Astro in savage

[Nigela]

This thread is kind of funny.
"AST are too weak, I can't clear A1 Savage!"
- pic of AST beating A1 Savage
"Well, That was WHM and AST - it can't be done with a SCH combo it just doesn't have the healing oomph to hand it"
-pic of AST/SCH clearing A1S
"Well, uh, it is still too weak!"

One thing I'd like to add in a WHM/AST combo in terms of DPS - an AST can DPS too - from a single target perspective it really isn't that far off from SCH.

Ofc its possible to beat A1 Savage as AST but the point is what u can make easily as SCH/WHM make u sweat on AST. It shouldnt be like this that when i bring AST on raid with static i feel like handicap. AST is the weakest healer and it needs some changes and boost.

[Assirra]

Here's the thing though - no one is really rolling through A1S yet, even with WHM/SCH. For every clear video you see, there's 100+ groups failing you don't see. It's hard to clear it with any combo, and right now only the best players are clearing it with any combination of jobs.

There are AST's in both this thread and the the one in general where their group straight up asked to switch to another job.
When that happens there indeed an issue.

[RichardButte]

foresaw this coming and once again pushes down the path of: WHM/WHM > WHM/SCH > WHM/AST > SCH/SCH > SCH/AST > AST/AST. Theres simply no reason to take an AST over any of the other two healing classes, unless AST was the only healer available (or maybe in the case of double SCH). The problem lies within how the class functions, its neither a replacement for a WHM or a SCH, therefore its considered the last choice instead of the 3rd option. AST should bring something of equivalent power to the table, as WHM brings powerful AOE heals, SCH with powerful single target; Thus AST should bring equivalent buffs. As of now none of the buffs are equivalent to the healing loss as compared to a WHM/SCH. When will people realize its about bringing something to the table that contributes enough for the loss, in this case healing potency.

Exactly.

The job of any healer is to keep the party alive until the end of the encounter.

AST either needs the same healing capability or its buffs need to end the encounter THAT much faster (via boosting DPS) to compensate for its weaker healing.

Right now, it's not doing either one.

[Alahra]

There are AST's in both this thread and the the one in general where their group straight up asked to switch to another job.
When that happens there indeed an issue.

Exactly. This happened with BLM and SMN at various points. It happened with DRGs in FCOB. It happened with both melee and WARs in BCOB. In all cases when this has occurred, changes have been made. They will likely be made for AST as well--but it's a matter of how long we'll need to wait for further adjustments now.

[RichardButte]

Exactly. This happened with BLM and SMN at various points. It happened with DRGs in FCOB. It happened with both melee and WARs in BCOB. In all cases when this has occurred, changes have been made. They will likely be made for AST as well--but it's a matter of how long we'll need to wait for further adjustments now.

True, but to be fair, SE DID just ask for feedback...

[LycorisSelunis]

Greetings,

Thanks for the feedback!

I just want to say that you guys are awesome for taking your time with this. It is far better to take in as much feedback and other info as possible to avoid being too heavy-handed with changes, or changing the wrong things. I truly feel that when more AST changes come, they will be done right.

[Parawill]

In all honesty Richard, as much as I would love to be healing on par with White Mage or Scholar (referring to that "stance" idea that you cant turn off), I really want them to focus on the aspect of Astrology, buffing and divination. Where White Mages bring raw power house heals, Scholars bring in Shields & heals (though weaker). Astrologians bring raw heals like White Mages, but do not have the potency of White Mages which gives room to add utility to their heals.

While I do like the Regen & Shield aspect of the two stances, and introducing possible stance dancing would be nice (to be honest, in a SCH & AST setup, you would only really go into Noct for that 5% increase in heals as SCH Shields are stronger and don't stack. Plus stacking CU with Sacred Soil and other mitigation would be nice), I wish they maybe perhaps made it so that we had some sort of reflect effect added into our kit. Since our cards are oriented in enhancing players, and with the current lack of boosting potencies, perhaps shifting the way Astrologians contribute DPS into their healing would be interesting? Of course the potencies would be way lower than a standard instant-damage skill/spell (Straight damage instead of a DoT).

But yeah, just throwing ideas. Nothing beyond that :P

@Grekumah. Thank you for relaying feedback to HQ. We really appreciate it

[Alahra]

True, but to be fair, SE DID just ask for feedback...

Oh, sure. They're pretty good about that. But it's hard to tell with how they've responded to class balance issues in the past how they'll address things now. They've been pretty somewhat inconsistent. Sometimes they've made us wait until the next major patch (2.1 for DRG, MNK, WAR in 2.0, 2.3 for BLMs in 2.2 if I remember right). For SMN, they made them wait for 3.0 when they were getting sidelined in 2.4/2.5. DRG got adjustments in 2.5, I think. Meanwhile, BRD and MCH received very rapid changes recently, and AST did receive some minor adjustments (though the former probably were not enough).

[justinjarjar]

(everyone seems to show up when a dev talks in the forums)
Lets keep the feedback centered on your experiences in AS and less so general AST complaints (there are many forums on ideas to change). For example what feels weak and strong about AST in AS and if cleared or close to clear what you used to get there. Questions and clear pics are also fun to add to the conversation.

[Zilara]

Richard, I think your idea of burning a card to work like Divine Seal is really insightful. Allowing you to make a choice between buffing or pure healing is good gameplay, and it could redeem some of the more unfortunate cards in encounters like A1 (Spire lol). It'd definitely go a long way to solving the throughput issue, and boosting a few heals could save MP in the long run.