Why so much complain on AST?

[Crushnight]

Have to ask when were the complaints about Ast healing made? If before 5.05 yea they were undertuned compared to both sch and whm on healing and rDps but the 5.05 buffs sorted Ast's healing out.

If they are complaining about Noct Ast then yea Noct Ast is inferior to Diurnal Ast in every possible way, healing output/mp conservation/freedom to dps more all better on Diurnal and atm there are very few fights in the game where Noct shields are needed over Diurnal cd shields. People still enjoy Noct Ast due to the extra work or the shielding/preventive playstyle but most still understand it is inferior to Diurnal and needs working out (going on 6 years so I don't hold my breath anymore )

If it's about the card system then yea the card system is a hot topic always will be now (Thx SE no matter what you do now constant complaints will be a thing) due to them reworking it, taking away all the buff manipulation which helped Ast standout more, outright say not going to touch it(back in 5.05 no word since) due to those who like it now which opens up the can of worms that is the people who liked it before they changed it (very stupid move to say this), and generally having major controller issues at high end play.

If it's healer complaints in general then yea

[Crushnight]

Have to ask when were the complaints about Ast healing made? If before 5.05 yea they were undertuned compared to both sch and whm on healing and rDps but the 5.05 buffs sorted Ast's healing out.

If they are complaining about Noct Ast then yea Noct Ast is inferior to Diurnal Ast in every possible way, healing output/mp conservation/freedom to dps more all better on Diurnal and atm there are very few fights in the game where Noct shields are needed over Diurnal cd shields. People still enjoy Noct Ast due to the extra work or the shielding/preventive playstyle but most still understand it is inferior to Diurnal and needs working out (going on 6 years so I don't hold my breath anymore )

If it's about the card system then yea the card system is a hot topic always will be now (Thx SE no matter what you do now constant complaints will be a thing) due to them reworking it, taking away all the buff manipulation which helped Ast standout more, outright say not going to touch it(back in 5.05 no word since) due to those who like it now which opens up the can of worms that is the people who liked it before they changed it (very stupid move to say this), and generally having major controller issues at high end play.

If it's healer complaints in general then yea

People are bored that their downtime has been reduced to 1,1,1,1,1,1,2,1,1,1,1,1 etc, on top of the downtime having been increased due to the highly unneeded new ogcds we got given, combined with the tank changes and the fight design that will never stop being scripted, starts to make healer gcd skills redundant ala benefic/cure which is a big problem.

All this on top of the devs actively avoiding as much talk about healers as possible just makes things worse as the negativity is just piled on and on as no way of knowing if they actively care about such feedback, it doesn't even need to anything other than acknowledgedment that they see our feedback, that alone would placate some people.

[Lilseph]

For a endgame play, should I prefer AST or scholar?

If it's regarding harder endgame content like the Savages and Ultimates, it really depends on the encounter. A White Mage and Scholar pair generally can make progression significantly smoother because of the strength of their kits paired together. Beyond that specific type of content, it shouldn't really matter for general endgame. Just play what you are most comfortable with and/or have the most fun with.

[Truen]

I just read in the forum AST is not good as scholar or WHM, is this true (I care only about healing output in general, not dps)

Yes. It's a watered down, inferior version of the system they changed it from. Though, that can be said for all healing jobs right how. Their dps rotations are dreadfully dull, uninspired, and overly homogenized. Of the 3, the AST is in the worst shape followed by the once great SCH. WHM isn't as bad as the others, but it's pretty darn boring too.

[Truen]

People are bored that their downtime has been reduced to 1,1,1,1,1,1,2,1,1,1,1,1 etc, on top of the downtime having been increased due to the highly unneeded new ogcds we got given, combined with the tank changes and the fight design that will never stop being scripted, starts to make healer gcd skills redundant ala benefic/cure which is a big problem.

All this on top of the devs actively avoiding as much talk about healers as possible just makes things worse as the negativity is just piled on and on as no way of knowing if they actively care about such feedback, it doesn't even need to anything other than acknowledgedment that they see our feedback, that alone would placate some people.

Exactly. +1
This summarizes everything perfectly.

[Mesarthim]

AST now is fine (not perfect, but fine) but I still want nothing to do with it despite maining the job for like 3 years. I had a main role identity crisis between 5.0 and 5.2 but eventually settled on tank. The fact it needed a page long list of buffs when savage dropped is pretty telling on how much attention healers were given.

I drew a line with AST with new sleeve draw + loss of stun for celestial opposition (which wasn't even spammable). I mostly just play SCH for healer in Shadowbringers despite the dysfunctional kit at 60, 70 and 80.

