Attention AST: Lightspeed is one of your better spells, not a bad spell.

[h0tNstilettos]

There was a thread here the other day someone posted mentioning that Lightspeed is practically useless. I want to clarify that Lightspeed is NOT a bad spell. That spell can single-handedly spell the difference between a wipe or survival. Sure it doesn't see use too often, but when it does it is brilliant.

I just got done doing Sohm Al for my first time, and in one part during end boss the SMN in the group was insta-killed, aka my skill as a healer was not the reason they died. Other than that everything went smooth. So I cast Swiftcast and Ascend to bring them back. But because I used the Swiftcast, I had no fast way to heal them up and with the frequency and potency of incoming damage I was afraid they would die before I could heal them as the burst heal Essential Dignity was on cooldown. At that moment I remembered Lightspeed and instantly cast it and then followed up with an instant Benefic II.

Basically I think a great goal for AST is to balance use of Swiftcast, Essential Dignity, and Lightspeed as best as possible so you always have a way to instantly heal. Basically I think Lightspeed is a good last resort for instant healing if Essential Dignity is down and the situation is dire enough for it, such as topping someone up after revival. The 25% reduction in potency is not an issue here because the goal is to get their health high enough after ressing to survive the next hit.

The reason I said mean the difference between a wipe or not is not because we almost wiped, as we didn't. I was just thinking of situations where it could be.

[sharazisspecial]

Aspect benefict in noct stance "heals" more then lightspeed benefic 2 .The 500 instant potency should be enough to last till another (full potency)benefic 2

Maybe out of 1/100 fights you will be put in a situation where you have no swiftcast but an instant helios may save 2 members? 99% of the time there's no reason to cast it.
Lightspeed is too situational. Great for FATES though.

Now imagine if we had an ability that increased our aoe healing output instead of current Lightspeed. We wouldnt be put such tight situations so often.

How about an ability that eats a drawn card to spit out an instant burst aoe heal? Maybe change "Collective Unconscious" to this ability. Then we get to sacrifice our OP as hell Spire card buff for some aoe healing.

[h0tNstilettos]

Aspect benefict in noct stance to "heals" more then lightspeed benefic 2...

Maybe in 1/100 fights you will be put in a situation where you have no swiftcast but an instant helios may save 2 members?
Lightspeed is too situational.

Oh, well I typically don't use Nocturnal Sect when solo or in 4 player groups as I find the regen from Diurnal Sect to be more useful overall. And you can't Sect switch during battle. I only use Nocturnal Sect in 8 player groups if the other healer is a WHM or another AST using Diurnal.

EDIT: It's true that Lightspeed is very situational and as I mentioned in topic does not see much use, but I still believe it is an excellent spell when its use comes into play.

EDIT: That would be nice to get a burst heal from a card sacrifice.

[sharazisspecial]

Isnt a card sacrifice the best solution. We would be sacrificing our buff potential for more aoe healing. Thats Balance...

Collective unconscious is so bad. It needs to go. Who was the DEV that designed this ability? ROFL

[RiisWolf]

The real issue is that the wait between spells and the cut effectiveness.
Basically the wait before the spell is cast is : CASTING>SPELL>CASTING>SPELL. The GCD timer activates upon casting. Your doing this steady stream of spells but adding an instant cast GCD to the mix it's: INSTANT CAST>GCD>CASTING>SPELL, doubling the wait time and a risk.
Sure the casting an instant cast immediately after casting a normal spell like Regen after Cure2 helps but not in some cases, even from a DPS stand this can hurt your damage.

I don't think it should be used for emergencies in the same sense you would Benediction or Lustrate.
Ultimately the wait would be the same: INSTANT CAST>GCD>INSTANT CAST>GCD. But that 25% effectiveness reduction can be serious, as 6000 would be 4500, 4000 to 3000, 2000 to 1500.

I know I won't be using this unless either A) the fight has me moving too much; B) if I'm getting interrupted too much; or C) when I need 3+second casts done more than once.

[Risvertasashi]

I would hope the fact that ASTs can use their main and aoe heals and stoneskin while moving would evidence that Lightspeed isn't crap. Yes, there's a potency penalty that makes it a bit situational, but what's essentially a multi-swiftcast still has a lot of potential in movement heavy fights.

[jars]

I would hope the fact that ASTs can use their main and aoe heals and stoneskin while moving would evidence that Lightspeed isn't crap. Yes, there's a potency penalty that makes it a bit situational, but what's essentially a multi-swiftcast still has a lot of potential in movement heavy fights.

wouldn't that spend a tremendous amount of mana

[Risvertasashi]

wouldn't that spend a tremendous amount of mana

It spends the same amount of mana as standing still and casting any particular spell costs. The buff lets you do it on the move.

[GideonHighmourn]

It spends the same amount of mana as standing still and casting any particular spell costs. The buff lets you do it on the move.

But it's incredibly MP inefficient to spam SS on the party, especially on DPS with low-HP. SS costs nearly three times as much as Benefic (IIRC), and in turn only shields for a portion of what you could otherwise heal. So yes, it does waste a massive amount of MP, compared to just using Aspected Benefic in the first place, since it's instance as well.

[Risvertasashi]

But it's incredibly MP inefficient to spam SS on the party, especially on DPS with low-HP. SS costs nearly three times as much as Benefic (IIRC), and in turn only shields for a portion of what you could otherwise heal. So yes, it does waste a massive amount of MP, compared to just using Aspected Benefic in the first place, since it's instance as well.

I'm not sure why people are thinking I said spam stoneskin with it. I only listed it as an option among the spells you could use. Use it, or don't, as you feel the situation merits (or doesn't). Like the decision to use any other spell.

Lightspeed is not stoneskin only. It is cast spells on the move (as long as they are below a certain base cast time), including benefic, benefic II, aspected benefic, helios, and so on.