Astrologian Issues??

[Anyendryyl]

So, I just got my Ast to level 50. Geared it a tad. i114. I didn't have ANY issues with it at all leveling to 50, but now...

I went into a Tam Tara hm earlier, the tank did the normal speed pull. We died in that first pull because I simply could NOT keep up with the damage. This is insanely frustrating as I'm i114 in level 50 base content. Am I simply playing this class wrong? I know how to use cards, Royal Road, etc etc.

Will stacking Spell speed help off set the time needed for Essential Dignity? I can't imagine it would help that much, but I just don't know yet. Or should I resign myself to telling tanks not to speed pull in hm runs simply because I can't keep up with it? :/ At least til I hit level 58 for the shield..

Has anyone else had a similar issue? Or is this just me being bad? Any help is appreciated!

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

Well, for starters:
Which sect were you in?
How were you using aspected benefic? Practical use of this will vary according to the sect you are using
How were you using Essential Dignity? The lower the health on the target, the more potent it gets. I've only eye-balled it so far, but if the target is near death ups the potency to 900-1050 (speculated number)
Do you have a bole card spread out in case you need it? Or perhaps an arrow/spear card for yourself?
Are you healing in lightspeed? If you were, don't. The GCD remains the same, but your healing output is reduced. If you HAVE to resort to this: Benefic II -> Aspected Benefic -> Lightspeed -> benefic II/stoneskin -> click off Lightspeed (single use only)

Hope this helps

[Raminax]

How were you using Essential Dignity? The lower the health on the target, the more potent it gets. I've only eye-balled it so far, but if the target is near death ups the potency to 900-1050 (speculated number)

It apparently scales linearly up to 1'000 Potency!

...and now I'm out again.

[Krixus]

Definitely not the jobs fault, as I did plenty when I first hit 50. Your tank could of very well been the problem, gotta buff properly for large pulls. Also was it a drk? Alot of them have been ignoring they even have a defensive stance and letting the healers suffer.

As main whm I was never required to pop divine seal for a large pull, I would cause I could but it isn't needed. So astro is basically the same as a whm with slightly lower potency in diurnal. If you look at it that way maybe it makes more sense.

[Estheim]

I would also ask the same thing as Lyrica up there. I've found that for the big pulls in that way, diurnal works better for me than nocturnal as it's 5% faster to cast and I can get the heals out quicker than in the other stance. Throw out a regen, then spam the heal, use the emergency heal when needed and it's never been an issue so far. Touch wood.

[Blitzball]

I feel like most people in this thread are posting before they've hit 60. The class is insanely weak once you hit that due to it's lack of any healing cooldowns what so ever. You're left to sit and spam benefic 2 for almost all content where the tank is taking a lot of damage and due to your very limited mana sustain you run oom very very quickly. Bismarck EX is very doable but now that I'm working on Ravana EX i'm really starting to see how weak the class is. Sure I'll be able to clear it but I honestly feel like a lot of our skills need changes to make them at least worth using. Lightspeed would be great if it didn't have a potency decrease (Why does this even exist when PoM is easily a better skill anyway?). Collective unconscious is another skill that REALLY needs some changes we lose our ability to cast and to move to do things that whm/sch can do without losing anything and even after sacrificing the ability to cast/move the skill is still weaker than whm/sch versions..?

[Blitzball]

cont from above ^

Then there's celestial opposition that is insanely situational I don't even understand the skill at all. It is only useful when you've royal roaded a card to be aoe and even once you've done that you need to at least hit everyone with it which is impossible because the range is so small and on top of all of this the skill is STILL bugged that it removes your food buff should you use it. I think that until AST gets some kind of change to our skills that give us more mana sustain we really won't be able to shine. There's all sorts of issues with the cards too that I just won't go into but it feels like SE overvalued the cards and toned the class too far behind the others. Without any sort of healing cooldown outside of essential dignity we're ridiculously weak in end game content and even this one that we have is on too long of a cooldown compared to tetragrammaton and lustrate (I know tetra is longer but WHM also have benediction, divine seal and PoM).

[Blitzball]

You're really much much better off taking a scholar and white mage right now. The cards just aren't worth the seriously lack luster healing the AST provides. I'm very open to see how everyone else feels. But this is how I feel about it coming into 3.0 as a healer main who has solo healed every piece of 2.x content on both whm and sch. Apologies for the multiple posts. I wrote a whole chunk without realizing there was a character limit on posts as I don't post often.

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

You're forgetting the OP is level 50 :P Celestial opposition isn't till 60.

As for noct/diur sects. I'm a bigger fan of Nocturnal Sect as it allows me to play a tad more aggressively, although it's more MP consuming.

[Estheim]

You're forgetting the OP is level 50 :P Celestial opposition isn't till 60.

As for noct/diur sects. I'm a bigger fan of Nocturnal Sect as it allows me to play a tad more aggressively, although it's more MP consuming.

This is one reason why I love the astrologian. I prefer the Diurnal sect, I like my regens and faster casting speeds. The class may not feel balanced yet at 60, but it's more the playstyle that makes it unique instead of how much it can heal in comparison to other classes.