Astro in savage

[technole]

Astrologian is, unfortunately, full of restrictions. I still cannot fathom why two Diurnal ASTs can't stack regens the same way two WHMs can...

It's to discourage same sect AST/AST combinations, because it is their control to make the best healing synergy. When a WHM/WHM or SCH/SCH gets paired together in a duty finder they don't have a choice, and the only synergy is regen. For Scholar there is synergy in using both the same fairy for stacking Eos's Whispering Dawn (not even that is normally ideal) or Selene's Fey Wind uptime or opposite fairies.

AST/AST has control to make the regen/shield combination that the others don't. Why anyone would prefer to do this differently is the bigger question.

[Leiloni]

Am I the only one who has no desire to be able to stance dance? For one thing it feels unnecessary but on the other it sounds like a pain in the ass. The idea just doesn't sound fun at all. Just make Noct better so people can actually play in it, but can we just quit with the stance dancing suggestions. I'm so afraid they'll do it and then I'd honestly reconsider playing AST. I hate the idea that much.

[technole]

Am I the only one who has no desire to be able to stance dance? For one thing it feels unnecessary but on the other it sounds like a pain in the ass. The idea just doesn't sound fun at all. Just make Noct better so people can actually play in it, but can we just quit with the stance dancing suggestions. I'm so afraid they'll do it and then I'd honestly reconsider playing AST. I hate the idea that much.

Not at all, it's unnecessary and especially in the raid situation since the healing partner can do the opposite job better than sect dancing can ever do. If anything it's just illogical. Plus you have possibility of regen plus a shield aspected, stacked situation which would be OP.

There is no really no good reason. People are just proposing this as a reaching solution for the "lack of healing cooldowns" which doesn't resolve that directly.

[Ghishlain]

Am I the only one who has no desire to be able to stance dance? For one thing it feels unnecessary but on the other it sounds like a pain in the ass. The idea just doesn't sound fun at all. Just make Noct better so people can actually play in it, but can we just quit with the stance dancing suggestions. I'm so afraid they'll do it and then I'd honestly reconsider playing AST. I hate the idea that much.

Not at all, it's unnecessary and especially in the raid situation since the healing partner can do the opposite job better than sect dancing can ever do. If anything it's just illogical. Plus you have possibility of regen plus a shield aspected, stacked situation which would be OP.

There is no really no good reason. People are just proposing this as a reaching solution for the "lack of healing cooldowns" which doesn't resolve that directly.

While it's true being able to swap Sects at this juncture would not have any large implications in the current AST toolkit, why don't we consider how we can make Sect selection more impactful for an AST? We already see how Collective Unconsciousness is altered by which Sect you're in. Why don't we take this idea even further?

For example:

Traited Benefic
Nocturnal - Benefic II has a healing potency bonus of 30%
Diurnal - Benefic II now adds a 9s HoT at 100 Potency

Essential Dignity
Nocturnal - Grants a shield equal to half the amount healed
Diurnal - Grants a 15s HoT of 50 Potency

Time Dilation
Nocturnal - Increases buff duration by 20s instead of 15s
Diurnal - Reduces Recast to 60s instead of 90s

And similar changes of this nature. Instead of trying to make AST into WHM jr. and SCH jr., let's try to give them unique benefits being in a specific Sect that suit their toolkit (Diurnal = faster, Nocturnal = more power). Or have specific abilities that shore up some of the weaknesses each Sect has like making Essential Dignity give a HoT in Nocturnal and a Shield in Diurnal, etc.

Right now, to me, AST is very engaging but lacks the rewards one would expect from that level of play. So, let's try to make it slightly more engaging and try to up the reward factor without having to overhaul the entire kit.

[Leiloni]

While it's true being able to swap Sects at this juncture would not have any large implications in the current AST toolkit, why don't we consider how we can make Sect selection more impactful for an AST? We already see how Collective Unconsciousness is altered by which Sect you're in. Why don't we take this idea even further?

For example:

Traited Benefic
Nocturnal - Benefic II has a healing potency bonus of 30%
Diurnal - Benefic II now adds a 9s HoT at 100 Potency

Essential Dignity
Nocturnal - Grants a shield equal to half the amount healed
Diurnal - Grants a 15s HoT of 50 Potency

Time Dilation
Nocturnal - Increases buff duration by 20s instead of 15s
Diurnal - Reduces Recast to 60s instead of 90s

And similar changes of this nature. Instead of trying to make AST into WHM jr. and SCH jr., let's try to give them unique benefits being in a specific Sect that suit their toolkit (Diurnal = faster, Nocturnal = more power). Or have specific abilities that shore up some of the weaknesses each Sect has like making Essential Dignity give a HoT in Nocturnal and a Shield in Diurnal, etc.

