Thoughts from a 60 AST & 60 WHM

[PetiteMalFleur]

snip

Have you healed Ravana ex?

The job is really fun and does fine in 4 man content. It is when you get in long, protracted fights that you'll see the struggle. Spread is used to save spear removing any control over rng. Card buffs are hoarded for yourself.

I've completed Ravana on both scholar and astrologian and while I didn't need a turret the shortcomings of the job are glaring, especially for mana management. I'm constantly behind in healing and spend a great deal of time idle trying to recoup mana when I'd be dpsing on my scholar. Having to spend so many cards sustaining myself instead of buffing the raid destroys the fun of the job in endgame raiding.

I am going to vehemently disagree that a properly played whm has mana issues. I used to main whm and never needed ballad. My current whm static member never needed ballad even in T13 progression at sub I 120 with the scholar pushing dps full time. Heals are stronger, they have a self heal buff, regen is more efficient than aspected bene. They also now have a second CD for mana recover that does both aoe damage and heals. Your are correct, there is no comparison between the two classes because at level 60 whm far outpaces ast in so many ways.

Such a shame I won't be playing this job.

[Cynfael]

AST's comparative lack of CDs that increase healing efficiency is a glaring oversight IMO.

Additionally, if you find yourself frequently blowing cards to cast Spear and Ewer on yourself (as I hear many people around here do) that's a little sad because it mostly negates the group benefit of the entire card mechanic. The Job should be able to sustain itself adequately without having to patch up its MP issues by hoarding cards for itself.

[Seryl199]

AST's comparative lack of CDs that increase healing efficiency is a glaring oversight IMO.

Additionally, if you find yourself frequently blowing cards to cast Spear and Ewer on yourself (as I hear many people around here do) that's a little sad because it mostly negates the group benefit of the entire card mechanic. The Job should be able to sustain itself adequately without having to patch up its MP issues by hoarding cards for itself.

I feel that you're as much of a party member as everyone else. If you can make the best use of a buff, I don't see why you'd choose not to use it on yourself. If I plan on using Spear on myself, I know what CD's I have on tap and how I can use them to keep the party stable, as opposed to having no clue how a pug member would use their buffs, not necessarily having kept track of CD's that they've used, or if they'd even notice Spear at all. Of course, spending all the cards on yourself is indicative of a problem, but an AST shouldn't neglect themselves when other party members don't stand to benefit from your buffs.

Their lack of healing buffs, however, is a definitive issue. Although I'm not looking to cookie cutter AST by giving them a potency buffing skill, they need some manner in which to recover from mistakes. They are more than able to sustain a party through battle, but when the balance shifts to more damage coming in than healing going out, AST has a hard time playing catch up, and with limited resources to do so.

[Risvertasashi]

I feel that you're as much of a party member as everyone else. If you can make the best use of a buff, I don't see why you'd choose not to use it on yourself. If I plan on using Spear on myself, I know what CD's I have on tap and how I can use them to keep the party stable, as opposed to having no clue how a pug member would use their buffs, not necessarily having kept track of CD's that they've used, or if they'd even notice Spear at all. Of course, spending all the cards on yourself is indicative of a problem, but an AST shouldn't neglect themselves when other party members don't stand to benefit from your buffs.

I would say AST's buffs shine when you know your party members. The people I play with, I know their CD rotations so I can hit them with Spear right as their strong stuff is coming up. Or Balance if they're about to have a damage spike.

I think this is relevant since in the context of more difficult content, the party probably knows each other at least to some extent and higher levels of performance are usually expected. In dungeons, of course... Well, ASTs can heal those OK generally, doesn't take much as long as the tank doesn't overpull.

And, even in pug groups, ACT can track/display in real time what buffs your party members are using and what they have coming off cooldown in a few moments. When SMNs are about to enter Dreadwyrm. Etc.

Not that that negates your point -- I won't say buffs can never be used on the AST themself. But, with either attention to detail or via parser, it's possible to get a pretty good sense of timing and how others are playing so you can maximize buff use.

[Loutail]

I played WHM 2.0-2.2, playing AST now. I don't have WHM to 60 yet, currently 55. Here's my $0.02.

When I started with AST, I had MP issues. Mainly because I was playing it like a WHM, which isn't efficient. So I looked at potency per mp-spent with AST vs WHM and the AST wins except for AB vs regen.... of course. I've trained myself to keep my finger away from AB unless necessary, which I've surprisingly found isn't too often. I'm not having any MP issues in all of the floors of Alex. Looking at parsing data I'm regularly healing right under or as much as my static's SCH(1100-1400 "enchps") and consistently doing more DPS on single targets(300-400AST/200-300SCH). The fairy's healing puts the SCH's healing ahead overall though(200-250selene,500-600eos).

[Loutail]

Also, while doing Bismark EX if RNG played into my favor on cards during the shell burn I saw at least 3 dps go from 1000-1100 dps to 1300. I saw that scenario twice in one night, once with an aoe balance and again with an aoe arrow.

So I honestly think the AST is fine. Once I set my mind to "sustaining" my MP has stayed up and people haven't died from a lack of heals. Add on the strong DPS buffs in burn phases and you've got a very sought after role. With that said, I will be leveling my WHM to 60 and using it in fights with my static where DPS burns are not the concern and pure healing thru-put is required.

[Khyan]

I played WHM 2.0-2.2, playing AST now. I don't have WHM to 60 yet, currently 55. Here's my $0.02.

When I started with AST, I had MP issues. Mainly because I was playing it like a WHM, which isn't efficient. So I looked at potency per mp-spent with AST vs WHM and the AST wins except for AB vs regen.... of course. I've trained myself to keep my finger away from AB unless necessary, which I've surprisingly found isn't too often. I'm not having any MP issues in all of the floors of Alex. Looking at parsing data I'm regularly healing right under or as much as my static's SCH(1100-1400 "enchps") and consistently doing more DPS on single targets(300-400AST/200-300SCH). The fairy's healing puts the SCH's healing ahead overall though(200-250selene,500-600eos).

SCH does more damage if played well. You have more damage over time skills than other healer jobs and one GCD dps skill. I think your SCH wasn't focused on his dps, just my opinion. Even on single target.

[Vill_Castiglioni]

SCH does more damage if played well. You have more damage over time skills than other healer jobs and one GCD dps skill. I think your SCH wasn't focused on his dps, just my opinion. Even on single target.

IDK, Malefic II + DoTs including Aero is pretty awesome on single target. It's spectacular when DPS suck.

[Alahra]

IDK, Malefic II + DoTs including Aero is pretty awesome on single target. It's spectacular when DPS suck.

Aero's use for AST is debatable. It has the same total potency as Malefic II, but only if you get all 6 tics (which you aren't guaranteed because of the server pulse). It does have a cheaper MP cost, though, which does matter for AST, especially when DPSing.

[Vill_Castiglioni]

But in situations where you can use it, it's still helpful then and not useless.