Thread: Astrologian 5.0 Discussion

I wish celestial opposition give opposite to our sect. No reason to have 2 same aoe heal when we have aspected helios.

Originally Posted by IanFrench

First, Noctural set has specifically made it clear that Aspected benefic will incur additional mana cost rather than just 500mp as in Diurnal, please read the job guide properly.

Second, neither aspected benefic nor aspected helios shields are stackable with scholars' succor/adlo, therefore this 20secs is a joke for sch/ast combo. The only place for it to shine will be in whm/ast combo which will be rare to see because SCH beats Noctural AST in literally every aspect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG1yAk1MTSM

Please don't tell me to read a Job Guide on a Job you clearly aren't experienced with.

Originally Posted by kartana

Did you actually test this if this isn't just a visual bug? Because it clearly says it's not stack-able. Even if it is right now, it's not intentional.

Also: Did I miss something or are the seals totally useless outside of group content?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQlBHMUFYrI

Test was conducted with some gear missing to prevent excess missing and ensure enough damage was received within Shield duration. Approximate damage calculations are included in the video description, and the full combat log is provided above. Am I done proving myself right?

EDIT: Video was posted with the permission of my party member, who was eager to prove these results as well.

I started playing the game in 4.0 and Astro has been my main healer. I have no experience with how Astro was in HW.

Let me start with what I like: The new healing skills are amazing. I love Horoscope, Neutral Sect, Celestial Intersection, 2 Essential Dignities. All great. I do actually like the card changes. I enjoy getting 3 seals and each card having a use. The animations for Divination, Malefic 4, and Combust 3 are great. The change to Celestial Opposition is interesting. Getting to spam Gravity more is so much fun.

What I don't like: (wall of text warning lol)
A little sad that the healing potency increases on Sects are gone.
I'm fine with Card potency, but I wish the duration was longer waaay to short. Divination is garbage. Long cooldown, short duration, low percent increase. I know it may be in line with other party buffs (Battle Voice, Battle Litany, Devotion), but those abilities are just press on cooldown. You don't have to think about it too much. Your entire gauge is setting up seals, which you can do very easily if you Sleeve Draw after Divination. So I'll be sitting on 3 seals and constantly checking if Divination is back up. Even if it's balanced, it doesn't feel good. Especially when in 4.0 I could potentially get AoE buffs every minute.
Celestial Opposition's change to a healing skill is cool. However, it's extremely weak. If you wanna keep it how it currently is, at least lower the cooldown. AND PLEASE INCREASE THE RANGE. Make it the same as Helios. I hate just barely missing people with it.
Collective Unconscious needs a buff badly. I don't understand why it was nerfed. It's the worst of all the area abilities for the healers. I was hoping to have a trait in 5.0 that would let us drop the bubble where we're standing and move freely. Upgraded Sacred Soil is just better in every way now.
I'm a bit sad that all the time aspects of Astro were removed. I liked Time Dilation. Though, I get the feeling you're gonna give another job time elements instead.
There's a delay when using Play and it's really annoying. I noticed it the most with Lord/Lady, probably because of the animation playing.
Why were our damaging spells nerfed? We already dealt the least personal damage. I cleared MSQ on Astro and it was suffering.
I know that the Aspected Helios changes are pretty much equal for Nocturnal, (100 potency 250% shield vs 200 potency 150% shield) but it feels really bad to have it heal so little.
AOE DOTS PLEASE. That's all I want for every healer. I'm noticing that I have to heal more constantly in dungeons so I can't individually apply dots to everything. Let me apply an AoE dot to the trash and go back to healing. That way I can contribute. And if you're worried about people managing them, make it like BLM, where the single target and aoe versions don't stack. Boom problem solved. I wanted Astro to gain an AoE dot, not the other healers to lose theirs. :/

just personal 2 cents...

- divination should have less cooldown, a 6% increase for 180s CD is too much, i say 120s is good for 6%. or maybe the opposite, 180s for 10% increase.
- i think you should get your card seal even when you are not in combat
- there should be a card seal combo for more in depth play feature, like a 3 sun seal will net you something. right now the card system is very basic, blue card = melee/tank purple = magic/range thats it.
- maybe up the cure potency for celestial opposition a little more.

Originally Posted by Cyrocco

In all honesty, after four years with the same card system, was anyone actively thinking about what they were doing with the cards?

Does this matter? Familiarity with the class doesn't mean the system isn't still complex and versatile - the cards had different purposes, and knowing which situations in which to apply them, or which cards would be a good draw for that moment, or what you would use each card for if you draw it is still part of the fun. It was great when I was struggling with a dying party in a 24-man and was begging for a Ewer to help me out, or at least hoping I flipped into a Lady of Crowns to buy some time for my mana to regen, or for Lucid/Refresh/Mana Shift/Lightspeed to be up. Even being able to supplement TP for some more AoE rotations for the tank or a neglected DPS felt cool. I've saved several runs with stacking a Bole over a shield that wouldn't've be possible otherwise.

Hell, even the functional DPS increases still made us feel like we had options in how to play them. It was cool to see a party of casters and know that Arrow is going to see more use than it would usually, or to see a BRD in a dungeon and rubbing my hands and hoping for a Spear over a Balance to help smoothen their rotations.

Being able to make those quick, on-the-fly decisions with the cards feels great because we put in the work to know which cards worked when, and had become so familiar with the system that we didn't have to think anymore - we made those decisions instinctively and felt good about it.

Were we solving complex equations every time we drew a card? No. Nobody would say that, either. The fun isn't in staring at your party vs your drawn card and engaging brain for a few seconds; the fun is in having your hard work towards memorising the card effects/classes they work with pay off by being able to rail off cards like a machine gun and feel like you were playing more efficiently because you know the cards so well.

It felt like we mastered something. Now, there's nothing really to master. Every card does the same thing, and the tooltips/UI tell you where to place them.

Originally Posted by Stellafreyja

Y'all. Galvanize doesn't stack with Nocturnal FIELD. Which is what Aspected Benefic/Helios give in Nocturnal Sect. Celestial Opposition gives Nocturnal Opposition shield. Celestial Intersection gives Nocturnal Intersection shield. Neutral Sect gives Nocturnal Balance shield. I.e. They're all different and they all stack. The reason for that is because you would be boned if you had a SCH co-healer and weren't able to use your shields in Neutral Sect. It would completely invalidate that skill. It's intended.

This actually makes me happy to hear, as originally I was thinking Neutral Sect would basically be useless for the reasons you described (SCH in the party, shields not stacking). Glad to see that's not the case, it makes the AST capstone ability a lot more useful, even if I still think it's a bit boring design-wise.