Moving to AST

[LiddyGhu]

I'll quote you to answer this but it's been insinuated a few times earlier. Healer balance was my second and more minor point to the question. I WANT to play AST because they look fun and the animations are very nice. The question is more would I have a a difficult time learning it if I bought progression straight to 60 to match my WHM, or should I learn naturally by progressing from the start.

Now I know that they start from 30 which I wasn't aware of before it's more tempting. I'm not a fan of grinding through for XP and as mentioned previously I'm unlikely to level all healers.

Since you're saying that you think you will enjoy AST, you should at the very least take a detour to try it out. Unlock it, and then take it into Palace of the Dead, especially if you've already unlocked floors 51+ of palace of the dead. In there, you will be able to familiarize yourself with all the abilities (though healing itself won't be necessary in most cases, you can still see what they do.)
The main struggle you'll run into is if you have to use the Nocturnal Sect stance. It's not a bad stance, but it varies greatly from the way White Mage plays, switching your healer subcategory from Regen Healer to Shield Healer.

Overall, though, if you buy a boost potion for AST, you're very likely to be A-OK for getting through content. There are enough abilities that work almost the same as whm's with minor spins. In your Diurnal Sect stance, you will be very much like White Mage.
Aspected Benefic acts as your "Regen." The twist is that some of its potency is on the initial application.
Aspected Helios acts as your "Medica II."
Helios is your "Medica."
Benefic is your "Cure."
Benefic II is your "Cure II."
and "Malefic-" spells are your "Stone," while "combust" are your aero.
The cards will never end up being necessary to win a fight, so you can comfortably spend time learning them while essentially just playing prettier WHM.

Though, because AST comes at level 30, I would advice against a boost potion as the amount of time to level it isn't really that much... if it really feels like a chore to you, you can, though.

[Mizuko]

Since you're saying that you think you will enjoy AST, you should at the very least take a detour to try it out. Unlock it, and then take it into Palace of the Dead, especially if you've already unlocked floors 51+ of palace of the dead. In there, you will be able to familiarize yourself with all the abilities (though healing itself won't be necessary in most cases, you can still see what they do.)
The main struggle you'll run into is if you have to use the Nocturnal Sect stance. It's not a bad stance, but it varies greatly from the way White Mage plays, switching your healer subcategory from Regen Healer to Shield Healer.

Overall, though, if you buy a boost potion for AST, you're very likely to be A-OK for getting through content. There are enough abilities that work almost the same as whm's with minor spins. In your Diurnal Sect stance, you will be very much like White Mage.
Aspected Benefic acts as your "Regen." The twist is that some of its potency is on the initial application.
Aspected Helios acts as your "Medica II."
Helios is your "Medica."
Benefic is your "Cure."
Benefic II is your "Cure II."
and "Malefic-" spells are your "Stone," while "combust" are your aero.
The cards will never end up being necessary to win a fight, so you can comfortably spend time learning them while essentially just playing prettier WHM.

Though, because AST comes at level 30, I would advice against a boost potion as the amount of time to level it isn't really that much... if it really feels like a chore to you, you can, though.

Thank you, this is really useful. Knowing that the cards don't factor in a huge amount and that I'll have time to learn them as I go then I think this will be well worth doing as the other changes are pretty basic being that they perform nigh on the same function.