Healer Suggestions Megathread

[TheDustyOne]

Alright, here's what I've got for Astro for my Yet Another Astrologian Rework™, I'm very much open to changes here, especially in regards to card effects and to the use of the old Sects (which are now swappable mid-combat).

The aim of this rework was to put more emphasis on the time-based elements of Astrologian, bring back unique buffs and effects on cards, and make the main healing spells more desirable and fun to use.

This healer rework will be the lightest on the amount of new attacks, with only 2 new GCD spells and one new oGCD to interact with them. The new mechanics are Favor stacks proced by Malefic, which allow the use of Fall Malefic, Doomsday from the new Comet spell, a delayed effect which causes a comet to fall on the target after 19s, and Temporal Tragedia, which detonates and speeds up Combust and Comet. Hopefully this won't be too hectic and I'm fine with removing Fall Malefic to keep the damage kit simple. Cards do enough to make Astros lack of damage exciting regardless.

Anyway, let's start with the damage spells

Damage spells:

Malefic IV
Spell -- 1.5s Cast Time -- 300 MP
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 200
50% chance to gain 1 stack of Favor, up to a maximum of 4

A proc mechanic feels fitting for a job themed around fortune and luck

Fall Malefic II
Spell -- 0s Cast Time -- 1 Favor
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 260

Combust
Spell -- 0s Cast Time -- 300 MP
Deals unaspected damage over time with a potency of 70, 15s

Gravity
Spell -- 1.5s Cast Time -- 300 MP
Deals unaspected damage to target and all enemies nearby it with a potency of 130

The Favor stacks won't be used in AoE, subject to change if people want that

Comet
Spell -- 1.5s Cast Time -- 400 MP
Mark your target with Doomsday, once the effect of Doomsday expires, a comet will fall on the target, 19s, only one Doomsday effect can be active at a time
If the target dies before the effect expires, the comet will fall where the target was
Deals unaspected damage to the target and all enemies nearby it with a potency of 350 for the first enemy, and 30% less for all remaining enemies

Thank you ForsakenRoe for this idea. 19s was chosen so as to not have high sps accidently overwrite and restart Doomsday on the 8th GCD after the previous Comet cast.

Healing spells:

Benefic
Spell -- 1.5s Cast Time -- 800 MP
Restores target's HP with a potency of 600
Grants Double Cast Ready if the target is in combat

Exalted Benefic
Spell -- 0s Cast Time -- 800 MP
Restores target's HP with a potency of 900 after effect expiration, 8s
Grants Double Cast Ready upon expiration if the target is in combat

Exaltation has been replaced with spells of similar effect, I like the idea of Astro being a delay healer that can reward good play with MP cheap and effective heals

Diurnal Benefic
Spell -- 0s Cast Time -- 700 MP
Restores target's HP with a potency of 250
Restores target's HP over time with a potency of 250, 15s
Grants Double Cast Ready if the target is in combat
*Can only be used under the effect of Diurnal Sect*
*Changes to Nocturnal Benefic under the effect of Nocturnal Sect*

Nocturnal Benefic
Spell -- 0s Cast Time -- 1200 MP
Restores target's HP with a potency of 250
Grants a magicked barrier that nullifies damage equaling 220% of the amount of HP restored
Grants Double Cast Ready upon barrier being completely absorbed
*Can only be used under the effect of Nocturnal Sect*
*Cannot be placed on the hotbar*

Yes, I am bringing back the Sects. Changing Sect will also be allowed mid-combat and it's up to the player to make good use of both shields and regens. I'm open for removing this if it feels too OP.

Helios
Spell -- 1.5s Cast Time -- 1000 MP
Restores HP of self and nearby party members with a potency of 500
Grants Double Cast Ready if you're in combat

Exalted Helios
Spell -- 0s Cast Time -- 1000 MP
Restores HP of self and nearby party members with a potency of 600 after effect expiration, 8s
Grants Double Cast Ready upon expiration if you're in combat

Diurnal Helios
Spell -- 1.5s Cast Time -- 1200 MP
Restores HP of self and nearby party members with a potency of 150
Restores HP of self and nearby party members over time with a potency of 150, 15s
Grants Double Cast Ready if the target is in combat
*Can only be used under the effect of Diurnal Sect*
*Changes to Nocturnal Helios under the effect of Nocturnal Sect*

