AST Gear BiS

[Cynfael]

but to me I think spell speed is godly especially with how it affects HoT now. The arrow is amazing if you have to solo heal a lot as it allows you to confidently spam benefic to proc benefic II, which is an insta cast benefic II. For BLM, 0.0001s might not make a difference but when it comes to healing every fraction of a second matters because that fraction of a second could mean the difference between a dead tank and a live one. For WHM and AST, my secondary stat priority is SSPD, PIE, DET, CRIT.

For BLM those tiny fractions of seconds make a difference precisely because their main objective is to chain cast uninterrupted for as long as possible.

For healers you are looking at predictable sources of damage and a toolbox that already provides for fast patching of screw ups (provided that they occur at a reasonable frequency). Also, Benefic II proc is one of the worst out there for being A) RNG and B) neither free to cast nor oGCD.

[Raminax]

Spell Speed ain't even all that good for HoTs or DoTs if Dervyi's theorycrafting is to be believed.

Then again, Squeenix never said they'd make Spell Speed godly, just that they'd buff it. And now it's somewhat more impressive, but still rather unimpressive.

So, if you insist on stacking spell speed for whatever reason, don't do it for the sake of making your HoTs better. Do it for the reduced cast times and the faster global cooldown, because the other secondaries will give you a better improvement to your HoTs for lesser amounts required. And even then, with how the damage flow works in XIV, Spell Speed is still a rather unimpressive choice, all things considered.

[KarstenS]

The only 1% left are the savage raids

This is the onliest content in the game, for which you have to think about BiS gear. For every content else, you can use, what you get.

Over the average endgame raid period of 8 minutes 30 seconds, 0 spell speed will net you 204 spells disregarding oGCDs and the like. Prioritizing spell speed gives you 219. Spell Speed is good

No, its not, because the damage incomming is fully scriptet and fix (except in PvP). All you need to know is what to heal and when you do that. There is no benefit you gain from SS over other stats.

In all raids we had till now, I never had healing issues because of lacking SS.

Actually AST casttimes are out of the box still shorter than heals of the other 2 jobs. So SS will be there much more a waste of points.

To each his own I guess, but to me I think spell speed is godly especially with how it affects HoT now.

DET and CRIT are still more powerful for HoTs.

[Gist]

All you need to know is what to heal and when you do that.

So I learned today that healers don't help their raid team DPS during downtime when the damage is scripted and fixed. Combust + Combust II rotation gives you about 200 dps for 10 seconds without cleric stance (same as Aero as it happens), which nets you about 2000 -reliable- damage versus the same that MIGHT be gotten from having one of those crit. That's also not counting the faster Malefic IIs that you're also throwing out. Spell Speed reduces all of your spell cooldowns, not just your healing.

I was told once that DPSing as a healer is required, and having Spell Speed increases your DPS by about 100 on average (a la caster DPS)~

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

So I learned today that healers don't help their raid team DPS during downtime when the damage is scripted and fixed.

KarstenS never claimed that. Knowing when to heal doesn't mean you don't spend time dealing damage. On the contrary; knowing when to heal allows you to deal damage.

I am still waiting on that 8:30 video of yours where there is no break, no external mp source and whatever conditions I wrote before.

I can already tell you that you'll never find such a video because you'll run out of mp before you get anywhere near the end of the duration before you can even get the spell count benefit out of it.

edit:
Note for moderators: Posting on a mobile application is stupidly tenacious

I was told once that DPSing as a healer is required, and having Spell Speed increases your DPS by about 100 on average (a la caster DPS)~

100 dps increase on average? Let's humour you for a bit and let's assume you indeed get that extra 15 spells out from the original 204 spells. I can't be bothered to do the maths here for you, so let's just use Malefic II flat 200 potency.
204 spells worth of Malefic II equals 40800 potency
219 spells worth of Malefic II equals 43800 potency
That's a 3000 potency increase, or an increase of 7.35%

So unless the astrologian was doing 1360 DPS in the first place, or anywhere near 1000 DPS, no amount of spell speed will generate a DPS increase of 100 with current gear

[Spoekes]

So I learned today that healers don't help their raid team DPS during downtime when the damage is scripted and fixed. Combust + Combust II rotation gives you about 400 dps for 6 seconds (same as Aero as it happens), which nets you about 2400 -reliable- dps versus the same that MIGHT be gotten from having one of those crit. That's also not counting the faster Malefic IIs that you're also throwing out. Spell Speed reduces all of your spell cooldowns, not just your healing.

I was told once that DPSing as a healer is required, and having Spell Speed increases your DPS by about 100 on average (a la caster DPS)~

If you start with a punchline, avoid looking like a fool afterwards.
"2400DPS"... but not per second!

