Why is Astrologian so misunderstood, even sometimes by other healers?

[ShivahnuAhnJura]

Earthly Star reduced to nothing because the other healer used their cooldowns just before.

Ranged DPS standing way out of healing range.

Even my previous static forced me to play White Mage because they said Astrologian is a bad job.

This has been bugging me for a long time. I am an Astrologian main, usually Nocturnal. I have played all healers at 80, done E4S as White Mage and most other stuff as Astrologian. I believe all healers are balanced well.

When I am paired with a healer who doesn't cooperate with me and wastes my cooldowns, leaving me to gcd heal spam until I have no more MP, that can be the difference between a clear and a wipe.

I don't mean to single out White Mage players but I see this more often with them. I know to a reasonable degree how the other healers work and I can recognise all of their abilities.

I recently attempted my 4th clear for Cinder Drift (Extreme) as Nocturnal on party finder with a White Mage. Got to phase 2 but the party was dying over and over again to instant wipe mechanics. Using shields and Collective Unconscious prepull. Horoscope, Earthly Star, Celestial Opposition. The White Mage tells me to utilise my Nocturnal Stance more. Neutral Sect, even. No amount of shielding or mitigation will help an instant wipe. Can they not see the huge chunk of yellow HP on the party? Can they not see all of the buffs I set up on the party list?

I know healing in general is a bit of a grey area for non-healers, and being blamed for wipes is not fun for anybody. However, when other healers start pointing fingers with no evidence or understanding of Astrologian that is when I have to say something. I used to just deal with it but it happens far too often and I don't think anybody should have to put up with this over and over again. What's more is that I have no way to defend myself if the rest of the party have no clue what I'm even talking about. But once the call out has been made then you'll probably get kicked soon after.

Does anyone else have painful experiences like this?

And to all of the healer mains out there, are you familiar with other healers' toolkits and capabilities?

(More MP utility would be nice too)

[CrimsonGunner]

sorry if this sounds harsh but do u expect the other healer to read minds?you expect him to know that your ogcd is ready to be used and that u throw it?
ppl aren't mind readers and they cant see what skills you have available or who you will use it on,communication is one thing but this isn't it.
when ppl do normal runs they dont rely on the other healer that much to know that your ED is up or you popped LS and can now wave skills ,they see a need they treat it no matter what your co healer is doing.
if u were proging maybe there is a certain routine you and your co healer follow like he takes care of one part you take charge of another and so on but they wont guess what skills you have available unless u actually tell them in real time.

familiar with toolkits and capabilities is one thing but reading what you will do with it and when is another,also not all healers level all the jobs nor should they.
so your basic assumption about that is kind of wrong, as for whatever your white mage called you out,i have no clue since they also know that instant wipe exists so maybe it was something else or just didn't see the buffs it is possible that he missed those if your run was failing or too busy to watch their gauges at that time.

you cant avoid crossing skills with your co-healer in runs,that stuff happens like double raise on same person, either u both communicate better or time yourself to his own skills.

[YusiKha]

Like Gunner says, this seems to be an issue of communication. PUG parties are one thing - where you can't rely on what the other healers knows/is doing - but you 100% shouldn't be having this issue in a static, where you can say "Star's down", "I've got this", "Stand in the Star, please", "Boutta use Collective, Group up" and so on
When it comes to the 'forced to GCD heal' part, are they not healing then either? Because at that point it sounds like you're just being chadded.

You need to know what your cohealer can do, since efficient healing isn't a Mainheal and Offheal jobbie, it's a combination of both of your toolkits and the priorities wherein. Knowing what defensive/healing skills your tanks have is also important, because those skills affect how much you need to heal.

[ShivahnuAhnJura]

Like Gunner says, this seems to be an issue of communication. PUG parties are one thing - where you can't rely on what the other healers knows/is doing - but you 100% shouldn't be having this issue in a static, where you can say "Star's down", "I've got this", "Stand in the Star, please", "Boutta use Collective, Group up" and so on
When it comes to the 'forced to GCD heal' part, are they not healing then either? Because at that point it sounds like you're just being chadded.

You need to know what your cohealer can do, since efficient healing isn't a Mainheal and Offheal jobbie, it's a combination of both of your toolkits and the priorities wherein. Knowing what defensive/healing skills your tanks have is also important, because those skills affect how much you need to heal.

Yeah, my static is great with the healing stuff so I'm really happy about that. When my cohealer is unavailable and we have to use party finder it gives me anxiety sometimes ngl

And I think that I probably am being chadded a little. If a Nocturnal Astrologian gets 94% on healing and a White Mage, a raw healer, gets 6% then I know that player is being either greedy for DPS or just lazy.

[ShivahnuAhnJura]

Even with animations turned off the outer ring of Earthly Star is visible on the field. Asylum and Sacred Soil are fairly obvious on the field as well. However, those abilities, as long as the caster knows what they're doing, will not be wasted. Earthly Star is just a heal, a powerful one at that. It is on the field for 20 seconds until it goes off and that is more than enough time to notice it. Yes, they can't read minds but healing over it is a pain and it seems that not many people know that the skill actually heals people.

