Do AST really need this Buff?

[Ayer2015]

It's because they're a a freaking HYBRID JOB. It's supposed to be lower. It should NEVER replace a WHM. Nor come close to repalcing a SCH. with their Card system, it shouldn't be anywhere near powerful like a WHM or a SCH is. A hybrid job, is a hybrid for a reason.

I was one of the few people that felt AST was fine to play in 3.0. That said I remember all the complaint threads about MP issues and healing potency very clearly.
My position has been and will remain that AST should not have either regen or shields, but rather direct heals only plus the card system.

[VraeliaValkyria]

I was one of the few people that felt AST was fine to play in 3.0. That said I remember all the complaint threads about MP issues and healing potency very clearly.
My position has been and will remain that AST should not have either regen or shields, but rather direct heals only plus the card system.

Sounds legit. From this, I agree. For AST not to tread on other healer's jobs and all.

[LegoTechnic]

I was one of the few people that felt AST was fine to play in 3.0. That said I remember all the complaint threads about MP issues and healing potency very clearly.
My position has been and will remain that AST should not have either regen or shields, but rather direct heals only plus the card system.

It makes a lot of sense now, but the issue when the AST was first implemented was that the regens + shields was the base meta, and RNG damage buffs on their own aren't enough to entice a healer to choose a class without actual healing utility, especially when it plays like a WHM with an inability to have heals ticking while in cleric stance. Ideally I think they should have had either a new mechanic or a costly hybrid version similar to SCH's having Whispering Dawn, but a new mechanic may have been beyond the dev's creativity at that point in time.

Honestly I can't see having an AST as a straight healer with cards being effective unless the RNG was completely removed from the card draw mechanic to compensate, but that goes against the Yugi-Oh inspiration of the Draw mechanic. Thus the problem is figuring out what they could do that would be as viable as regens or shields without making their additional card benefits too OP, and the answer they come up with is "just let them do both".