"Having SpSp increases your DPS by about 100 on average", well, again, a very meaningful statement.

[KarstenS]

and having Spell Speed increases your DPS by about 100 on average (a la caster DPS)

I'm in a raid group with 2 BLM for one and a half year now.

One BLM is focussed on SS/DET. The other on Crit/DET.

Their DPS is nearly equal.

Sometimes the one has more. Sometimes the other.

And don't get out of the mind: While a SCH can DPS nearly endless without mana issues, an AST or WHM run out of mana after around 2 minutes straight DPSing (single target). The fight in A1S is around 8 minutes long. You will not chain cast all the time. Beside healing, and maybe DPSing, you will have to manage your mana as good as possible. Ballad should only get used, when there is no other solution.

[GideonHighmourn]

I don't think secondary stats matter enough to really worry too much about at this point, but I'd still much prefer DET/CRIT/PIE than SS on anything; SS is mostly useless, and doesn't actually increase throughput unless you stand still and cast endlessly without interruption. Even in this case, you'd be blowing through MP much faster, whereas having DET/CRIT/PIE would allow you to conserve much more, comparatively.

Also, having SS isn't going to allow you to DPS anymore than you normally would be able to, given that you're familiar enough with the encounter to know when to DPS. It's also not going to increase your DPS by 100 just by stacking it; thinking that is silly. Talking about two DPS spells from AST (Combust & Combust II) and saying that SS is somehow worth prioritizing because of that is hilarious; SS effects DoTs about as much as DET does (if not less), so DET would still be a better stat to stack from a DPS standpoint, since it also increases healing done.

Combust + Combust II rotation gives you about 400 dps for 6 seconds (same as Aero as it happens), which nets you about 2400 -reliable- dps

I don't think you understand how DPS works/what it means, or how much damage Combust + Combust II actually do and how long they last (hint: its a lot more than 6 seconds, and a lot less than 2400DPS). Labeling SS as somehow being the "reliable" way to increase DPS is incorrect; DET would still net you "reliable" DPS from Combust + Combust II, while also increasing all healing done.

My personal preference for stats on AST is: WD > MND >> DET/CRIT > PIE (until comfortable, hard to not have PIE on most healer gear now) >>>> SS

[Gist]

In retrospect, I mistook some terminology, but most of what I wrote still applies, and I have edited my first post to reflect that.

Having more spells go out means more contribution overall in my opinion. While not playing with AST, I've toyed with DET on my WHM, and my DPS in a2 decreased with increased Det vs. decreased Spell Speed by about 150. Some people say "quality over quantity", but in a race against time, I think that being able to push out more spells is overall going to be more effective, given the actual amount that Det boosts your numbers per spell.

[GideonHighmourn]

I think that being able to push out more spells is overall going to be more effective, given the actual amount that Det boosts your numbers per spell.

Except in actual practice, you're never going to be casting more heals than necessary or constantly (and you can only cast so many Malefic IIs due to MP costs), or shouldn't be, as pointed out by other posters. The only time SS is an actual increase is if you constantly cast for the entire fight, without pause, which is never going to actually happen due to MP/mechanic constrictions. The moment you must pause for mechanics, wait for damage that needs to be healed, move due to an AoE, wait for MP, or ask for Ballad, the additional SS loses all of it's effectiveness.

In this case, it's efficiency vs output, essentially; DET/CRIT increases efficiency (by increasing the amount healed given the same MP) and output (by increasing the amount healed) in all situations, whereas SS increases output (only during extended duration and under certain circumstances) and lowers efficiency (by using more casts to achieve the same result vs stacking DET/CRIT).

SS is even less effective during shorter fights compared to DET/CRIT, which maintain effectiveness, regardless of duration of the encounter.

(EDIT: Your numbers for Combust + Combust II DPS/Damage are still off, considerably. Combust lasts 18s and Combust II lasts 30s, and the total damage dealt by the two is considerably more than 2,000. While it's not the point of the discussion, if you don't actually know the numbers/terminology, you shouldn't really cite them.

Also, in reference to casting 219 spells vs 204, in the example you gave, the MP cost alone is nearly 80,000, assuming you only cast Benefic. Do you really think you'll be able to make the full use of 219 Benefics, during any given encounter, especially given the MP cost of casting that many? Or even 204, which is the original number without spell speed, that you cited.

Chances are that you'll never be casting 219 or even 204 GCD spells in a given encounter, so the "additional" spells you're able to cast in a given encounter, due to SS, is pretty much wasted from the beginning, and only applies as a benefit to your on-paper analysis.)