My AST is so weak, why?

[Velox]

It's probably the tank's fault.

I just had a DRK in Fractal that didn't once click a single defensive cooldown no matter how big the pull. I had to stop helping with DPS and just use every cooldown I had to keep him alive. I asked him why and his response was "I'm just too lazy to use them."

You also have to remember that DRK is the new DRG. The edge-lord job that attracts to it every single type of worse player you can think of who attempt to act like it's some kind of glorified DPS (because they secretly want it to be) and don't learn a thing about how to tank probably during their entire trip from level 30 to level 60.

[Werhusky]

It's a drk thing. omg when I enter a dungeon and I see a drk tanking I want to leave, even at 55 where I am now. But I tend to struggle thru.

idk what it is about drks, I hear the abilities are really situational, but about 99% of them I encounter via df take incredible damage, cannot hold hate on more than a couple mobs and are just all around bad.

To make your life a little easier, work on timing so your able to get stoneskin up as the last mob drops so there is no pause between pulls and then get your nocturne shields up on him before he does the next pull, that gives you a little time to get cards running or other things if needed and it allows the tank to get sufficient hate before the cure bombs roll in.

The heals themselves are not bad by any means. Just keep your gear on par and you should be good.

Its because people consider it a cool tank but don't know how to use/time cds, dont have any intend to listen when you say at start "btw I lag" (which defo is for me a don't be a prick do smaller pulls) and still pull 3 packs at once.
I admit I leveled white mage with a friend who did dark knight. I am a horrible white mage that to be said and till about level 55 we tried to minimize the amount of him dieing during the runs (I derp and lag a lot ^^) and then we did Vault... considered one of the most heal intense dungeons and I had suddenly no issues to keep him up. He himself said on the runs he did alone he noticed him to be less squishy (weird as u dont get new defensive abilities).
I wouldnt worry about a fail because AST is a great healer just a bit unbalanced on level 50. Keep going figure it out and enjoy yourself

[Asheilin]

When 3.0 launched I started as AST, did fine until Ravana Story, I knew they'd change things by 3.1 and figured I'd just wait to continue it. After I got a dps to 60 (of which I regret leveling first) I went back to Ast, pre buff. I leveled with my Fiancee who was running Drk. We recently hit 60.

Things to note from that experience. Party Comp is important; your DV run is a red flag with 2 brds even a brd/mch would be slightly better. Until 60, Drk /has/ to keep up with current gear 99% more then either of the other tanks; if their Left side is more then 2lvl below, you're going to see a marked difference for healing them. Dont be afraid to use both Aspected on the tank; even if he's not too low yet.

Key for if its new content, watch 2 different videos for it. This will give you a better idea for Healing Problems in the dungeons.
There are Healer Checks in the dungeons. Be prepared for it. Even suggest holding a Bole, if you've had problems on earlier bosses.

[Ghishlain]

I just looked at your loadstone, Czar D'luffy. Is your weapon updated? It's currently showing an i43 Weapon which is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too low for Dusk Vigil if your lodestone profile is true. If you need a quick upgrade, purchase a vendor one that's i110 in Ishgard. That should be more than sufficient to heal through Dusk Vigil.

That would be your main issue, though it could be compounded if the tank wasn't playing properly too.

Get a new weapon, and try again and you should see dramatically different results.

[Ashelia_Ferron]

Go cast Benefic on yourself. If you're not healing 1400-1500 then your gear isn't good enough and judging by the previous post, your weapon needs updating.

[Jamillion]

Regardless of which class you play, the weapon is the absolute most important thing, hell, you can't even change classes without changing the weapon.

[NorthernLadMSP]

Oh wow, yes. Go to the AST guild and the NPC by the door sells an i115 globe. That will make a huge difference.

[Violin]

Upgrade your weapon. il43 weapon isnt going to help you in any dungeon as a lv51.

DRK tanks aren't the greatest around that level. I find that since they start at lv30 that there is a huge learning curve compared to PLD or WAR who leveled from the beginning before they can get into the flow of things. This generally is only true of people getting into tanking for the first time and dont have any other 50+ tanks.

Having double BRD wasn't going to help you at all either.

[PogueX]

I figured out the problem, i had Benefic I in my hotbar rather then Benefic II, but also that DRK tank was horrible. Just got done with a dungeon healing a WAR and it did fine with my AST

I still kind of like SCH better for the group buffs. And yes i need a new planisphere, problem is that most of whats on market board is trash.

[NorthernLadMSP]

Go see the female NPC at the AST guild. You can buy a relatively cheap i115 globe.