OK, now I'm worried (in regards to AST buffs)

[Exiled_Tonberry]

When AST was buffed majorly, we were told that SE purposely overbuffed the job to get people playing it. And it worked.

But this left the impression that this was a temporary Band-Aid fix for the problem, not a solution.
In the recent interview, Yoshi said he thinks healers are fine where they are now.....So does this mean AST buffs are here to stay? Because AST buffs single handedly destroyed WHM and ran it out of the raiding scene, which is not "fine".

Are we seriously going to see 20% balance staying where it is?

[Connor]

It seems to me that they're going to continue with the philosophy of "buff not nerf".
Rather than lowering the effect of Astrologian's buffs, it's more likely that they'll simply give White Mage tools that make it equally as desirable.
That said, the devs seem to be of the opinion that Astrologian and White Mage are now equal. Or at least that all healer combinations are viable. I haven't seen much to suggest that White Mage is no longer viable (though it doesn't seem to be optimal).

[FeliAiko]

All he said (according to the translation at least) is that the changes made the 3 healers more viable (which it did, but then that was already the case during Midas; it was just sub-optimal to have AST-WHM pairings if you wanted faster clears), but that it doesn't mean changes to all 3 healers aren't going to be done in 4.0. Viable is not the same as saying they're all balanced.

[Risvertasashi]

Viable is not the same as saying they're all balanced.

A lot of people seem to be making this mistake. Translations said viable, not balanced.

But they also said (elsehwere) SCH and WAR were going to be reigned in, and later that healers are still going to get a balance pass.

I mean technically all jobs are viable. PLD can clear all raid content. MNK can clear all raid content. And finally, WHM can clear all raid content. That doesn't mean they're in a great spot, though. And as far as we know, Yoshi/dev team hasn't said they're in a good spot either.

[KDSilver]

Balance 20% isn't used that much you know.

10% on the whole party is better actually.
And everyone like it.

"Because AST buffs single handedly destroyed WHM and ran it out of the raiding scene, which is not "fine"."
=> I'd say that it's good. Astrologian were so badly design at the beginning of heavensward that he has been left aside until 3.4 raiding scene.

White Mage was here since A Realm Reborn.
So it's good to see Ast was finally a good viable healer.

White Mage still is a good healer and strong healer. He'll probably get some unique buff in Stormblood.

[Risvertasashi]

He'll probably get some unique buff in Stormblood.

Well, this is what our hope for the new "role shared action" system is, but SE seems to be moving in a direction away from unique buffs. The only example we have so far is tanks (Rampart and Shadowskin becoming one skill), although the first time it came up was in the context of asking about what kind of utility SAM and RDM would get. SE has been vague, but I think we can count on seeing at least a few job/class specific actions moved there which will hopefully level the playing field between all healers.

Hopefully... :/

SE has said that the number of actions total will stay the same. So there won't be anything totally new, except by replacing something else.

[KDSilver]

White Mage doesn't have a lot of skill compare to a Scholar for example because of cross-skill he shares with other (protect, stoneskin)
Stoneskin II can only be used before the pull, protect is only used at pull too or if someones dies...
Sleep is not that much useful in PvE content, only on PvP (can only be used in dungeons).

That could be 3 skills replaced by something else.
If we look back in Final Fantasy series, White Mage could have things like Haste, Reraise/Auto-Life, Slow,NullElements, Reflect... and so on.
So there's some skill they could pick from these.

[Yuyuka3]

Balance 20% isn't used that much you know.

10% on the whole party is better actually.
And everyone like it.

"Because AST buffs single handedly destroyed WHM and ran it out of the raiding scene, which is not "fine"."
=> I'd say that it's good. Astrologian were so badly design at the beginning of heavensward that he has been left aside until 3.4 raiding scene.

White Mage was here since A Realm Reborn.
So it's good to see Ast was finally a good viable healer.

White Mage still is a good healer and strong healer. He'll probably get some unique buff in Stormblood.

I'm sorry... I kinda fail to see how it is 'good' that now instead of AST another class is left in the dust. Wouldn't it be better if all classes would be used, instead of 2/3? For varities sake alone, if nothing else? I, at least, think so.

[KDSilver]

I'm sure you understood well how "good" it is.

Of course, it would be better if all classes could be used. But the fact that Astrologian have been left aside because it was poorly designed and finally get his hour, even if that means making little sacrifices, it's great to see it happened at least one day.

But, let's all be honest about this.
All healer will never be totally balance so that, in the raiding scene, there'll be as much astrologian as white mage.
It depends on the tier mecanics and difficulty. If the damages are really heavy (and the need of stronger HoT and Cure III) white mage could come back.
There's always a "best group composition" in any case, and same goes for melee dps, tanks...

[Blonde_Huntress]

I think WHM just needs some tools to make it stand out--give it something only it can have. AST has their cards, SCH has their fairy power.

Give WHM the likes of Auto-Life, Bubble, Reflect, slightly expand Cure III range, etc. Healing power is fine, but more options for support in particular would be ideal. AoE is covered with Holy, and I feel Stone/Aero is good for CS DPS support (perhaps add in a new Water based attack).

Give AST a new card or two to toy with (and perhaps some more time magic based actions).

Give SCH an additional fairy/summon.

Just my two cents. Carry on. ;D