Thread: 3.3 AST adjustments

Originally Posted by Reinha

Quoting this as a response to Darkmoon, because you explain a part of my point quite well.

This is precisely why Lightspeed is a valid burst cooldown. A dangerous amount of raid damage never lasts 6 GCD (correct me if I'm wrong ). Higher AoE healing output over 6 GCD is irrelevant if it's going to be overhealing. I left my image to represent 3 GCD for this reason. It demonstrates how the weakness of SCH (lack of spammable AoE) is never an issue; damage never lasts long enough for it to matter. For this very same reason Lightspeed offers comparable burst healing in raid wide damage situations; the AoE healing demand ends before Lightspeed ends so that when the awkward moment where you wait out a GCD + cast time of the next heal (~5 seconds) happens, it is already safe and all you are losing is maybe a cure on the tank or some dps.

Within a short amount of time (3 GCD or less), AST does clearly lose in comparison to a SCH or WHM if those two use Swiftcast to gain the same advantage as Lightspeed gives. However that leaves the 2 healers with no way to instantly raise someone so it's a bit of a gamble. It also doesn't account for the unique advantage of AST that comes with Lightspeed: mobility (for longer than 1 GCD). A running WHM and SCH are wasting potential GCD heals whereas AST can use them as normal, bridging the gap between their AoE healing capabilities. It's not quite in the topic of burst healing but somewhat related. I think it's supposed to be a trade-of: mobility for a sacrifice in short term burst potential. What I'm not sure about is how many fights truly allow this advantage of AST to be any use.

6GCD was an arbitrary figure used as an example. What matters is that there are oGCD heals going on here as well. AST has no oGCD aoe heals that the other two healers have. 6GCD doesn't reflect reality, it doesnt reflect raids. It is used as a figure to show how oGCD heals effect the healing throughput. Lightspeed doesnt effect healing throughout the same way oGCD heals do. Lightspeed frontloads them. Another arbitrary figure: 20GCD heals. One uses lightspeed, the other doesnt. Both use the same heal. Neither will have any more healing done since Lightspeed frontloads healing, not negate the GCD.

To be honest, what you have bolded have no relevance to the fact that a WHM can medica+assize in one GCD, a SCH can succor(with or without Emergency Tactics)+Indomnibility in one GCD, whilst all an AST can do is Helios in one GCD. Lightspeed does not change the fact that Helio is all that is used in one GCD, all it does is frontload it.