As for the buffs, I was mostly talking out of frustration with that case in Cinder Drift - referring to my double stacked shields etc. I wasn't talking about Lightspeed or anything else since those aren't relevant for other people to know.

And yeah, communication and coordinating is impossible without voice chat and stuff, but if it happens every pull it becomes a nuisance. Of course the healer ground AoEs are a bit trickier to use so I can't always push mine ahead, but seeing the other healer use their own gcds, spam lilies and use Plenary Indulgence just before it goes off doesn't feel necessary at all.

I'm sorry for any misunderstandings in the post but I don't like being blamed for stuff that I know wasn't my fault. If I get accused for not doing enough shielding or healing, despite some things like the yellow HP, shield icons and my cooldowns being healed over etc. then it really made me think that PUG healers must be unfamiliar with it. As I said before I used to deal with. Getting accused by a tank is easy to brush off but getting accused by other healers who should at least know what shields and AoE ground heals look like... I don't really know what to do about that.

[Risvertasashi]

1. Pug healers are unreliable. Sometimes even static healers have bad apples. This leads to overheal as each healer wants a guarantee that the damage will get healed, a guarantee in their own hands only.

"Why didn't you heal?" "But you had a star down!" etc. And everyone that's not a healer just sees that the healers let them wipe and doesn't particularly care about the details. So, the other healer stops caring about what their cohealer might be doing and makes every mechanic their own, personal responsibility.

2. AST is absolutely not a bad job, as you probably know. It's the only healer that solo heals ultimates - and stacking shields and regens is very, very powerful - and best-in-class DPS for healers and tanks. But it is often played badly. In no small part because of its multitasking mental requirements.

3. A lot of this is pug life in general. Ranged DPS standing out of range goes all the way back to ARR, before AST was even a glimmer in SE's eye. Can't rely on addle/reprisal timings. Coordination is pugs has always been poor, you just feel it a lot less on DPS jobs. Etc etc.

And kind of related to #1, no, you can't necessarily expect pug healers to be watching the party frame and know what you're doing. That's not an AST issue, that's a general pug issue.

[ShivahnuAhnJura]

1. Pug healers are unreliable. Sometimes even static healers have bad apples. This leads to overheal as each healer wants a guarantee that the damage will get healed, a guarantee in their own hands only.

"Why didn't you heal?" "But you had a star down!" etc. And everyone that's not a healer just sees that the healers let them wipe and doesn't particularly care about the details. So, the other healer stops caring about what their cohealer might be doing and makes every mechanic their own, personal responsibility.

2. AST is absolutely not a bad job, as you probably know. It's the only healer that solo heals ultimates - and stacking shields and regens is very, very powerful - and best-in-class DPS for healers and tanks. But it is often played badly. In no small part because of its multitasking mental requirements.

3. A lot of this is pug life in general. Ranged DPS standing out of range goes all the way back to ARR, before AST was even a glimmer in SE's eye. Can't rely on addle/reprisal timings. Coordination is pugs has always been poor, you just feel it a lot less on DPS jobs. Etc etc.

And kind of related to #1, no, you can't necessarily expect pug healers to be watching the party frame and know what you're doing. That's not an AST issue, that's a general pug issue.

Makes a lot of sense. I had the wrong impression since this WHM tried to call me out on not shielding and healing enough and they had no evidence about it. I thought that other healers would keep an eye on what the other is doing but I guess in PUG it's just two healers doing their own thing and maybe with some coincidence things will work out smoothly.

Up until I got to do double Astro in a fun static I hadn't actually met another person in game who was familiar/good with the job. My FC was probably the worst for it since they legit refused to let me play Astrologian in their static because it's not a good healer. I tried to explain to them for months, showing them clear videos and whatever else but they weren't convinced. :s

[Neoom]

There is a reason why I never go into Ruby Weapon with AST anymore, not with PUG healers.
If the other healers doesnt pay any attention or haven't played AST at all they have no idea what any of the skills do and will over heal over them 100%. Will I keep doing damage if I see a earthly star on the ground even if it doesn't pop right away? Of course I will cause it will be wasted heal AND dps. But will PUG healers who tunnel vision or just dont even know what it does wait till it pops? No, 99,9% of the time they heal over it. Its the ugly truth about playing AST in PUG groups that you have to learn the hard way. And for the blaming part, if you know you did your job, the WHM has no place to complain and you don't have to prove them anything. Just ignore them and move on.

[GhostXO]

When I played ast in rando groups I got a lot of healers not understanding how it works. It just sucks, that's it. I also notice that some ASTs seem to put earthly star down and completely forget that it exists and let it pop on it's own and neglect giving a hoot about the healing I suppose. Because more often then not I see it blow up when no one is standing inside.

[Averax]

1. Communicate with your other healer
2. Yell at your ranged dps and make them get inside your range. Put a mark over your head so they can find you.