Thread: Astrologian 5.0 Discussion

Originally Posted by Alistaire

Well, it's also so trigger-happy people don't accidentally use cards on themselves. I've done it on occasion and even if I didn't, play is fine, it's all the other stuff...

Agreed. There is nothing wrong with Play. In SB, the timer not starting until you actually use/burn/spread a card was one of my biggest gripes with the job. Spread had a similar issue as well, but that's gone now. If it wasn't for Play, my AST would probably still be collecting dust. I am definitely enjoying 5.0 AST as of right now.

Originally Posted by ForteNightshade

No offense, but Baelsar's Wall was nerfed into the ground ages ago. Not to mention, most of the 70 dungeons don't have a level sync on them, thereby making them a very poor reference point. Holminster Switch and above is where you need to put Astro through its paces.

I didn't bring up Baelsar's Wall because I feel it's relevant content, I brought it up because I carried a group through it despite adjusting to the AST changes, which were significant enough to affect how the job plays before max level.

Let's face it, if it can't get the job done @50, 60, 70; it's not going to get it done at 80 either. At the time of my post, I had not run HS with my AST yet but I've taken it through it several times now, and what I have surmised about the job has not changed. I still casted plenty Gravity outside of LS; lots of Benifect IIs, etc. Still no MP problems. There was one wipe, but silly DRK pulled wall to wall after the first boss, and didn't use Living Dead. Other than that, healing was not an issue in there.

To your credit though, even HS isn't all that good of a reference point to gauge any of the healers in ShB considering at 72 all of them just get upgrades to their DoT and filler spells; hardly a game changer. Running 70+ dungeons however, does give AST access to Sleeve Draw, which allows for better efficiency with Divination. I already have my own issues with that skill, which I pointed out in my last post.

And from what I've seen and heard, it suffers significantly worse than both White Mage and Scholar in virtually every category. A friend of mine has a near panic attack every time a DRK pops Living because without ED, Astro simply can't burst heal efficiently whatsoever.

For the sake of argument, let's just say that the AST panicked because the tank was in critical HP and it's a concern due to low healing efficiency. This I can agree with, and I also pointed out in my last post. AST lost potencies on both offensive and healing, and I think they are probably going to have to pump up the latter a little bit at some point to help out with the leveling stages. On paper, it would seem Horoscope and Neutral Sect should help with this, but those are in the upper levels.

When it comes to EX Primals, White Mage is pulling upwards of 3,000 more personal damage. The cards won't come remotely close to making up such a massive discrepancy. So... that begs the question, what is Astro even good at anymore?

That really is a huge discrepancy if that number is true. If it is true, it's going to get addressed. However, AST DPS by itself was always a snorefest. What makes made it interesting was all the weaving they get to do between Malefic/Gravity spamming. They still get to do this. Between my filler spamming, there was a consistent amount of draws, redraws, plays, and minor arcanas keeping me busy. Those three charges of redraw fill quickly, then add sleeve draw on top of it all and it feels like I'm always drawing cards. This means that those 6% buffs are consistently going out, and almost feels like upkeep than an actual buff. We're going to have see those savage numbers ran to see what exactly an optimal AST is doing to rDPS to really know.

Seriously. I'm struggling to find one thing Astro is better than White Mage or Scholar at.

Well, that was the position WHM was in from HW through all of SB. Funny thing though is that I still really enjoyed playing WHM, and the ironic thing was I could not enjoy AST despite it being a far superior healer in raids. I'm actually having more frustrations finding new glamours for my AST than how it compares with the other healers but it is early still, and my greatest concern is actually for SCH.

Healer is always my favourite set of classes in games, but I'm just utterly devastated to what's been changed with AST. It was my favourite class, and the thing I looked forward to most about playing this game... and now I hate it.

Most of all, the feeling of anticipation and luck that I felt is gone, and I wish I could have that magic back. That feeling of success for pulling a desired card to serve the party after Royal Road-ing a Spire or Ewer is no longer there. It was satisfying and unique.

Sure, the watered-down card changes are terrible and disgustingly predictable now, but Royal Road and Spread were some of my favourite mechanics in the game, and having them viciously wrenched from my grasp has left me quickly disliking the game itself. Sleeve Draw feels useless as a result. I don't care about drawing cards quickly, I enjoyed saving up cards and using others for that additional effect.

Maybe I'm over-reacting, but I honestly regret purchasing Shadowbringers because I don’t want to play anymore. I don’t play for the story. I was just really looking forward to using my favourite class and mechanics with the new gameplay. I’m extremely disappointed and sad at what has become of this once-diverse class.

You literally boost peoples damage every 15 seconds. You have a party wide damage boost for 20 seconds every 3 min. You can switch between shields and go Regen at will. You even have some abilities that allow you to do both at the same time!!! And this is what you are gonna whine about???

@TheBlackMind - The boost is 3-6% for 15 seconds. That's negligible and unnecessary in 4mans. The party wide boost is 6% when you build 3 seals. Now in an 8 man this has some effect. However, the cooldown is irritating at 3 minutes when we can build the seals needed for a full Divination with over 1:40 left on the CD. This is not taking into account Sleeve Draw.

Secondly, we cannot switch between our two sects at will. We are locked into a Sect for the duration of a battle. Furthermore, Nocturnal Sect in its current iteration is the weakest healer in the game. Arguably worse than a Scholar without a fairy. Its potencies are lackluster, its MP cost overly high (I'm talking 1k MP per Aspected Benefic, and lets keep in mind MP is capped at 10k). AST's best bet right now is to stick to Diurnal, and get your shield from Neutral Sect and Celestial Intersection (I believe I have the name right). Intersection on Diurnal will give a shield, which should be used on CD.

So yes, we're going to whine. The flavor and lore of AST, was just gutted. AST uses time and space magic. Benefic is supposed to be turning time back on wounds. Time Dilation was extending the time left on buffs. Opposition was freezing time in a limited zone. The cards were AST's theme. Each card having a different meaning and so a different effect. They could have just thrown away all the cards and had a button that randomly changes to melee or ranged damage buff and the effect would be the same.

That being said, I would like to see the duration on our Divination extended to 30 seconds. The cooldown dropped to 2 minutes or less. I wouldn't mind the cards being damage buffs - FOR DPS. To me, it would be an interesting change to have the cards give buffs based on the class's role. DPS get Damage buffs, Tanks gets mitigation, and throwing a card at a Healer would increase their healing output. Also, I'd like to see the Benefic II crit proc off of Combustion tic's as opposed to me casting Benefic I. Honestly, if I'm casting a Benefic its because I'm running low on mana because I just rez'd a person or two. ...do I see any of these things happening? Probably not, but sadly, I also don't see them returning our old card effects.

i also want to know why our gravity spell is so weak and more costly than WHM holy?

- holy has additional effect (stun), ours not
- ours cost 100 more MP than holy
- WHM can just cast and forget while his target still lock on tank just in case in need of heal, ours need to target enemy first
- ours has 130 potency while holy has 150

i think thats a bit unfair