Healers, then and now:

[Osmond]

……….had a long time thinking about it. Why AST the least played. Can only look at fflogs for evidence. It’s not the rework cards that the problem. Looked at between SCH and AST at the time AST was a shield healer to compete with and was mostly neck-to-neck. Now it’s competing with WHM. The only problem I see is too much button usage despite their healing tools are strong. Astrodyne is their pseudo presence of mind with mp recovery. Don’t really need the 3rd seal, just 2 seals is all you need. ……………the only thing I can see the issue is…..make the card effect AoE and buff malefic’s potency close to WHM’s Glare 3. Everything else with AST is fine, except synastry.

[MintnHoney]

……….had a long time thinking about it. Why AST the least played. Can only look at fflogs for evidence. It’s not the rework cards that the problem. Looked at between SCH and AST at the time AST was a shield healer to compete with and was mostly neck-to-neck. Now it’s competing with WHM. The only problem I see is too much button usage despite their healing tools are strong. Astrodyne is their pseudo presence of mind with mp recovery. Don’t really need the 3rd seal, just 2 seals is all you need. ……………the only thing I can see the issue is…..make the card effect AoE and buff malefic’s potency close to WHM’s Glare 3. Everything else with AST is fine, except synastry.

How long, would you say, that you thought about this? Just curious.

[Sebazy]

……….had a long time thinking about it. Why AST the least played. Can only look at fflogs for evidence. It’s not the rework cards that the problem. Looked at between SCH and AST at the time AST was a shield healer to compete with and was mostly neck-to-neck. Now it’s competing with WHM. The only problem I see is too much button usage despite their healing tools are strong. Astrodyne is their pseudo presence of mind with mp recovery. Don’t really need the 3rd seal, just 2 seals is all you need. ……………the only thing I can see the issue is…..make the card effect AoE and buff malefic’s potency close to WHM’s Glare 3. Everything else with AST is fine, except synastry.

My views on it are simple.

It's the least played because it's an unenjoyable slog at all levels of play.

Soloing quests/fates? It's got the slowest solo job in the game.
Pugging casual content? It's sure rewarding to slave away buffing randoms who usually can't even keep their GCD rolling.
Progging Savage with a static? Learning fights whilst trying to do the 2 minute burst dance right in the middle of a major mechanic that demands your attention is great fun. Focus on the mechanic and miss the buff window? You need to sit out the next one as well to get back into alignment. Peak gameplay.

Frankly I'd even take 3.0 AST over what we have now, at least it was rewarding to play when things did work out well.

[Faidid]

My views on it are simple.

It's the least played because it's an unenjoyable slog at all levels of play.

Soloing quests/fates? It's got the slowest solo job in the game.
Pugging casual content? It's sure rewarding to slave away buffing randoms who usually can't even keep their GCD rolling.
Progging Savage with a static? Learning fights whilst trying to do the 2 minute burst dance right in the middle of a major mechanic that demands your attention is great fun. Focus on the mechanic and miss the buff window? You need to sit out the next one as well to get back into alignment. Peak gameplay.

Frankly I'd even take 3.0 AST over what we have now, at least it was rewarding to play when things did work out well.

The card mechanic back then mattered too...what we have now is laughably basic. The AST and SCH were stripped down way too much. Taking DPS and class distinguishable abilities away from healers was the single change I resent the most since coming to this game...Yoshi should have known better. Homogenization might be good for lazy devs quick fixing balance, but it's not fun or interesting for players.

[Deceptus]

Pugging casual content? It's sure rewarding to slave away buffing randoms who usually can't even keep their GCD rolling.

Just today via the DF Roulettes:

Had a Ninja in Keeper of the lake who was spamming their ranged attack (throwing dagger) right next to the boss instead of doing their melee combo.

Had a group in Barbie (normal) who spent most of the first phase on the floor. The entire fight took 20+ min (no wipe). The person who died most? The MCH who is the most mobile job in the game on a fight that just requires a lot of movement.