Possible AST nerf

[MoroMurasaki]

AST needs several nerfs in my opinion.

I'm up to 63 right now, basically leveling it as a test to see if it's as OP as everyone says. I mained SCH in HW and main WHM now in SB so I've done most content with both other healers.

I have recovered from things as an AST in Noct that would have wiped the group as a SCH. I have had everyone down but the tank and I, next to no mp and mostly burned cooldowns and still recovered 4 man dungeons thanks to card utility. I have shielded people through ridiculous vuln up stacks instantly. I have mitigated tankbusters with a combo of shielding and regen to allow my tank to not pop any cooldowns and still barely have their health move.

This may seem like bragging but it is in no way a credit to my skill as a player and in every way due to the insane heal/shield potency, utility and reactive healing capabilities of AST.

If I, as a complete newbie to the class, am able to pull off some of the crazy saves I've made on AST when I haven't even gotten all my hotbars 100% set imagine what a dedicated player could do? There is basically no need for other healers except maybe for a WHM for 8 man content and even then it's only a WHM because they have the best healer DPS and Noct AST could solo heal anything with a much lower necessary skill level than any other healer.

I don't care what entitled AST mains think - this class needs to be hit and hit hard if we are ever going to have anything resembling healer balance.

People say as long as AST can heal things Balance (the card) will always make them the preferred healer. Maybe that's true. If it is though then we need to gate Balance, like any OP ability, behind some crazy cooldown/use restriction. If that has to be AST's healing potency dropping to 3.0 or lower then so be it.

This class is currently being ruined by the lack of difficulty it presents. I would love to main it at some point but it is basically like turning on an 'easy mode' or something which is not what I want out of this game.

[Robert_Ilcri]

Looks like the only nerf Ast took was Balance being well... balanced to make it a 10% buff instead of 20%, and Spear has been changed to a critical hit increase instead of what it was.

[LunaFaye]

I am still waiting for this "10% extra dmg" or the critical hit increased every time I medica/II on my whm. I know it's never going to happen, but I can dream, and yes I do like AST more then I should be admitting, but cards vs lilies/butterflies? Cuteness wins, sorry cards, if I wanted to play with you, I'll become a professional poker player instead of playing ffxiv.

On topic, that nerf didn't hurt much, and yes I understand nerfing it by 10% is a huge deal to some, but to be honest unless you're trying to be top FFlog player or trying to do first world progression, I doub't we will be seeing lots of "you have been nerfed, we only recruiting SCH/WHM's now" kind of atmosphere. Therefore, we could have kept it at whatever it was, I mean the card system and their "bonuses" wasn't why people complained in first place lol. At least we tried right?

[HyoMinPark]

I don't care what entitled AST mains think - this class needs to be hit and hit hard if we are ever going to have anything resembling healer balance.

I disagree with this. Because then SE will spend time buffing the undertuned, weak AST until it's overtuned again, and more threads like this will pop up, and the cycle will never end.

[Tyla_Esmeraude]

So much whine. Now you can finally stop complaining. Oh wait... now they are going to complain about how we get crit buff. lol *grabs popcorn*

[NewSinz]

Dont care about Crit buff you're job is a buff bot. Your Shields should not be stronger then SCH PERIOD. lol

[Aerowaffle]

Dont care about Crit buff you're job is a buff bot. Your Shields should not be stronger then SCH PERIOD. lol

Looks like SE wants to try having SCH focus on AF management with these latest buffs, rather than be shield focused.

[Andanie]

Dont care about Crit buff you're job is a buff bot. Your Shields should not be stronger then SCH PERIOD. lol

Honestly though, I feel like the problem isn't that AST shields are too strong, but SCH shields are too weak. Like instead of nerfing AST, we could maybe buff Scholar shields so they actually feel worth it to cast? It's so annoying to watch a shield be eaten on my SCH in seconds when playing as an AST I'd get twice as much out of it.

[Reilyn]

You can't really say AST could boost the raid "reliably", they drew random cards. Redraw gives them a better chance at drawing the card they needed, and Spread helps keeping the card you might not need right now, but might need later, but the cards are still random in the end.

More reliably than 3.0 with all those changes, but now this discussion doesn't really matter. SE nerfed something that deserved to be addressed: the balance card.

So much whine. Now you can finally stop complaining. Oh wait... now they are going to complain about how we get crit buff. lol *grabs popcorn*

Half the ASTs cards being nice to draw instead of half of them being shuffle/royal road fodder is a change that even I appreciate. All it took was a balance nerf, and a spear change. Now balance, arrow, and spear are nice to see instead of just balance, while lowering buff potency at the same time so WHMs won't be shunned as hard for not being an AST.

I like it.

Still the matter of nocturnal sect shields > SCH shields that bothers me to no end.

Also hilariously enough, no duplicate classes allowed in savage. A measure to make sure at least 2 healers stay relevant by imposed force. It's almost like they knew the possibility of double AST was a concern xD

[NewSinz]

Honestly though, I feel like the problem isn't that AST shields are too strong, but SCH shields are too weak. Like instead of nerfing AST, we could maybe buff Scholar shields so they actually feel worth it to cast? It's so annoying to watch a shield be eaten on my SCH in seconds when playing as an AST I'd get twice as much out of it.

Yeah I dont think they should be nerfed either I just think SCH is known for its preemptive shielding on those big hits. It was a different take on the healing class and when you were a really good SCH it was rewarding. And that identity feels a little lackluster now. I do really appreciate the sch though Maybe Im a little salty over it. But I dont think they are as bad as everyone makes them out to be I think most of the people are stuck on big numbers and cant adapt. I purely dont like the shield thing because its what our job was based around.