Possible AST nerf

[Daralii]

Lol well the issue with balancing is that the other healers should be where AST is now, especially SCH, WHM needs some minor tweaks on skills But I find it weird that SCH was stepping on healer classes all HW with dps, pretty much the same healing output as a WHM, and OP shields and now its a huge issue because AST is the potent healer this time around which was arguably the worst healer before but party buffs yay :/

But as for nocturnal they could lower the shields a bit but not whole a lot or WHM/AST parties will be kind of dumb like it was before when the shields where out right terrible, But yea nerfing one will not fix any of these issues

I remember how AST was released with worse healing and personal DPS than either of the other two healers because of their group utility. The result was that no one used them and they had to keep being buffed throughout the majority of Heavensward.

[loreleidiangelo]

I remember how AST was released with worse healing and personal DPS than either of the other two healers because of their group utility. The result was that no one used them and they had to keep being buffed throughout the majority of Heavensward.

It's kinda like everyone forgets that Bałance wasn't as good as it is now, that Redraw could give you the same card and was on a two-minute cooldown, and that Spread was on like a three-minute cooldown too!

Can we maybe accept that if AST's AOE Balance had the same power and ease of aquisition that it does now that MAYBE groups would have magically learned to live with the lower healing? Don't get me wrong, Lightspeed and Disable were stupidly ineffectual and I'm glad they got changed. I'm glad Synastry became a throughput buff too. But did ASTs REALLY need the buffed Lumi Aether, the better Soil-Asylum hybrid AND the buffed potencies to their basic heals? Benefic was only 20 potency less than Cure, a 5% healing downgrade. FIVE PERCENT, in a game where healing requirements are already laughably lax. I guarantee that if those few targeted areas had been buffed (card QoL, adding throughput to Synastry, fixing Disable and Lightspeed) that no one would have given a crap about AST's "lower heals".

tl;dr AST's problem at launch wasn't just "weaker healing", it was stupidly punitive abilities like Lightspeed and Disable, and much lower odds of AOEing a Balance than we have now that made it undesirable at launch. Its healing could easily get the bat now and groups would still take it for Balance, even if they took WHM/SCH for initial clears/prog.

[TankHunter678]

I'm glad Synastry became a throughput buff too.

I personally hate that they split Synastry into 2 90 sec cooldowns. So I basically have to burn 2 cooldowns for the same effect back in HW I got with 1 cooldown. Also I liked HW Lightspeed because of Stoneskin. Now I rarely use it unless its for healer checks like Akh Morn.

[loreleidiangelo]

I personally hate that they split Synastry into 2 90 sec cooldowns. So I basically have to burn 2 cooldowns for the same effect back in HW I got with 1 cooldown. Also I liked HW Lightspeed because of Stoneskin. Now I rarely use it unless its for healer checks like Akh Morn.

I'm referring to their 3.0 versions - Synastry was basically the same as it is now in Stormblood (no healing % buff), and Lightspeed during 3.0 also reduced your HEALING magic potency during its effect, not just DPS. Both moves received hefty buffs in 3.2.

My overarching point was more that I hate seeing people use the term "crappy AST healing" in regards to its launch status without providing any context whatsoever. AST's problem wasn't just "weak heals" - those were actually only 5% lower in the highest case than their WHM/SCH counterparts - it was crappy cooldowns and less control over procuring AOE Balance that made it shunned for Gordias. The devs didn't seem to understand the problem, so they just buffed all those aspects, and now AST is the problematic powerhouse it is today.