Right now, to me, AST is very engaging but lacks the rewards one would expect from that level of play. So, let's try to make it slightly more engaging and try to up the reward factor without having to overhaul the entire kit.

I like what you're trying to do with these ideas, but I don't think the extra HoT procs would be a great idea for Diurnal. I would prefer HoTs that I can control, and big burst heals that I can control. Sometimes you really just need a bigger heal and Benefic II/ED are great for that. Sometimes you don't actually even want a HoT, if you're expecting adds on a boss fight or are in a dungeon at the end of a pull and don't want aggro issues.

[Ghishlain]

I like what you're trying to do with these ideas, but I don't think the extra HoT procs would be a great idea for Diurnal. I would prefer HoTs that I can control, and big burst heals that I can control. Sometimes you really just need a bigger heal and Benefic II/ED are great for that. Sometimes you don't actually even want a HoT, if you're expecting adds on a boss fight or are in a dungeon at the end of a pull and don't want aggro issues.

Thank ya. The ideas I posted on there weren't very original or really well thought out, but I wanted to try to push the discussion of "how can we change AST" to make it more unique and rewarding without stepping on the toes of the other two healers in the game. That would be much better than the bickering and complaining without resolution too.

The HoT idea may not work well, but maybe something along increasing Haste. I proposed in a different thread that Benefic II proc on Dirunal could be oGCD, making it instant and not hampering the ASTs GCD. I'd be curious to see if anyone else has any suitably thematic ideas.

[Parawill]

Anywho, AS1 got to 4% with my being the primary main healer (SCH assisting with tank heals and occasional AoE Heal if not everyone is in range).

I'm trying to find better setups for buffs because I'm going OOM around 3rd landing (enrage). I often find its better to RR (not expanded) +Ewer/Spire than to use it by itself unless I spreaded an Ewer for some reason (RNG was horrible today. So many Boles. Spears & Spires and so few Balances, Arrows and Ewers). My group prefers Expanded Arrow over Expanded Balance at start (more GCDs during buffs over 10% with same number of GCDs). Extended Bole + Time Dilation was nice, but was not noticeable.

Two emergency moments to note today were:
Prey on Warrior (I'm healing him), 2 missiles crit for a total of 7k on top of a auto for 10k damage with 1.5 GCDs. Benefic II + Essential Dignity @ under 50% was not enough to save him (lolrng) causing a wipe.

Note to self:
Essentialy Dignity = Tetragrammaton (average potency), but akin to White Mage 2.0 Benediction off-GCD healing issues. I think another CD for healing would be nice.
~ Use Collective Unconscious more if you can use it.

Scholar died to laser & lag. Solo healed after double preys and tank busters successfully all the way until landing -> raise -> raid AoE (killed raid since constrained to GCD and inability to pump out hard heals to keep both tanks and group up).

P.S: Power outages are uncontrollable but super rude. *sigh*

I would prefer HoTs that I can control, and big burst heals that I can control.

I've always wondered if there was a way to implement a skill that could remove a HoT or buff for a "burst" type effect. Essentially if you had 15 seconds left on your Aspected Diurnal Benefic, you could pop a OGCD to shred the HoT into its remaining potency amount OR with an additional % modifier. In Nocturnal, we could have either a reflect-type thing where it bursts for 2x its shield damage or applies a secondary Stoneskin type shield (stacking) that is 50% (or even just 100% for a crit adlo effect).

[Leiloni]

I've always wondered if there was a way to implement a skill that could remove a HoT or buff for a "burst" type effect. Essentially if you had 15 seconds left on your Aspected Diurnal Benefic, you could pop a OGCD to shred the HoT into its remaining potency amount OR with an additional % modifier. In Nocturnal, we could have either a reflect-type thing where it bursts for 2x its shield damage or applies a secondary Stoneskin type shield (stacking) that is 50% (or even just 100% for a crit adlo effect).

The WoW druid years ago used to have a skill called Swiftmend that would consume the HoT and turn it into an instant heal based on how much was left of the HoT. That skill has apparently seen many changes since then, but that's what it used to do and sounds like what you're suggesting.

[SuzakuCMX]

I've always wondered if there was a way to implement a skill that could remove a HoT or buff for a "burst" type effect.

Maybe Time Dilation, and it doubles the effectiveness of the current Noct Sect Shield on the target while in Di it compresses the HoT into a burst heal? And then they could change Celestial Opposition to extend buff timers by 15s instead of the current 5s and increase it to a 15s stun?

[Galadrium]

I am with Leiloni. I have no interest in Stance dancing.