Nocturnal Helios
Spell -- 1.5s Cast Time -- 1500 MP
Restores HP of self and nearby party members with a potency of 150
Grants a magicked barrier that nullifies damage equaling 300% of the amount of HP restored
Grants Double Cast Ready upon barrier granted to self being completely absorbed
*Can only be used under the effect of Nocturnal Sect*
*Cannot be placed on the hotbar*

Censured Detriment
Spell -- 0s Cast Time -- 800 MP
Remove a single detrimental effect from the target. If the target is not enfeebled, a barrier is created nullifying the target's next detrimental effect
Grants Double Cast Ready upon successful removal

Exalted Detriment is back, but name-changed as Exalted is used for the new delayed heals. Astro differs from WHM cleansing in that it can be pre-emptive with it, up for changes if it's too OP.

Censured Malady
Spell -- 1.5s Cast Time -- 1100 MP
Removes a single detrimental effect from self and all nearby party members. If the targets are not enfeebled, a barrier is created nullifying the next detrimental effect
Grants Double Cast Ready upon successful removal

Cards:

Draw
Trait -- 1s
Draw a random Arcanum card, only one card can be drawn at a time

Draw is now a trait and will automatically draw a card whenever your arcanum is empty.

Balance
Increases damage dealt by a party member or self by 10%, 15s
Grants Solar Astrosign

Spear
Increases critical rate by a party member or self by 15%, 15s
Grants Solar Astrosign

Bole
Reduces damage received on a party member or self by 10%, 15s
Grants Celestial Astrosign

Arrow
Increases movement speed of a party member or self, 10s
Grants Celestial Astrosign

Open to changes on Arrows effect, single target Expedient feels like a good choice for arrow instead of GCD recast destroying rotations.

Ewer
Creates a barrier around target that absorbs damage equivalent to a heal of 500 potency, 20s
Grants Lunar Astrosign

Spire
Restores target's HP over time with a potency of 150, 15s
Grants Lunar Astrosign

Open to changes on Ewer and Spire effects, basic heals are boring.

Play
Ability -- 30s Recast -- 2 Charges
Triggers the effect of the drawn arcanum and grants its astrosign
*Shares a recast timer with Minor Arcana

Play now has the cooldown of Draw to regulate its usage, hopefully this will cut down on weaving.

Redraw
Ability -- 60s -- 2 Charges
Draws a different arcanum from your deck, will prioritize an arcanum with an unobtained astrosign

This should cut down on a lot of the randomness with cards. There may be some pushback to this since I know some like the randomness of cards.

Divination
Ability -- 120s Recast
Trigger effects based on currently obtained astrosigns
Can only be executed after obtaining an astrosign
Solar sign: Gradually restores own MP with a potency of 60
Lunar sign: Increases critical rate of self and all nearby party members by 10%
Celestial sign: Increases damage dealt by self and all nearby party members by 5%

The change to the astrosigns offering different effects based on current signs was to promote using a variety of cards, including using cards like Bole, Spire, Arrow, and Ewer for an overall damage gain as their signs grant the damage increases. Balance and Spear are still desired. Unlike now, you can only have 1 stack of a sign.

Minor Arcana
Ability -- 30s Recast -- 2 Charges
Becomes Lady while Balance, Arrow, or Spear arcanum is drawn
Becomes Lord while Bole, Spire, or Ewer arcanum is drawn
*Shares a recast timer with Play*

Will act as a card dump again. Don't need the healing effects or signs from Ewer and Spire? Lord will damage. Everyone dropping like flies? Well that Balance won't do much good there, but Lady may help.

