Do you want healers to be reworked from the ground up?

[Noctisnine]

I would love stormblood astro to make a return, the current one is boring.

[Side-Eye]

I would love stormblood astro to make a return, the current one is boring.

Apparently, whether a heal job is boring or not isn't a consideration anymore. I do not look forward to what they come up with for 6.0, as a fourth heal job is almost guaranteed.. but if 5.0+ changes have been any indication, a new 6.0 heal job is probably going to suck donkey balls.

[Crushnight]

Apparently, whether a heal job is boring or not isn't a consideration anymore. I do not look forward to what they come up with for 6.0, as a fourth heal job is almost guaranteed.. but if 5.0+ changes have been any indication, a new 6.0 heal job is probably going to suck donkey balls.

The 4th healer is likely to start as basic as possible due to being able to be picked up by anyone at level 70 and also likely to not see anything more in depth until lv80-90 range.

That is what I feel is the most likely scenario and that sucks for jobs I feel deserve more depth to them ala Chm earlier on but SE are most likely to design to the lowest common denominator which is as an example a Drg who only ever was a Drg jumping on it or never touched game before other MMO player.

[Raikai]

I would love stormblood astro to make a return, the current one is boring.

I actually like the mechanics of seals + divination... The only part that makes it bland is the actual effects of the cards. Everything comes down to just a damage buff.

I think AST should have its +dmg% buff tied only to Lady and Lords minor arcana, as it's all you use after getting 3 seals, and the regular cards offering utility once more, but not directly related to damage.

Ewer - MP regen
Spire - HP regen
Spear - Shield
Bole - Damage % reduction
Arrow - Movement speed increase
Balance - Reflects part of the damage received

The whole melee/ranged choice would only matter for the Lady/Lord draws. You would be able to use the utility separated from the damage where the situation calls. Most of the utility is very defensive related, sans the Ewer, used on the AST themselves (since it's the most MP challenged healer) or other struggling healer... The spear and Spire are healing effects. The arrow gives a boost to movement which can increase dps indirectly on some caster jobs, and also help with moving mechanics in general. The Balance would shine more in AoE scenarios when used on a tank.

Of course, having the %dmg removed from the regular cards, would mean an overall less +dmg% contribution from the AST to the party, so to compensate that they could increase slightly the dmg bonus from Lady/Lord.

[Veis_Alveare]

I actually like the mechanics of seals + divination... The only part that makes it bland is the actual effects of the cards. Everything comes down to just a damage buff.

I think AST should have its +dmg% buff tied only to Lady and Lords minor arcana, as it's all you use after getting 3 seals, and the regular cards offering utility once more, but not directly related to damage.

Ewer - MP regen
Spire - HP regen
Spear - Shield
Bole - Damage % reduction
Arrow - Movement speed increase
Balance - Reflects part of the damage received

The whole melee/ranged choice would only matter for the Lady/Lord draws. You would be able to use the utility separated from the damage where the situation calls. Most of the utility is very defensive related, sans the Ewer, used on the AST themselves (since it's the most MP challenged healer) or other struggling healer... The spear and Spire are healing effects. The arrow gives a boost to movement which can increase dps indirectly on some caster jobs, and also help with moving mechanics in general. The Balance would shine more in AoE scenarios when used on a tank.

Of course, having the %dmg removed from the regular cards, would mean an overall less +dmg% contribution from the AST to the party, so to compensate that they could increase slightly the dmg bonus from Lady/Lord.

This would just mean Balance fishing for dungeons. The % buff to Div for different seals isn't nearly enough to waste cards on something like MP regen or movement speed.

People will always find the most effective dps utility when given the choice. SE understands this which is why the engaging part of AST is snapshotting buffs on people during their burst not whether or not you can even give direct dps contribution.

Keep pointless "utility" in the garbage can where it was (deservedly) placed.

[Anhra]

This would just mean Balance fishing for dungeons. The % buff to Div for different seals isn't nearly enough to waste cards on something like MP regen or movement speed.

People will always find the most effective dps utility when given the choice. SE understands this which is why the engaging part of AST is snapshotting buffs on people during their burst not whether or not you can even give direct dps contribution.

Keep pointless "utility" in the garbage can where it was (deservedly) placed.

