Astrologian 5.0 Discussion

[Gemina]

Finally got a chance to take my AST off of the shelf and dust 'er off. I ran a bunch of lv70 content with it while getting it to 72. It along with SCH and DRK received the most drastic change to my hotbars due to all the pruning. But I have improved my hotbars overall. I play on controller, and I've been wanting to rearrange my hotbars to make them more practical for the longest time, but waited until 5.0 when I knew I would be forced to do it. But this change alone involves an adjustment as I rewrite my muscle memory, then there's the changes to the jobs. Needless to say, I'm not rushing through the levels.

My general take on it is not that bad. DPSing felt exactly the same as before, but AST have been at the bottom of DPS complexity for quite sometime. They were anyway. This belongs to SCH now. Pretty much unaffected by the changes to role skills with the exception of no longer having Largesse, but as an ability that was previously WHM exclusive, I am ok with this.

I had no issues with MP. Like zero, and I was spamming Gravity outside of Lightspeed along with using plenty of GCDs on Benefict II. Healing was fine as well, doing plenty of dungeons with big pulls, and even had to carry a group though Baelsar's Wall despite adjusting to the changes myself. Lightspeed+Helios still functioned just fine as my go-to for emergency situations, which I got into during the Tsukuyomi trial. The healing does feel a little weak compared to WHM and SCH, but considering AST consistently buff damage, which is a mitigatory in of itself, then that should be just fine.

Being able to extend durations was one of the things about AST I found OP and turned me off of the job, so losing this was actually more good than bad in my eyes. The card system is different, but it really isn't all that bad. I get why AST mains are upset, but I am not bothered by the change all that much. My issue is actually with Divination. If we're handing out DMG buffs all day long, then an ability that also buffs damage is just... I don't know... lame. Sorry, I can't think of a better word atm. I'd much rather this skill be something like Misery for WHM.

We'll see how the next 8 levels go, and the raidind/trial scenarios so I can see how things operate at max level along with the leveling up process. As of right now though, AST made it out ok. At the very least, getting it to 80 will be an enjoyable experience, and for me that what matters most.

[Dyvid]

My two cents is simple: The problem was everyone seemed to just wanted straight damage buff. SE "fixed" this by changing a six card game of luck into a head or tails win win system. The best solution would have been having the cards increase the 4 Main Attributes (STR, DEX, MND, INT) + Tenacity for tanks and then add a refresh card to be the "Dud". Every job wins because they have a card for everyone plus you would still have the Damage Buff from Divination. Nothing would really be a waste either because even the Dud would help somewhere.

[Miziliti]

Just made it to lvl 76. Horoscope? More like horrible-scope. I take Assize a million times than this gimmick tool. I'm dropping AST for sure. None of the new stuff is impressive while everything is underpowered.

[ForteNightshade]

I had no issues with MP. Like zero, and I was spamming Gravity outside of Lightspeed along with using plenty of GCDs on Benefict II. Healing was fine as well, doing plenty of dungeons with big pulls, and even had to carry a group though Baelsar's Wall despite adjusting to the changes myself. Lightspeed+Helios still functioned just fine as my go-to for emergency situations, which I got into during the Tsukuyomi trial. The healing does feel a little weak compared to WHM and SCH, but considering AST consistently buff damage, which is a mitigatory in of itself, then that should be just fine.

No offense, but Baelsar's Wall was nerfed into the ground ages ago. Not to mention, most of the 70 dungeons don't have a level sync on them, thereby making them a very poor reference point. Holminster Switch and above is where you need to put Astro through its paces. And from what I've seen and heard, it suffers significantly worse than both White Mage and Scholar in virtually every category. A friend of mine has a near panic attack every time a DRK pops Living because without ED, Astro simply can't burst heal efficiently whatsoever. When it comes to EX Primals, White Mage is pulling upwards of 3,000 more personal damage. The cards won't come remotely close to making up such a massive discrepancy. So... that begs the question, what is Astro even good at anymore?

- pDPS is awful
- Utility is both lackluster and too weak to contend with its counterparts' kits
- Healing is significantly weaker
- Zero MP sustain

Seriously. I'm struggling to find one thing Astro is better than White Mage or Scholar at.

[Alistaire]

Also just dusted this off to do a 24-man...all the way nope for me. No more aoe cards in 4-man stuff is bad enough but anyone still playing this messed up job in 8-man parties instantly gets my commendation from now on. RIP AST (at least mine).


Can we get the ability to commend 2 people in 8-man party content so I can commend anyone unlucky enough to play AST with another AST in these?

[Immaril]

AST right now playing like sh...t.
It`s a first and one "support for support" type. Secondary heal, AST loose all fun and consist only from suffer and frustration. He can`t heal, can`t dmg and his buffs is unnoticeable. Celestial Opposition with - 2 min cooldown with 100 potency? Yoshi are you serious? Fully unusable in Noct sect btw. Gravitation - just Holy without stun ? Why you ruin all that was fun in AST and weaken the rest? You make a AST in HW and 2 add-ons you just can`t imagine what to do with it? Cast AST away form the game - it`s be a better solution compare to what you did.
And 4 those, who yelling "Naaaa, in the past it was all fish-a-balance game". Now its a fish-a-last-seal game. And you know what ? It`s way less funny.

[BahamutxD]

And 4 those, who yelling "Naaaa, in the past it was all fish-a-balance game". Now its a fish-a-last-seal game. And you know what ? It`s way less funny.

Agree to that. Take a look at your hotbars. See that number over Redraw? Your gonna do that a lot.

[GU7]

Shield Stance AST is so more useless than ever now, I haven't left heal over time sense the release and my realization that the stance was total crap. The big problem with the buffs is the time, 15 seconds is not enough for people to take note of the buff they just got to take full advantage of in a dungeon or raid, meaning wasted time and card draw for a 15 second buff. The same also applies to the party wide AOE heals and shields, again 15 seconds is not enough, there is SOOOO much that can happen in 15 seconds, 30 was fine as it was but 15 is like taking your face to a belt sander.

I main AST, but after I get it to 80, chances are that ill probably hop on over to the WHM band wagon as it seems they got the better of the changes in 5.0. Time and time again AST has been nerfed, first it was the shields, then the cards, and now in 5.0, this... Seriously SE, fix this crap, please > ~<!

[Xelanar]

What makes me sad is mostly how even if they fix Astrologians stat-wise, the job will stay ruined in terms of fun factor until 6.0 or later.

[loreleidiangelo]

What makes me sad is mostly how even if they fix Astrologians stat-wise, the job will stay ruined in terms of fun factor until 6.0 or later.

Yep. Big part of the reason why I bounced from it, tbh. For me admittedly, the job hadn't been fun to play for quite a while (mostly due to how poorly conceptualized the Sect aspect was), but the 5.0 changes only solidified that feeling. The devs haven't had a clue what to do with this job since it was released, and while I stuck it out because I love the aesthetic (stars, tarot, time magic) I just couldn't stomach it anymore.

I think it was Sebazy who said that for all the devs seem to take inspiration from other games and genres, they really needed to do so for healers and look at what makes them interactive, rewarding, and fun.