Done with AST

[YuiSasaki]

The absolute best thing an AST could do for support was hit every dps and tank with an expanded balance or arrow, and that was just nerfed into oblivion. Therefore, i have no problem saying that AST got even worse in 3.05 and there's no point in being one when WHM and SCH exist.

Please tell me how expanded balance/arrow got nurfed.

[Vlady]

That 145 page you speak off was before the astro buffs and savage mode Alexander.

[AlexanderThorolund]

Every Astrologian who quits becomes another star in the sky...

R.I.P

[Aurum]

That 145 page you speak off was before the astro buffs and savage mode Alexander.

I'd like to point out that they were only on page 85 as of 7/23, which is the day they buffed astro. As of the time of my writing this, they're on page 157. That's 72 pages of replies since the buff itself.

I'd also like to point out that the next closest thread page count wise only goes to 60 pages. The japanese players are easily as vocal about how they feel about ast as we are. Now, I don't read Japanese, so I can't speak for the content of the posts, but I doubt that those 157 pages of posts are calling for nerfs.

[VitalSuit]

Spire and Ewer - both completely and utterly useless before - are now just slightly less useless and still nothing but RR targets. Spear is still about 1/30th as useful as arrow, and it's still just a RR target. The only true buff we received was the lower shuffle recast, but that still doesn't solve the major issue of shuffling spire into spire, and it certainly doesn't make up for the spread nerf.

The absolute best thing an AST could do for support was hit every dps and tank with an expanded balance or arrow, and that was just nerfed into oblivion. Therefore, i have no problem saying that AST got even worse in 3.05 and there's no point in being one when WHM and SCH exist.

Soooo do you even play AST or are you just talking out of your ass? What spread nerf? Spread was changed and is now even more useful. What nerf to expanded balance and arrow? They weren't nerfed, they weren't even changed.

[technole]

AST isn't for inexperienced healers due to it's low potency and dependency on mp management (as a duo those two factors make life especially hard when you aren't managing). Also the cards require you to understand how the party works.

That is pretty much the truth. An already inexperienced healer will struggle with AST, and if they don't know how other jobs work that well they won't be providing the right card utility to the group either. If you were already good with MP management with WHM/SCH, you pretty much know when you have to use Aether on cooldown, and to make full use of lightspeed if the situation calls for speedy heals versus other cooldowns you were used to like Divine Seal, Emergency Tactics, etc.

Granted, I don't feel we can DPS so much with the job compared to the other two unless we get some Ewer support, which of course is based on RNG but we do have that utility as well. I like the job when RNG lines up with the stars, like it is a beauty to see that balance on a SMN in dreadwyrm trance ready to explode some big damage. The lower potency isn't really the issue though (being well-geared helps this situation of course). It's more along the lines of tighter MP management.

[chumsy]

Problem with Nocturnal is it just doesn't do enough. In Diurnal 2 ticks of the HoT surpasses the shield and when the tank's getting his face pummeled and you're spamming Benefic II (which is BAD but we have little choice or he's on the floor) you need all the throughput you can get. Lightspeed is ok now that it doesn't gimp healing but it doesn't make you heal faster, as much as the name suggest's it would. My heal's will come out faster but with a 2.5s recast time still present I'm really not doing any more HPS then I would just casting, I'm just getting the heal out first then paying the "cast time" by waiting for the recast to finish. Makes me sad D:

It does however give us mobility, which is great, if lightspeed took off recast time it would be OP. Imagine spamming heals as fast as you could press the button, essentially making you go OOM quick too. I think its fine now. Nocturnal on the other hand is really bad compared to Diurnal. succor shielding was already weak, now imagine a weaker version of succor. Aspect benefic is 100 potency weaker than adlo, makes it ineffective as a heal, it may be 700 mp cheaper and instant cast, but that doesnt really help much when the tank takes a huge hit. you already lose the benefit of crit that adlo has and on top of that make it a lot weaker. tweaked to 150 potency should would be a huge difference.

[technole]

It does however give us mobility, which is great, if lightspeed took off recast time it would be OP. Imagine spamming heals as fast as you could press the button, essentially making you go OOM quick too. I think its fine now.

Yeah, I feel lightspeed is quite acceptable now. There isn't much more they can add to the skill without making it OP. The job's healing forte isn't potency but speedy recovery.

[Geardagas]

I'm sorry, English is not my first language so I guess I explained it wrong? I was talking about how expanded royal road cuts your card in half. I guess I'm using nerf wrong lol. That's what I meant by spread nerf, too - not spread the ability but how spreading your buff nerfs the buff. Oh well, I'm a bard anyway lol.

[Parawill]

I'm sorry, English is not my first language so I guess I explained it wrong? I was talking about how expanded royal road cuts your card in half. I guess I'm using nerf wrong lol. That's what I meant by spread nerf, too - not spread the ability but how spreading your buff nerfs the buff. Oh well, I'm a bard anyway lol.

Just for clarification for what he means is by Royal Roading an Ewer or Spire for an Expanded RR results in an AoE buff, but a "nerfed" version of the buff (50% effectiveness for AoE tradeoff).