Astrologian Speculations! How will it fit in?

[VanilleFang]

Speculation about AST and Cleric Stance isn't very useful at this point

I don't really see it that way. I don't see us talking about it as "useful", but more a way to spark conversation among healers to discuss what they would like to see or what the think SE may do. It's purely speculation, which is the whole point of the thread. Not much is concrete at this point in time, so all we can really do is speculate and discuss what the possibilities are. I get what you are saying though.

[Raminax]

Call me overly optimistic, but I'm fairly certain that White Mages have more than Proshell going for them. <.<

[AlexanderThorolund]

What skills do you think we are seeing in the new trailer? I think it looked like she was throwing cards at enemies.

[Zohar_Lahar]

What skills do you think we are seeing in the new trailer? I think it looked like she was throwing cards at enemies.

I thought I saw Grand Cross used on that mutant coeurl.

[Tint]

probably he makes fixed damage that only depends on the weapon stats, like guns in FF12. so no more stance-dance^^ uh, that would be great. of course, the damage have to be lower than whm/sch in cleric stance for balancing.

[UOdhn]

probably he makes fixed damage that only depends on the weapon stats, like guns in FF12. so no more stance-dance^^ uh, that would be great. of course, the damage have to be lower than whm/sch in cleric stance for balancing.

Emphasis on the bolded part.

Not necessarily. WHM and SCH DPS in different ways, whereas the SCH has the ability to swap to cleric stance, throw out their DoTs (35, 35, 40 potency), and swap back, the WHM only has 2 DoTs (25 and 40 potency), most of their damage comes from other more direct sources (Stone II, Holy, looking at you). If the AST would have fixed damage, it would really depend on A: Can it be balanced, and B: would it require a certain stance.

I think I would prefer the AST Buffs to give party DPS a comparable number increase to a different healer running cleric stance.

[Seraphyel]

Sure WHMs have "shields", but they work different. They are more of a permanent -dmg buff with a nice "HP-boos" (=the amount of HP absorbed). They are not the usual shields imho.

[Cariborne]

I'm pretty sure there will be Cross Class for the AST. I'm sure it'll have Conjurer and Thaumaturge, as Eye for an Eye and Virus aren't as important when you consider the WHM, BLM, SCH and SMN already has them. Cleric Stance as it stands right now is very important on Healers, it helps us solo, lets us deal reliable damage. On the other hand, I feel healing without Protect would feel weird for most healers as it makes everyone take a bit less damage, and it's considered a "requirement". On that note, AST may have a passive that causes Mind to increase their damage instead of Intellect, they may also have some buff that adds damage reduction similar to Protect. So of the Conjurer and Arcanist, I can very easily see neither of them being required. But that Swiftcast, would be greatly missed.

For those discussing the different stances, I imagine we'll have our base heal like Cure which isn't effected by the Stance we've chosen, and we'll actually only have like 3-4 abilities that change depending on the Stance. One will be a big heal like Cure II/Adlo. In Shield Stance some of the heal is pulled back to give us a shield component, in the Heal Stance it heals along the same lines of Cure II. Then we'll have our AoE Heal, one stance will be like Medica and the other will be like Succor. I think we'll have a Regen effect somewhere when in Heal Stance, and if we're in Shield stance it'll actually give a stacking shield. (1k Heal over 15seconds, or a 1k Shield over 15 seconds for example) This Shield and the AoE Shield could stack, and they'd stack with the Scholar Shields as well. Since they're able to alter fate, I could see this Regen effect just healing Shields over time if it isn't broken off of them, but that could also be OP.

The important thing to remember is that SE said there's a hefty cooldown on changing Stances, it's not like Cleric Stance. So I imagine we wont be able to change much in combat, if at all. So both roles will need to be able to sustain their party alone in most fights. The Strength I can forsee with the AST is that it can fill the role of the SCH or the WHM to fit the group. WHM will have the bigger heals and the stronger HoT, while SCH will have the shields with the Fairy for healing back up. Because of this, I see Healing stance being very similar to WHM, and Shield stance being maybe a stronger Shield version of the Scholar but lacking the fairy healing to help, or some other variation.

With Cleric Stance, I imagine it wont count as one of the Stances the AST uses, so you can have Cleric Stance up to DPS while in your initial stance and that wont change. I'm more excited at the way the Cooldowns and damage of the AST will work. No matter how we spin it, it'll have the usual Light Heal, Heavy Heal, AoE that the other healers have. With a spell or two that matches the overall Job better (ie. Regen, Cure III, Lustrate). But what cooldowns will it bring to the table? Scholar has a Virus and Eye for an Eye to lower the damage enemies deal. White Mage has Benediction to just give you back all your health. Will AST get an ability to stop you from dying similar to Arise/Re-Raise? If they get a HoT focus like some people thought, will they get a cooldown to make you take a lot more Healing over Time to make EoS and White Mage heal more as well? There's lots of healing options they can have in that regard, but as a whole they'll still have the 1-2-3 ability that lets them heal, anything after that is flavour.

For DPS, will they be Burst based, will they use DoTs, or maybe they'll channel their offensive spells at the enemy and use that Fire Attack from the Benchmark as a movement ability. It's a shame they don't tell us more about the Job, or leak some of their abilities so people can actually discuss it. ><;

[LycorisSelunis]

CD thought. so WHM has cds that buff themselves to pump out more heals....

What if AST has a 5 min cd or something nuts, that gives the benefit of both stances for a short time?!

OK I honestly don't expect this, but it was a thought.

[Blueyes]

CD thought. so WHM has cds that buff themselves to pump out more heals....

What if AST has a 5 min cd or something nuts, that gives the benefit of both stances for a short time?!

OK I honestly don't expect this, but it was a thought.

Kind of funny because that actually sounds a lot like Tabula Rasa which was the 2-hour (now 1-hour) ability for Scholar in FFXI. Some of the current level 50 skills (or level 2 in the case of Rogue) have similar functions to the 2-hour abilities of jobs from FFXI, though with weaker effects and a significantly shorter cooldown. It's actually not that crazy of an idea, but I'm not sure if the benefit would be as impactful as it sounds. Hard to say without seeing a list of skills with info on how their effects change with each stance. It could easily still work as an ability, though.