Healers, then and now:

[Renathras]

Oh hey, someone else who thinks Healers are at least somewhat okay. o/

As to the current topic:

AST is the least played for a variety of reasons. The biggest ones are probably:

1) It starts at level 30 after requiring you to get to level 50 for it. This isn't going to stop many people who have played FFXIV for a while or a lot of more determined people, but for a lot of people, that's a sticking point. If they started off as CNJ, they already have a level 50 WHM at that point, if not 55 or more. If they started as ACN, same thing, and they also have SMN. If they are a player with a max level Job already wanting to pick up a Healer or another Healer, SGE is right there at level 70. AST has the worst of both worlds both not starting at level 1, but also having a looooong way to go from where it does start before level cap, and being gated behind MSQ, something even SGE isn't. I think you can pick up SGE once you have a level 70, even if you haven't finished ARR yet (somehow).

2) AST has one of the lesser desired (from the general gamer/Healer public) class fantasy/aesthetic. I'm not saying no one wants it, not at all, but it's probably the less popular one. WHM directly appeals to the big heals holy element class fantasy. It secondarily can appeal (to a point) to people that like nature and Druid themes, with even some of its more recent gear options (the first stage of the ShB Relic) having a nature aesthetic, and it's newest ability, Aquaveil and to a point Lilybell being water element or water-adjacent. It also appeals to the Priest/Shrine Maiden aesthetic. It honestly covers too much ground, but that means it catches lots of potential players' eyes. SCH has the demographic for learned academic, as well as the twist of being a pet class and having a slight military aesthetic. SGE's aesthetic is part academic, part doctor, and part Gundam. Needless to say, many people find one or all three of those appealing. Though people often say AST has (or had) Time Mage aesthetics, it was always pretty limited (I love Time Mages in FFTactics...AST is not a Time Mage... though I do like its SPACE themes), it's always been most heavily slanted to the occult/divination theme, which some people love but many do not.

3) It has (or had before EW) some of the most complicated tooltips in the game to look at, especially on the abilities that had different Nocturnal and Diurnal effects, and had them all listed in a massive wall of text. ShB Celestial Intersection, for example. This can be daunting to newer players. Many of its heals are indirect like comparing Earthly Star to Asylum or Assize or Afflatus Rapture. Again, this is something people who love AST love, but people who don't...do not.

4) It has a pretty brutal burst phase, and like BLM a perception/reputation for difficulty and complexity - which as it turns out is NOT something that a lot of people find inviting.

5) The RNG nature of its abilities. This is MUUUCH less of an issue now, but was an issue when Cards had more diverse effects. "I need a Bole for this tankbuster!" <doesn't draw Bole>. "Nothing's really happening and time for burst, c'mon, Balance! I'll accept Spear. Arrow as a consolation prize...!" <draws Bole> <redraws Ewer> <redraws Spire> </sigh> It had these interesting buffs, but you couldn't get the one you needed when you needed it. Some people who love AST love the RNG and love(d) the side-mini game of Royal Road and Redraw. But to many people who would like a buffing focused Healer, they want things like Haste, Protect, and Shell; abilities they have access to when they need them. Imagine if WHM had Haste, Bravery, Faith, Protect, and Shell as single target oGCD Abilities (like Draw/Play) with a shared CD (like Mudras or something), where when the CD is up, they can pick the specific one that works with the current situation. Buff minded players would like that since they can pick the spell based on the situation. Got a tankbuster or raidwide? Might throw Protect/Shell, depending on what it is (and if you could make them AOE or not). Got a BLM? Haste his burst. Got a Melee? Bravery. Got a Caster? Faith. But AST didn't have that. You got what you got, you had a minigame (while healing and dealing damage with your GCDs) to try to swap it for something good if the initial draw wasn't useful at that moment in the fight, and if that still didn't work, you could burn it into Royal Road for some future (hopefully) good effect. Again, some players LOVE THIS. But many players...do not love this. This is KIND of an archaic thing because new Cards just aren't that interesting, but for people trying to maximize Astrodyne (because the game isn't good about telling you "Two seals is honestly good enough, man...") and trying to "maximize" the use of the Cards on the right Tank/Melee or Healer/Ranged/Caster party members, it can still feel a bit RNG-y, as can Lord/Lady.

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Honestly, I think 1 and 2 are the big ones, then 3, and with 4 and lastly 5 bringing up the rear.

It's not because Malific does less damage than Glare outright. Unless someone has leveled a WHM before an AST, they likely won't notice the difference, and the reason Malific does less damage is because of AST's buffs. If Malfic did Glare's damage natively, then the Card buffs would have to be removed. A possible solution would be using AST cards as self-buffs increases Malific's damage to be equal to Glare's, but I dunno if that would work or not... It wouldn't make it more interesting to play, but would make the time to kill targets the same.

Something like all the card effects having "If used on self, increases Fall Malific potency by 60, Combust III gains an initial hit damage of 110, and buff duration lasts 30 seconds". That wouldn't change the fact AST requires completing 2.5 and around 55 levels of another Job but starts at level 30 nor the aesthetic not appealing to as many players, though. AST does appeal to people that have a more buff/support inclination, but only mechanically. If they don't like the aesthetic or RNG of how it gets there, that's blunted quite a bit. But it would make AST functionally equivalent to WHM in rough damage if only buffing itself. (It would have to scale with the lower level abilities to keep it level with WHM, but meh, and also no idea how Misery would fit in there...but it's only for soloing anyway, so shouldn't matter otherwise, and would give AST an effective self-upkeep buff when soloing.)