Thoughts from a 60 AST & 60 WHM

[Leiloni]

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).

AB vs Regen, yes Regen is indeed a better skill. But when you look at Diurnal AB vs Benefic and Benefic II, it's our most mana efficient single target spell. Benefic is 1.08 potency per mana, Benefic II is an abysmal .78 in Diurnal, and AB is 1.12. I would keep it up on the tank at all times and if you have a dps that will actually be using up all 790 potency, it's better to throw that on them as opposed to a Benefic II or two Benefic I's. And for that matter, using Diurnal Aspected Helios on even two targets is more mana efficient than a Benefic II (.96 actually) for more healing (ignoring Synastry which is amazing as well for certain uses. Even just casting one Benefic II with Synastry up and getting another 310 potency on the secondary target makes it even more efficient than AB, although you don't want to waste a 2 minute CD when it's not needed). Yes both AB and AH are HoTs so you'll want to make sure your target isn't going to dip too low in that time period, otherwise you're better off giving them a Benefic I or II to get them up more immediately, but in the case where it's not terribly urgent to top them off, the HoTs are just by themselves a far better usage of mana.

But if you're considering WHM's entire arsenal there's more to it than just slightly less efficient base heals. Cure II is only marginally less efficient at it's base then Benefic II, however when you consider Freecure it comes out ahead and Regen is more efficient than anything we have. Compare that to AST's need to constantly spam heals to get the same amount of base healing as a WHM and we're already using more mana. Then Divine Seal allows WHM to get a ton more healing for no more mana at all, on a short one minute cooldown, when in the same scenario an AST is losing mana extremely fast because we have nothing comparable to help us save any in intense situations.

[Risvertasashi]

A theorycrafter of reddit did what I couldn't-- put some numbers to the MP usage thing. The original post in the link below includes charts and a more detailed breakdown but I'll directly quote this highlight:

AST has a hard time recovering MP during low damage. At a 250-potency pace (about 6 Cures and 3 Regens per minute - or 15 Benefics in Noct), WHM is recovering MP twice as fast.

Under heavy damage using Benefic II is on par with playing WHM badly. AST should focus on finding ways to avoid Benefic II - including pawning that responsibility off on their co-healer - and just spam the spam out of Bene I until Dignity is up.

AST needs all the MP-saving tricks you can manage.

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

[RoseM]

AST has a hard time recovering MP during low damage. At a 250-potency pace (about 6 Cures and 3 Regens per minute - or 15 Benefics in Noct), WHM is recovering MP twice as fast.
http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen...ain_astwhmsch/

This is probably the most helpful post I have ever seen on the internet, regarding describing the tough healing situation AST is facing..

I have both a lvl 60 AST and a lvl 60 WHM, the speed their mana deplete are on entirely 2 different levels.
It is good to know they are planning to work on Lightspeed, do some QoL enhancements (Spread) and stuff. But the MP management problem is imo currently the biggest issue that's stopping AST from serious Raid contents: No mana => No fault tolerance + No healer DPS => Slow Progress. If they don't fix that AST still stands no chance competing against SCH/WHM for a raid slot.

In addition, I really doubt how far SE would go buffing AST so early into the expansion. It is more likely to be just a small buff (or half buff + half nerf) like they did to Brd/Mch. And wait til they receive enough feedback from Alexander Savage to do any significant buff.

The conclusion is, I am still not going to risk my static's progress speed by using AST in raids, this job is currently a joke, and it's unlikely to become competitive very soon.

[whiskeybravo]

MP management
Ok... I've got to be honest. AST sucks at this. It's really bad. I try very much to make every spellcast count -- to get every last hp from every heal to mean something, to spend the absolute minimum MP I can to get others' health up... and I still run out. I start to panic when I see my MP reserves approaching their end and hope the DPS really gets a move on finishing it.

I was curious about this having heard similar remarks. Ended up rage quitting Fractal last night, the AST healer was out of mp at 50% boss HP on last boss, leading to 4 consecutive wipes. Ran OOM everytime and also on trash pulls.

[Tyla_Esmeraude]

All I want is to be able to play Astrologian in raids with my static without making my SCH partner work more to make up for the weakness of my new job.

I dont know what happened but the new abilities and the holy nerf #2 made WHM less appealing/fun to me. It feels like something's missing. For this reason I definetely decided to give Astrologian a chance. Before the expansion came out I was curious about AST but wasn't sure if I'd make it my main healer since I was ok enough with WHM.

Now, I am having so much fun on AST. Probably because I loved and played COR in FFXI.

[Tyla_Esmeraude]

(Sorry for the double post. On my phone and it doesnt let me edit my post. )

I am lvl 55 atm and I can already see how harder it is to keep people alive than on WHM. Of course, with good players I have a blast on AST but say, when learning a fight and my fellow mates take loads of dmg because they are getting used to the mechanics why should I feel forced to go WHM instead only because of their "fix dps' mistakes " tools?

AST needs some love and soon.

Also, why is AH's range lower than Medica 2?! This is really limiting and annoying imo! Specially when everyone is all scattered around >< it makes me so mad when a DPS doesnt get the regen cuz he was a tad bit farther away.

[Vill_Castiglioni]

I went back to my WHM yesterday, and I still need to hit 60, but honestly it was such a bore and faceroll to heal on comparatively. Hopefully that gets different, but after focusing AST since early access I've come to see it as such a fun enjoyable class. It isn't without it's problems, but it's so much more challenging and rewarding than the others in my opinion right now. I will still take SCH and WHM to 60 for a final assessment, but AST really is an all around fun class that has all the tools you need to succeed.

I still think all the complainers are just lazy. I also agree that Shuffle needs to be adjusted, and card buffs need to be well... buffed. But AST is NOT supposed to be as strong at healing as SCH and WHM. They are supposed to be handicapped and like Rewind said, there to sustain the party. However I still have been in the position as an AST to carry the healing, so far. Unfortunately there are very few super good healers out there. I'll be starting Alex today so we'll see.

[Risvertasashi]

Liveletter made it sound like MP use would be addressed (although they didn't say AST specifically, so maybe WHM will get a helping hand as well?).

[SovereignAegis]

I think with the announcement of the buffs in the live letter that AST will become much more lucrative. Even the hinting of stance-dancing makes the class seem infinitely more appealing to me. The ability to pick and maintain HoT's while throwing up shields is... incredible.

But the mana issue is the biggest gate I see to this.

If mana issues + stance dancing is allowed for AST I see them being absolutely viable if not one of the more dominant picks.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts... as in allowing stance dancing (both) at the same time is much more lucrative and powerful than either shields alone or HoT's alone.