For AST changes, just potency buff malefic and combust...

[HyoMinPark]

I know simple potency buff won't be enough for current situation because it will at least serve as a band-aid.
I will be amused if you think that 500~800 difference is small enough to ignore it.

If AST get potency buffed, WHM's population will slightly shift to AST. But there will still be decent amount of population playing whm because that class is easy to play and that's what WHM is design for right from the beginning.

The difference between the healers is better than the difference between the DPS—DPS experience gaps starting at 1,000 rDPS between some jobs/roles. 500~800 rDPS difference within an entire role is much better than 1,000~2,000. Sure, a slight potency to Malefic (or Combust) would lessen this gap, but I don’t think it would save AST.

I also don’t think ASTs should settle for band-aid potency fixes, and should instead advocate for gameplay changes as a whole. They have already proven to not be enough to save NIN.

I don’t think that there would be a huge influx should Malefic see a potency increase. Maybe a small shift. Maybe you’d see more of them in speedkills. But WHM still achieves the same results for much less effort, and doesn’t have the clunky gameplay (aside from being unable to adequately weave oGCDs) or MP nightmares that AST does. AST simply doesn’t feel worth it to play—and that has little to do with potencies, in my opinion. I’ll take low potency for engaging gameplay and comparable rDPS gains. It has rDPS gains in the forms of an uninnovative and repetitively boring card system; but its gameplay makes me want to chuck my globe across the arena.

Talking about Pure Healer right before expansion, and look at how minimum WHM is healing now with high % of over-heal. People are even talking about how PLD should heal so WHM can continue dps.

Talking about Pure Healer by increasing the potential of SCH/AST heal more than WHM while successfully murder AST population.

Well Done SE.

Also, the “pure healer” has been repeatedly misrepresented—it was intended to mean “regen healing” as opposed to “shield healing”. Not “just healing and no DPS”.