AST : some people say...

[Rakith]

...that AST are much less effective at healing than WHM and at protecting than SCH...
Lack of mana, lack of healing power, lack of DPS strengh and possibilities compared with the other 2.
I've just begun testing AST, i'm lvl 42 and I love it, but will I be considered useless in raids or dungeons due to my lack of value in comparison to my other fellow healers ?

Please, I need opinion and advice from AST experts.
thanks

[Elysaine]

Well I'm not into raids but I have no problems healing stuff all the way up to level 60 dungeons. Not more or less then White Mages or Scholars. Mana is usually not an issue. Healing power wise we're only slightly weaker compared to WHM or SCH. But not that far behind to make healing impossible to do. DPS wise, well yeah, that could be slightly better in my opinion.

So go ahead and play the AST. You can do just as well as the other 2 healer classes

[Rakith]

thanks Elysaine !! Love U ;-)

[Yawnie]

Well firstly its not less effective. It simply doesn't have as many 'oh shit' cooldowns as WHM or SCH. AST simply requires a bit more skill to play effectively.

DPS wise it is a bit lackluster compared to the other two. WHM is a bit more burst-y and SCH has the best sustained DPS.

MP is literally no problem for an AST with the most recent buff. Currently it has IMO the best MP management out of the 3. I often have a bit more trouble managing MP on WHM than I do on AST though that might just be me.

Raids shouldn't turn you down, AST have shown they can down savage, especially now with all the buffs they received. You might encounter some who don't want them but IMHO I feel like those are the people who are stuck on 3.0 ASTs which were released veerrryyy underpowered. AST is in a very good place right now, so I think you're good. Just try your best to learn the job as well as you can :>

[Nekotee]

Let me guess those lies come from scared WHM right ?

Diurnal AST is on par with the whm clearly, and if played well beyond the whm
Nocturnal AST is kinda under the sch due to sch powerful critadlo and the fairy support

Lack of mana, big lie ! AST is as good as SCH in mana management and if many ewer the AST is unlimited !
Lack of healing power, same big lie... potency has been up to be on par with the other + diurnal AST is faster to cast which make him very useful in quick reaction situation
Lack of dps... ok this one is somewhat true because AST do not have a huge dps toolbox, but cards can make up for that because it boost the group
(If an AST Does 200 DPS less than a sch, he can provide balance on the group which make up for the 200 difference)

In my opinion AST is a very good raid element that replace very well those broken whm and associate wonderfully with SCH
Double AST is also working fine thank to the versatility of the job

[Orlen]

I have only been playing for a few months now. But my goal had always been (since picking a copy of ffxiv) to play the AST.

From playing it up to Ravana- I have only lamented the lack of dps-utility in the kit compared to SCH, but found it comparable to the Conj (as i dont have WHM-yet).

The versitiliy of the DivineDeck-cards system is what drew me to it. A good AST can adapt to situation. A noct-helios + AoE bowl is satsfying to pull off before a ShivaEx diamond dust.

I think it allcomes down to the play stule you find the most ease/comfort and fluidity playing.

[Rakith]

thanks for your very positive answers that cheered me up quite a lot !!
I will not give up (and did not intend to ...) but now I have arguments for those who dare despise the job.
I've been main WHM until 3.1, then MCH and now that I discovered AST, I cannot wait to use it at its full potential.

[DarkmoonVael]

So AST in raids is a perfectly capable healer. In Diurnal stance it has the throughput needed for the main healer. It has less mana issues than WHM due to higher mana return, lower costs on spells and a cooldown that reduces spell costs further. Where it diverges from WHM is one single target emergency cooldown rather than two (essential dignity vs benediction and tetragrammaton). AST has more interaction between its cooldowns, meaning the better AST's out there can slightly manipulate their cooldowns more to get better returns from them. In terms of assylum vs collective unconsiousness, assylum is far easier to use, but CU when used properly does more. The ability of the AST to contribute to raid dps via personal dps+card buffs should be greater than WHM personal dps alone.

In regards to SCH, the issue is more to do with the fairy the SCH comes with as well. In terms of shields, Nocturnal Aspected Benefic has a higher shield vs non-crit adlo, instant cast vs adlo and cheaper vs adlo. It can not be deployed however. Nocturnal Aspected Helios is cheaper and more powerful than succor. SCH sustained and aoe dps in raids is higher than N.AST. A N.AST will also struggle with mana trying to get the same amount of dps, mitigation and healing that a SCH can do. Nocturnal AST still needs some work, its not bad, its just that SCH really is too good. The fairy outputs a huge amount of HPS for the SCH that an AST is incapable of mimicking.

In terms of AST cooldowns, synastry is very very very powerful. It is more situational than Divine Seal and Fey Illumination, but is fantastically powerful. AST has less movement restrictions than WHM (and arguably SCH) with another swiftcast-esque native cooldown which lasts for 10 secs.

In terms of skill vs other two healers, AST requires some knowledge of other classes to utilise its buffs optimally. The healing style of D.AST vs WHM puts the skill level needed for AST higher than WHM.

[Saseal]

I have no problem healing things in raids. Granted, I don't do savage stuff, but when shit hits the fan and the other healer goes down, I can do fairly well on my own, thanks to AST utilities. I do run out of mp faster than my FC WHM co-healer *shakes fist at Assize.... and at bad ewer RNG* - especially when in Noct due to plenty of pre-shielding in some content (Seph EX, etc). (<3 you, Lightspeed).

I used to main WHM for a long time - now I main AST. I generally don't feel handicapped in comparison (only when AST had first came out, pre-buffs).
I don't feel as powerful in DPSing, with no Holy and Gravity's range relegated to surrounding target (rather than your self), but that's fine, for me - in raid scenarios, I tend to turn my attention to healing the party and alliances (if in a 24-man.... if not, I'm drawing cards or conserving mp) than I am to DPSing (Only when there's a definite lull in damage, like the stone tablet when the middle shield is active, and there's no outgoing damage going on).
I'm still pretty aggressive in 4-man dungeons, though. It's no Holy, but the DPS on AST isn't at all bad.

I like the added bonus of the insta heal of aspected benefic. If there is a need to not stop moving, and I need to get a person atleast a bit of hp to maybe survive something, theres the bonus of some HP + a regen to help while moving, or a shield in case they do get whacked by something. It won't save them from something hard hitting if their HP is that low, but I've saved people that way, by the skin of the teeth. I also like to use it to top off a tank when consecutive hard hitting tank busters are incoming (*Punches EX Niddhogg for the hurts*)
IE: Precast-benefic II *Tank Buster*, Benefic II + Aspected benefic *Tank buster*

[GeekMatt]

AST is fantastic and can perform exceptionally well as a raids primary healer while buffing the party, and it absolutely competes with WHM (I prefer AST of the two). The MP management is through the roof (which is a major part of raid healing) and our potencies and utility are solid. Anything negative you hear about AST is likely leftover from before all the buffs it recieved because it was intentionally released as a really weak healer.

Nocturnal stance is strong, but it is not a competitor for SCH because SCH is a completely different role, excelling in DPS and offering a totally different set of utility. However, Diurnal is and will likely continue to be the #1 stance 99% of the time because if both stances are viable then it only stands to reason that you want to pick the more MP-efficient stance that offers more DPS.