[Truen]

AST now is fine (not perfect, but fine) but I still want nothing to do with it despite maining the job for like 3 years. I had a main role identity crisis between 5.0 and 5.2 but eventually settled on tank... I mostly just play SCH for healer in Shadowbringers despite the dysfunctional kit at 60, 70 and 80.

Yeah I can't handle the SCH kit, kuddos for you for having the patience to deal with the clunky play. And, I can relate to what you said about 5.0 - 5.2. As a prior Scholar main, I quit the game for months after 5.0 release and only recently came back after buying the expansion on discount for my wife, son, and I after all this time.

I was shocked they still haven't reverted the changes they made to healers. It's one of the worst set of nerfs/redesigns I've ever seen in an MMORPG.

Sub-80 end-game play has devolved to"Broil, Broil, Broil, Broil, Bio, Broil, Heal, Broil, Broil, Bio, Heal, Broil, Broil, Broil, Broil..." <facepalm>

[Gemina]

The game has been suspiciously getting easier to the point of giving Gamefreak’s Pokemon a run for its money. Easy difficulty is conveniently easier to devolve for. Tanks no longer worry about Aggro, DPS/Healer no longer need To worry about stealing eminity under regular circumstances.

Facilitating the function of a job's primary role makes the job easier to play; this doesn't necessarily translate to the game being easier. There's a big distinction there.

In order for the game (encounters) to be easier, things like DPS checks have to become more lenient, hard enrages removed, longer cast times for boss abilities, more telegraphs, less out going damage, etc. In this regard, the game hasn't got any easier at all. In fact, just the opposite as the devs are stacking more and more mechanics in normal mode encounters because the playerbase is consistently getting better at handling them. Which you can add to the reasons on how a game gets easier over time. But I digress.

As to the topic, AST is just fine as simply a healer, but this is easily accomplished with the game's healing requirements. It suffers a bit with MP regeneration and still lacks a solid skill to restore MP quickly, but other than that the majority of the complaints all gravitate towards its card mechanic. Which is a mess. Has always been a mess. And will continue to be a mess because a mechanic that heavily utilizes RNG isn't going to work. Even after stripping most those layers away with ShB, the little RNG that is left is still creating a lot of grief with this job. Not necessarily because the RNG makes getting a desired (seal) difficult, but because the RNG aspect of this mechanic has forced all of its cards into a single buff.

This job has an incredibly high APM, and a incredulously low feeling of reward even if doing it all optimally. They are what I call the catapult loaders. They do the brunt of the work, but the person launching the catapult gets to have all the fun. I hope that makes sense.

[MPNZ]

In summary: 5.0 releases a very weak, carpal-tunnel inducing, High APM with equally conflicting pressure (cards versus healing), a completely foreign card system that threw away the lore of the cards and capacity and utility to save the party in a pinch for high raid performace and leader board numbers (the random fate aspect was like one of the main hooks of the job), and the buffs took way too long to be implemented.

Added to the overall extreme simplifications, and the role is literally only active when players are new or just phoning it in and going through the motions because of the stark difference in just encounter & job designs, add in like two new jobs and trusts, and that's resulted in a hlr exodus to roles that literally feel like way better designed to keep players interested in playing them. And, TBH, every tank but PLD feels like that as well, IMO.

[MPNZ]

Facilitating the function of a job's primary role makes the job easier to play; this doesn't necessarily translate to the game being easier. There's a big distinction there.

In order for the game (encounters) to be easier, things like DPS checks have to become more lenient, hard enrages removed, longer cast times for boss abilities, more telegraphs, less out going damage, etc. In this regard, the game hasn't got any easier at all. In fact, just the opposite as the devs are stacking more and more mechanics in normal mode encounters because the playerbase is consistently getting better at handling them. Which you can add to the reasons on how a game gets easier over time. But I digress.

As to the topic, AST is just fine as simply a healer, but this is easily accomplished with the game's healing requirements. It suffers a bit with MP regeneration and still lacks a solid skill to restore MP quickly, but other than that the majority of the complaints all gravitate towards its card mechanic. Which is a mess. Has always been a mess. And will continue to be a mess because a mechanic that heavily utilizes RNG isn't going to work. Even after stripping most those layers away with ShB, the little RNG that is left is still creating a lot of grief with this job. Not necessarily because the RNG makes getting a desired (seal) difficult, but because the RNG aspect of this mechanic has forced all of its cards into a single buff.

This job has an incredibly high APM, and a incredulously low feeling of reward even if doing it all optimally. They are what I call the catapult loaders. They do the brunt of the work, but the person launching the catapult gets to have all the fun. I hope that makes sense.

TBH, optimizing things in general can just strip a ton of enjoyment out of games. Especially, if it's an aspect that's like totally forced and hen-pecky