tapering effect over some 12 seconds or so, continuously fading), which would push towards tighter rDPS parity without having to go so far as to eclipse a SCH or AST's niche; it'd still largely be a WHM's or "pure healer's" niche in that it wants intensive healing dealt, but simply now rewards those scenarios further, as not to be denied from all fights and compositions.

[Exiled_Tonberry]

Prelim notes are out.
Lightspeed is now 120s down from 150. On top of it getting reduced by 10 seconds every time Essential Dignity is used.
I guess it's about what we expected. AST definitely won't have MP issues anymore.

Aspected Helios thankfully isn't a potency increase, but a cast time reduction to fit Medica II. I actually never realized it was 3s in the first place...

[GunksFoy]

Prelim notes are out.
Lightspeed is now 120s down from 150. On top of it getting reduced by 10 seconds every time Essential Dignity is used.
I guess it's about what we expected. AST definitely won't have MP issues anymore.

Aspected Helios thankfully isn't a potency increase, but a cast time reduction to fit Medica II. I actually never realized it was 3s in the first place...

Medica II is 3 seconds as well. I actually don't understand that change considering they didn't change Medica II and they're effectively the same spell.

[Sebazy]

WD might actually be a stealth nerf. The change from a spell to ability will mean that it won’t be usable with rouse afaik?

[Maltothoris]

WD might actually be a stealth nerf. The change from a spell to ability will mean that it won’t be usable with rouse afaik?

Yep. Rouse only affects spells. This also means that fey illumination and mantra don't interact with it either too. I'll admit I thought that it made eos even better til I saw the ability change. So now, Rouse will only affect embrace until it probably will get change in a later patch.

I think the cast time reduction of aspected helios is just a buff for noct sect because succor cast time is 2 seconds while aspected helios was 3.