About AST and why their healing is weaker

[Roxas_Andrade]

I was here, thinking...
Collective Unconscious could work like AST's personal Assize Bubble...
Independent of the sect, you should create a bubble(slightly bigger than the one we have now) and everyone inside the bubble should Regen for 200 potency and it should cause damage for 200 potency on enemies. Scarecrow-Syndrome would still be there, though.
I know that 200pot damage seems too much, but we have to consider that AST wouldn't be in Cleric Stance in the most cases. For the cases they are in Cleric Stance (easy content or dps checks), 200pot is just what AST would need to shine, since AoE Damage isn't AST's strong side.

What do you guys think?

[Vlady]

I was here, thinking...
Collective Unconscious could work like AST's personal Assize Bubble...
Independent of the sect, you should create a bubble(slightly bigger than the one we have now) and everyone inside the bubble should Regen for 200 potency and it should cause damage for 200 potency on enemies. Scarecrow-Syndrome would still be there, though.
I know that 200pot damage seems too much, but we have to consider that AST wouldn't be in Cleric Stance in the most cases. For the cases they are in Cleric Stance (easy content or dps checks), 200pot is just what AST would need to shine, since AoE Damage isn't AST's strong side.

What do you guys think?

The issue is the moment you have to move you blow a cooldown. Minus A1 missles (which you gotta dodge the first 8 missles before you can actually use it in savage) it is not remotely useful. It is a risk to pop it out when it is better to get an aspected helios going then have a precasted helios about to land the moment the aoe hits.

[Roxas_Andrade]

The issue is the moment you have to move you blow a cooldown. Minus A1 missles (which you gotta dodge the first 8 missles before you can actually use it in savage) it is not remotely useful. It is a risk to pop it out when it is better to get an aspected helios going then have a precasted helios about to land the moment the aoe hits.

Well, you just showed a situation where this new CU wouldn't be optimal and a solution to the situation. But the CU we have now isn't optimal for the same situation either. I'm just suggesting a better CU.

I also thought for it to burn MP while it's turned on and you wouldn't be allowed to move or use skills until you turn it off, like a song-that-turns-you-into-a-statue-LOL. This way you wouldn't worry about burning a cooldown, but I also thought it would be too OP, and that people would use it and go afk... also if you used it to it's fullest, you would finish it without mp for a single benefic.... not good.

[Ghishlain]

I was here, thinking...
Collective Unconscious could work like AST's personal Assize Bubble...
Independent of the sect, you should create a bubble(slightly bigger than the one we have now) and everyone inside the bubble should Regen for 200 potency and it should cause damage for 200 potency on enemies. Scarecrow-Syndrome would still be there, though.
I know that 200pot damage seems too much, but we have to consider that AST wouldn't be in Cleric Stance in the most cases. For the cases they are in Cleric Stance (easy content or dps checks), 200pot is just what AST would need to shine, since AoE Damage isn't AST's strong side.

What do you guys think?

While I do find the idea as a whole neat, it sadly doesn't help solve the issue about AST healing power. Again though, I do like the thought of it.

[Volsung]

Hi Ghishlain, I've been reading a lot of these posts lately on ast, and have even tossed out some random ideas before.
Its interesting seeing that potencies are near equal with stance buffs, but for some reason ast still comes out behind
when parsed. I think this goes to speak volumes about possible issues. While I don't have a problem with low potency
cures, there does need to be additional abilities to make up for it.

I am with the same mind of Richard, that as a healer, within a trinity system, your first job should be to keep the party
alive almost equally when compared with other healers in the role. This is not to say that I think for every healing ability
/CD that WHM has AST should also get, that would just be silly. However, when both other healers go on to learn additional
healing abilities 50+ and AST only gets CU, its not a great thing.

I do think single target heals are almost where they should be, perhaps a rework to enhanced benefic could aid to this. The
large area in need of help imho is in aoe situations, where a lot of healing is needed to take place. MP costs are also a weird
story. Aspected benefic does less than regen but costs more, does less than adloq, but costs less. That is hard for me to
reconcile. Since AST seems to be heading in the way of a buffer healer, I would like to enhance that and make it mean something
or be unique. Here is a list of everything I personally think would help the job.

Benefic trait -> changed to reset timer of ED
While instant cast benefic 2 is great, it does nothing for mp this would
help cast time and mp issues.

remove gravity, make malefic 1 stronger, and make malefic 2 aoe. This sound like something
bad at first, but would put us in a similar spot to fire 1/2. We would be losing gravity, but
gaining a slot for a useful healing/buff ability. As a buffer healer, our goal shouldnt be amazing
damage in the first place.

Instead of gravity, we would receive a new aoe buff ability(no mp), ogcd. This would help us like assize
or emergency tactics. The aoe buff would do a medium cure and put a new effect on players- Astral Field.
This would be a regen AND a shield. it would either wear off when whichever happens first, it reaches all
tics, or soaks damage, does stack with nocturnal field. (on second thought stack is not necessary as this is ogcd)

As for CU, I propose changing the effect to when players enter the bubble, they are given the spell bubble
max hp boost and heal, like thrill of battle. On top of that either a random card effect, or a new card effect
only available with CU (det + anyone?). Bubble and effect only received if you enter the bubble. effect could last
20-30 seconds. That way the AST could move stopping the ability, but you would still have buff momentarily.

As for cards, I don't personally need the effects enhanced, or changed, or draw made on a lower cool down. But
I would suggest the duration be increased for all cards. My reasoning behind this is that it would be more rewarding
for playing well. You would have to live with the choices you make. If draw recast time were lowered, you could mess
up more but you would have more actions to average out your playing.

Last suggestion, is just a small amount of mp restored on drawing cards. Nothing Humongous.

I see these suggestions as a way to solidify AST's use in a party as a healer buffer, while also making some quality
of life changes and furthering the usefulness of card buffs. I am not entirely sure how to make nocturnal sect
more appealing. Perhaps if I gave it some time and thought over it. current issues, does not stack with other
shields the way regen stacks, extending duration of shield does not increase amound absorbed, but extended regen
always cures more.

I'll go on to add that I am a 60 SCH. And find using it to heal easier.

[Judge_Xero]

This seems like a good thread to post in, as I don't want to start a whole new thread.

I like to examine the class skills to see how they could possibly work, but one thing about AST is that there doesn't seem to be any synergy between it's skills and how the class works within itself. (sure there are basic heals etc, but nothing really to set it apart from the other classes (Aldo Crit, SS etc) So I started to compare, how the class synergy would work with the skills of the other healers.

One of the issues OP mentioned is that although AST potencies match up with the Sect buffs, it is lacking overall compared to the other healers. So is AST meant to buff it's partner healer to compensate?

So question
1: Is AST able to buff it's healer partner enough to make up for it's lower healing potential. (either through the Arrow, the Balance (does it effect healing?) or the Ewer)
2: For Royal Road use - Is Spread (Holding the card you want to use during Royal Road) + Draw + Shuffle not enough to end up with the effect you want? 1/3 Odds with only two card swapping skills before having to wait 15s for Draw again
3: If AST can boost it's partner healer by enough to outweigh their weaknesses as a healer, would better DPS utility + the Card buffs be enough?

[Vlady]

Of course it doesn't have synergy.the job is disabled from swapping sects between battle. It is suppose to have synergy between whichever healing partner you are with.

The job doesn't need to buff the healing strength puff the other healer. The healing strength overall fire the job is not the issue.