3.1 : Astrologian "adjustments''

[HopeEstheim]

So, apparently, according to the live letter, 3.1 will bring some modifications to the astrologian, as well as bard, ninja and paladin.
Any thoughts about this? Maybe there will be changes to Noct sect or the spear, but what do you think about it?

[Yawnie]

I'm reeeaaally hoping they change the spear. It's a bit TOO situational. Trying to draw it when you really need it is a pain :c

[Kietsu]

I'm reeeaaally hoping they change the spear. It's a bit TOO situational. Trying to draw it when you really need it is a pain :c

From the start, there have been many people wanting Spear to reduce the remaining time on abilities that are on cooldown - I think it's a solid idea, myself.
I'm almost worried they're planning on nerfing Synastry, as it's a buff so powerful most people figured it was bugged until they fixed the tooltip.

[Yawnie]

I hope they don't touch synastry. It's like one of the astrologians few emergency skills.

[HopeEstheim]

I hope they don't touch synastry. It's like one of the astrologians few emergency skills.

This.

I hope there won't be any nerfs to the ''actual'' astrologian due to those news ''adjustments''. That would be stupid but who knows

[Selvokaz]

I didn't want to scroll through +11 pages to find a single answer, so please help me out, did the update make Astrologians more playable, are they on par with Scholars now in terms of versatility?

[KarstenS]

Looking at some A3S experiences (not my thoughts how it could be. These are first hand experiences how it is) as AST: randomly drawn cards are useless.

Reduced cooldowns. Nearly every cooldown is used in a fixed rotation along the encounter mechanics. Spear reduce the the cooldown time. But it will not be used earlier than without the spear.

Skill speed. For a BLM its ok, most of the time. But he get in trouble when fire and ice are planned along some events. For a summoner its not really useful. But the other classes get in serious trouble, because they are running out of TP. Like before with the fixed cooldown rotation, TP regenration also happens on fixed parts of a fight.

Defesive buff sounds nice. But since its random, you have to be albe to survive without it. Result: you are already surviving without it and there is no benefit by it.

Increased damage. There were fights I got not a single balance from pull till kill. So you always have to play like you will never see a balance. Balance would be a nice buff for strict DPS checks, if it would be possible to haven them always ready at this moment.

TP reg. TP managment is strictly planned from pull till kill. Randomly TP reg buffs are no help at all.

MP reg. Only useful after recovering mistakes. Beside this, its like TP reg before. Shrout/Lightaether/ballad and so on are running at fixed points of a fight. No need for MP reg card.

Outside of savage like content cards are funny. But as long as they are random, they are crap in contents like savage, because everyone MUST play like they would be not there. When everyone has to play like they were not there, than there is no need at all for them the way they are working at moment.

[Muahbec]

THIS. THIS. AND THIS!.

Yes, everything you said is just... ON POINT.
I still dream of playing with a TRUE buffer in FFXIV
(y'know just like synergist from FFXIII for example with spells/skills like Faith, Bravery, Haste, Vigilance, enfire, enfrost, enthunder, enwater, veil etc.)
I thought AST would work similar to them (oh i want to buff that guy's defense *click the bole icon* done.)
but what i got was.....
Random
unreliable
weak buffs
skill copies
I love the job, i love the theme, but its just underwhelming....

[Sleigh]

AST definitely needs a little more help, most high-end groups aren't a fan of RNG buffs and (slightly) weaker heals for progression. Hoping for 20y Aspected Helios and the ability to Shuffle every single time your Draw, possibly even being able to Shuffle infinitely with a 2s CD because there is nothing worse than getting Spire > Spire when the majority of fights don't need Spire, or one Spire won't actually fix the group's TP issues and the BRD/MCH has to play TP restorations anyway.

Basically, I think the support aspect should be far less RNG. Even if you drew Balance every. single. card, it wouldn't even be OP.

[Kerrigen]

This and AST + WHM isn't as good as it should be in high-end raids.

Most JP conversations regarding AST that I've read are focusing on the RNG driven buffs and Nocturnal Sect so my guess is this is probably where it's heading.