Why people says AST is bad?

[Crevox]

I've also used it to help get a tank up quicker if he's taking a lot of damage.

There is no increase in throughput with instant cast. The GCD is the same. :|

All it does is slightly alter the rhythm of the heals you are spamming if you're not using it for its mobility. In the rare case the burst is desired, Swiftcast exists.

[Reivur]

There is no increase in throughput with instant cast. The GCD is the same. :|

All it does is slightly alter the rhythm of the heals you are spamming if you're not using it for its mobility. In the rare case the burst is desired, Swiftcast exists.

You're trying much too hard to be unsatisfied. Not everyone is delusional enough to think the class is flawless, but what this person is describing is something I personally enjoy about the class too. Instant cast, front-forwarded healing is different and is enjoyable. And there are uses to being able to cast it on the move, as well as have the 'chant' portion skipped even if you ultimately are locked by the recast timer.

Altering the rhythm is a good thing. This rhythm is called gameplay. And mentioning Swiftcast at no point makes me want to suddenly make Benefic's passive have hidden and effective-- yet boring-- power/efficiency like White Mage. If I wanted it to be more like White Mage, I could simply play a White Mage.

By using this mechanic, I'm free to use Swiftcast for something else. Like say, Aspected Helios; a spell with a legitimately longer cast time with a positional requirement to where I feel more impact/satisfaction for using Swiftcast.

You can't just reach for power and ignore play patterns completely. Give the class throughput or power, especially in Nocturnal; clean up cards to make up for their lack of personal dps opportunity-- clean up Spire ESPECIALLY since it feels often like an impactless card. "We won this encounter because the Astrologian used Spire on me", said no one ever-- this can be said about almost every card, but at least you can feasibly make claims that a Royal AoE Balance/Arrow helped on a 'meh' geared Bismarck EX Core, or throwing Ewer on the WHM during AoE phases, or coordinating Spears on Spread with a Ninja friend got more oGCDs/Ninjutsu/Trick Attacks out for the raid. There's potential, even if they're not tuned right. The gameplay is there.

Clean up usability for Spears in non-premades, give a few number tweaks on the other cards certainly but don't screw with elements that work for the class. Its an awesome stutterstep for a healer.