Lady
Restores HP of self and all nearby party members with a potency of 600

Lord
Deals unaspected damage to target and all enemies nearby it with a potency of 400 for the first enemy and 50% less for all remaining enemies

Abilities:

Diurnal Sect
Ability -- 2s Recast
Regen stance, can use Diurnal Benefic and Diurnal Helios

Nocturnal Sect
Ability -- 2s Recast
Barrier stance, can use Nocturnal Benefic and Nocturnal Helios

If people feel that swapping between shield and regen might be too op for AST, I'm fine with removing it and returning Neutral Sect

Temporal Fortuna
Ability -- 60s Recast
Dispels Regen effects casted by you, restoring HP equal to the amount of healing over time remaining
Dispels Exalted effects casted by you, triggering their healing effects immediately

Temporal Tragedia
Ability -- 60s Recast
Dispels Combust effects casted by you, dealing damage equal to the amount of damage over time remaining
Dispels Doomsday effect casted by you, triggering the comet immediately

Horoscope
Ability -- 90s Recast
Remember the current barrier, exalted, and regen durations and values. Executing the action a second time will apply effects at the remembered values
Remembered Diurnal Benefic and Diurnal Helios becomes Diurnal Ascendance and Diurnal Horoscopy respectively
Remembered Nocturnal Benefic and Nocturnal Helios becomes Nocturnal Ascendance and Nocturnal Horoscopy respectively
Remembered Exalted Benefic and Exalted Helios becomes Exalted Ascendance and Exalted Horoscopy respectively

These new effects will replace the original effects, make sure to wait until after they have expired before pressing Horoscope again for full value. Using the ability before the shields break or exalted heals expire will trigger Double Cast, the new effects will not trigger Double Cast.

Double Cast
Ability -- 15s Recast -- 2 Charges -- Double Cast Ready
Repeat the previously casted spell with no cast time if you meet the cast requirements

Yes this CAN be used to increase healing in a pinch with Benefic and Helios, and would even re-enable Double Cast Ready as that's one of their effects, doing so can of course be a potential DPS loss if both stacks are used this way, make sure to plan this carefully.

The double-casted spell counts as an ability. So while Double Cast Ready can be reproced immediately via double-casted Benefic and Helios, a new spell has to be cast before Double Cast itself can be used again.

Lightspeed
Ability -- 60s Recast -- 2 Charges
Grants 3 stacks of Lightspeed, reducing the cast time of spells by 2.5s

Lightspeed is on a shorter cooldown with a second charge, but only has up to 3 casts. This should hopefully make it more readily available when it's needed for movement and intense weaving situations.

Essential Dignity
Ability -- 40s Recast -- 2 Charges
Restores target's HP with a potency of 400, potency increases up to 900 as the target's HP decreases, reaching maximum value when the target has 30% HP or less

Earthly Star
Ability -- 60s Recast
Deploy an Earthly Star in the designated area and grants the effect of Earthly Dominance, 10s, changes to Stellar Detonation upon execution
Executing Stellar Detonation deals unaspected damage with a potency of 200 to all nearby enemies. Also restores own HP and HP of all nearby party members with a potency of 350
Earthly Dominance changes to Giant Dominance upon expiration, 10s
Executing Stellar Detonation or effect expiration will deal unaspected damage with a potency of 300 to all nearby enemies. Also restores own HP and HP of all nearby party members with a potency of 500

Collective Unconscious
Ability -- 60s Recast
Creates a celestial ring around the caster, 18s, effect is canceled upon moving or executing another action
Reduces damage taken by 10%, 5s
Restores HP with a potency of 100 to self and all party members within the ring, 15s
Effects are reapplied continuously to self and all party members standing within the celestial ring

Macrocosmos
Ability -- 180s Recast
For the effect's duration, 50% of the damage taken is compiled, changes to Microcosmos upon execution
Restores HP equal to a cure of 200 potency plus compiled damage when effect expires or upon execution of Microcosmos

Macrocosmos is no longer a spell, and in turn the damage has been removed. Should still be just as stupidly powerful.

Healing oGCDs that have remained are largely untouched outside potency tweaks.

Removed Actions:

Benefic II - AST gameplay and burst heals revolve more around delayed heals, Benefic I is still kept for those moments where a heal is vital
Synastry - A skill I would've liked to keep, but button count was too high
Neutral Sect - Swapping between Nocturnal/Diurnal is now possible in battle, and AST already has stupid high healing, this won't be needed unless I remove Nocturnal
Exaltation - oGCD to cull
Celestial Opposition - Another oGCD to cull
Celestial Intersection - I can't believe it's not another oGCD to cull
Astrodyne - Good riddance, Divination now has varied effects based on signs
Draw - Now a trait
Undraw Why this has survived for so long, I'll never know

Maybe if I'm bored enough I'll make yet another Dusty MSPaint Flowchart™.