After PAX and... C'mon Square, share a little

[Fervis]

So based solely on the information we have now and the very brief PAX video of the Astrologian's casting animations and sound effects, my theory is that you'll switch stances where one primarily heals (using the Star Globe) while you switch into the other for shorter duration buffs (like a "next 2 attacks" or a 3 - 5m kind) where you use the Divining Deck to buff. So far the only spells that we've seen the Astrologian cast have been cast on players so I have yet to see evidence of any significant debuff ability from the class. Just my two cents.

[Eisenhower]

I'm quite certain that the stances they mentioned isn't a veiled reference to Cleric Stance since it will most likely cross-class, since damage spells still will scale off INT and not MND (barring major changes in mechanics). My guess is that the stances will dictate the way you heal or buff. Maybe in terms of speed or efficiency - or in the case where card use has an RNG element, the probability of certain draws.

[Oriens]

According to their dev panel, they heavily consider the job's playstyle to make it unique/relevant compared to what's already in the game. Cleric stance dancing (or an equivalent) will probably not be part of the AST healing kit. As some have already mentioned, the stance changes will probably effect the AST's abilities/spells (but not to the same effect as Cleric stance.)

[DarkmoonVael]

So according to Famitsu's Pax interview with Yoshi-P the Astrologians stances workes by switching it between a stance to heal, and a stance to create barriers. They also apparently have a severely overpowered LB3, and the cards when drawn can be used immediatly or held back to combine with other cards for even stronger abilities.

http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen...ast_interview/

[Fervis]

So according to the PAX East interview with Yoshi, they will have 2 stances that transition from a healing stance and a barrier stance. At the current moment the transition is really powerful so they will be putting a cap on how frequently you are able to "stance dance" between the two. The spells will remain the same but some of the effects will change based on the current stance. The divining deck can either be used immediately, or you can save the card you draw to combine it with the next card for more powerful spells. The class is intended to be very busy and technical according to the interview. For any more questions, I posted the link to the interview recap below this! ENJOY!!

http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen...ast_interview/

[Risvertasashi]

So it sounds like they'll basically be able to fill in for either WHM or SCH, depending on what you don't already have. Or you could have 2 ASTs, one in the barrier stance and the other in the healing stance...

Admirable flexibility but... well, I hope they can strike the balance of not obsoleting the other two healing jobs while not making it useless either.