How could you do this to AST?

[Absurdity]

Unless they take away the fairy itself, they can't do anything else to hurt it.

Considering how the current fairy handles I wouldn't even be mad, just give me those abilities as actual oGCDs.

[SweetPete]

I saw this coming. I’m not even mad at SE. Astro has always thrown a wrench into healer balance because it’s ability to go either regen or shields. I’m glad Nocturnal is going away tbh. When I played scholar it sucked when an Astro wouldn’t even switch from shield stance even when begged and pleaded with. Some just enjoyed trolling and enjoying their power trip.

We will have 2 regen healers and 2 barrier healers. Maybe now square can balance them all better. Being able to set 8 man content to it can only bring one regen and 1 shield healer, I’m so looking forward to this change. I love Astro and sad to see Noct go but I’m excited to see what they add and change with the skills of Astro.

Sage is looking amazing though. Can’t wait to main it.

[TaleraRistain]

We don't know that shields won't overlap. Regens already do so they may change that.

[HyoMinPark]

We don't know that shields won't overlap. Regens already do so they may change that.

Shields have never been able to stack, with the exception of the new Neutral Sect shield. It stacks with other shields, but Galvanize and Nocturnal have never stacked with each other.

[TaleraRistain]

Shields have never been able to stack, with the exception of the new Neutral Sect shield. It stacks with other shields, but Galvanize and Nocturnal have never stacked with each other.

And they may change that now so they don't hurt Sage and Scholar being able to work together.

[HyoMinPark]

And they may change that now so they don't hurt Sage and Scholar being able to work together.

I’m guessing they will likely have skills that work similar to Neutral and allow for stacking—but the “generic” skills will likely still not stack. If I’m to go off of the way they’ve designed healers up to this point. Perhaps I will be surprised, but I’m not going to have any expectations until we learn more.

amen sister noct rocks only people who hzve no sense never took the time to realize nocts potential

If Nocturnal had potential, they wouldn’t be getting rid of it after 6 years of buffing it and readjusting it every other patch. If Nocturnal Sect had potential, it wouldn’t have to be readjusted so much. If Nocturnal Sect was better than Diurnal, it would be meta. But which Sect is meta? Diurnal. Which Sect is dropped the second you no longer need shields to live? Nocturnal. MP and resource wise, Diurnal skills are always a better use of your healing GCD.

Perhaps you haven’t played this game for as long as some AST mains, but I’ve played it for over 5 years and been present for nearly every overhaul and adjustment Nocturnal Sect has received since HW, and it has never been the more efficient option over Diurnal Sect. This efficiency (and lack thereof) has been proven by repeated testing and maths many times over. Noct AST has only ever been the go-to for solo healing Savage and Ultimate fights. That’s it. In a dual healer comp, AST is always better in Diurnal Sect.

Classify me as a “Noct Sect hater” all you want. I’m not hating on a stance I used to “rock” quite frequently in PF simply because I wanted to. I’m just not blind to the fact that it is less efficient than its Diurnal counterpart.

[Karshan]

And they may change that now so they don't hurt Sage and Scholar being able to work together.

They won't though, due to the very way some effects are coded in this game ("if dmg <> 0 then debuff" wouldn't even surprise me lol). This would allow a lot more cheeses on strats.
See E10S tourniquet shield cheese and imagine that on a lot more mechanics. Or how some tanks can cheese with invuln due to taking 0 damage (PLD, GNB) and others can't because they take damage so the debuff anyway. And imagine that stacking shields could sometimes work as those invuln with sufficient mitigation (reprisal, addle etc...)

[RyuDragnier]

They won't though, due to the very way some effects are coded in this game ("if dmg <> 0 then debuff" wouldn't even surprise me lol). This would allow a lot more cheeses on strats.
See E10S tourniquet shield cheese and imagine that on a lot more mechanics. Or how some tanks can cheese with invuln due to taking 0 damage (PLD, GNB) and others can't because they take damage so the debuff anyway. And imagine that stacking shields could sometimes work as those invuln with sufficient mitigation (reprisal, addle etc...)

The thing is, they already confirmed there's going to be battle system adjustments, including a stat squish (since apparently the high numbers are putting a major strain on the system). I wouldn't be surprised if they made it so the debuff kicks in regardless if barriers are there (not invulns), thus bypassing this particular problem.

[IceBlueNinja]

I dunno, I think we have enough experience and info, at this point, to see that their design philosophy isn't changing, so the decision to make another "pure healer" is extremely worrisome.
I was also more of a Noct AST fan, myself, so I'm also a bit upset by that bit of news.

amen sister noct rocks only people who have no sense never took the time to realize nocts potential

[IceBlueNinja]

I don't believe that's the case, actually, even if you can certainly play all of the healers that way.


I don't remember anyone specifically asking for that, actually. In fact, it's that they want to force the two types of healers that makes me believe that they didn't learn their lesson thus far.
Every job needs to be fun, and then dynamic enough to provide their own (hopefully unique) solutions to problems that come up in gameplay. Pigeonholing doesn't usually provide any room for that.

agreed but not everyone like the noct stance haters read anyways lol