The lone fact that these utilities are in the bin is why these kind of threads exist and always will until it gets solved.There is a fair share amount of People who want a more complex way of playing this Game. The current way how every Job works does work fine, dont get me wrong on this, but it is quite monotonous, all you have to do is burst everything down what stands infront of you and make sure that mechanics and telegraphs dont hinder you on this. there is hardly any room for skillful gameplay since there isnt enough variety among skills. Currentlly the way i see it, if you cant burst down a boss on min ilvl because of mechanics, you simply just gear up for getting that better damage and retry again until you either A: win or B: lose and repeat on gearing up again/are fast enough to actually kill the boss before said mechanics get you. and how do things get fixed? Bosses like the Coincounter in Aurum Vale for example who actually forced players to pay attention gets simplified to the Point that he got actual working telegraphs. It basically reached a point where even the early dungeons are so easy that you dont even need to put any effort in order to clear them, thanks to the overpowered damage everyone does, you just waltz through it and be done with it.

My point on this is, instead of just having everything being a cookie cutter, it would be great if there would be LESS focus on tank and spank and roles in general and put more focus on individuality so that like the case of healers, the scholar/white mage/astrologian actually feels like what it is instead of just being a healer that has way too many healing spells, 1 direct spell, one dot and some lolmechanic that gives a faint illusion of unqiueness.

as for the line "People will always find the most effective dps utility when given the choice" is not entirely correct. People ALWAYS choose the path of least resistance when it comes to clearing stuff in pretty much every game unless youre trying to challenge yourself.

[Side-Eye]

This would just mean Balance fishing for dungeons. The % buff to Div for different seals isn't nearly enough to waste cards on something like MP regen or movement speed.

Okay but what if... each card (with its existing buff) had a secondary effect which gave a benefit to the astro? That would be interesting, and wouldn't change current gameplay. In fact if the secondary effects were just stuff like self defensive mitigation, mp regen, movement (in-combat would be neat), self-regen, etc... it wouldn't really be a balance concern at all. It'd just put a unique twist on the system and make using cards feel less monotonous.

[Semirhage]

I don't think non-damage utility is useless necessarily. But if it has resource competition with damage, that's never going to fly in XIV.

[Liam_Harper]

Okay but what if... each card (with its existing buff) had a secondary effect which gave a benefit to the astro? That would be interesting, and wouldn't change current gameplay. In fact if the secondary effects were just stuff like self defensive mitigation, mp regen, movement (in-combat would be neat), self-regen, etc... it wouldn't really be a balance concern at all. It'd just put a unique twist on the system and make using cards feel less monotonous.

In 99% of cases it'd be pointless. For a start, you aren't going to melee card your tanks for defensive buffs or ranged card your healers for mp regen, except in dire emergency when the card comes up in the exact situation its badly needed. In all other cases it's an unnecessary rdps loss. Mp regen does nothing for most ranged dps. Damage reduction on a melee dps won't mean you don't have to aoe heal the next raidwide. Maybe once in a while it might barely save a bad dps who stood in something, but you couldn't rely on it.

It would have to be a separate card, maybe generated by using X number or pattern of regular cards, that you can place where you choose. But then AST's heal toolkit is so powerful and well designed, if it was good utility it would be overkill.

To be honest I actually like AST. It has dps levels of APM, a good heal toolkit that you're actually meant to use and aren't punished for, mobility and plenty of weaving to keep you busy. It could do with a little more dps variety than Malefic spam and it's a shame they neutered Sleeve Draw for those who enjoyed the busy playstyle, there are definitely improvements to make but it's probably in the best spot for healer engagement.

[Ceasaria]

I would love stormblood astro to make a return, the current one is boring.

Would love too so much !

During this expansion, I have just quite his level up already, especially after not being able to use Divination anymore during trash mobs in Pixie quests.
I was already forcing myself during this expansion, but the last patch just made it worse for solo play again.

Anyways, the whole healer role is boring and I have reduced my playtime by like 75% compared to Heavensward and Stormblood where I was always subscribed.

As others players have mentioned it, the best would be to have WHM (ShB), SCH (HW) and AST (SB).
If SE don't want to do that, then rework them all completely (which will take too much time, so it would be stupid compared to the previous solution).