Quote Originally Posted by Eecka View Post
Because that would flat out make AST better than WHM or SCH. Not better in the sense that in a single individual encounter they'll do better, but in the sense that they can then cherrypick whichever type of healing suits the encounter they're at, while SCH is then locked into just 50% of what AST can do. If I ran a hardcore static, in that situation I would always prefer an AST over anything else. Why take a SCH, if AST gives same party buff, has 100% equal "preventative healing" and can switch to "health healing" if the encounter calls for it?
Well right now statics will always prefer something else over an AST because they offer nothing the other healers don't already do better.

I never said AST should be able to do everything WHM and SCH can do. I just said their healing output should be equivalent in the correct stance. As it is now ASTs are simply weak healers because a SCH or WHM has a higher output no matter what. As long as they output weaker heals/shields than a WHM or SCH they will always be unpopular.

If AST could match the actual output of WHM and SCH then you would see parties choosing healers based on their utilities, emergency cooldowns, etc. The AST wouldn't be likely to cherrypick their stance per encounter either since generally they would use the stance that replaces whichever other healer is missing.

Your example using DPS jobs is not a good comparison because within that example the current AST is player B in i100 gear, at which point player A will do more damage in any fight regardless.