1. Your name on TLS + your name in game/what server you're on/what FC you're in + the job(s) you're going to detail
AvecAloes, Brynn Sunseer, Malboro, Guardians of the Centra, WHM and AST
2. How long were you playing the job before SB came out?
I’ve been maining WHM since early 2015, and raised my AST pretty quickly after HW came out. After getting my WHM to 70 in SB, it only took a week or so to get my AST from 60 to 70.
3. Did you read up on the changes that were going to happen to the job for SB before playing? Did it affect your decision to either stick with that job or change to a different one?
I did my research, yes. I watched various videos that highlighted all of the job changes, and heard everyone bitching about the changes to WHM. I wanted to give it a go, though, and form my own opinion, so I stuck with WHM initially, but still had plans to get my AST to 70 shortly thereafter.
4. What do you think of the new Role abilities replacing cross-class skills?
I heard a lot of complaints about WHM losing some of their unique abilities and having them added to the Role abilities. I don’t really have a negative opinion of this. I think that it evens the playing field out a little bit. I know it can be a bit of a pain to try to prioritize which abilities go in which level slots, especially when keeping lower level content in mind, but honestly, I’m not running a lot of low level content these days, so I typically have all of the skills I feel that I need at the ready. I absolutely LOVE that I no longer have to switch Cleric Stance on and off at the drop of a hat. I was worried that it would make playing a healer feel a little too easy, but all it does is avoid that awful “OHHH SHIT” moment when you realize that you’ve been trying to heal your tank while in Cleric Stance, only to have them die on you and your entire party hate you >.>
5. What do you think of the 60-70 abilities? What works/doesn't work, in your opinion? How have they changed how you play the job? Are there things you're hoping that SE "fixes" about any of the abilities in upcoming patches?
So for WHM:
Level 62: Thin Air
Reduces the cost of all spells to zero for 12 seconds? Oh man. Pair this baby with Lucid Dreaming and watch your MP come back in a flash. Super, super useful for MP management. Now when I’m playing AST, I find myself longing for this skill. Its 2 minute cooldown isn’t too shabby, either.
Level 64: Stone IV
A heavy hitter. Pop Cleric Stance, hit Presence of Mind, and watch enemies melt before you.
Level 66: Divine Benison
Creates a barrier that shield for 15% of the target’s total HP with a recast of 30 seconds. So if you cast it on a tank who has 50,000HP, you’re shielding for 7,500 damage. It can only be used when you have at least one lily on your Lily Gauge, and it consumes all available lilies. It’s about time WHM got some sort of instant shield ability. It’s not as good as AST’s Nocturnal Stance Aspected Benefic or SCH’s Adloquium, in that you can’t cast it whenever you want, and WHM still lacks full party shielding like AST’s Noctunal Sect Aspected Helios and SCH’s Succor, but this is at least something useful that WHM’s can do to help mitigate things like tank busters and the like.
Level 70: Plenary Indulgence
Every time you cast an AOE cure spell, there is a 20% chance of each target hit gaining a Confession stack. You can have up to three Confessions on a party member at any given time. Using Plenary Indulgence while you have active Confession stacks will grant a free heal, with the potency depending upon the number of Confession stacks active. This can be a useful way to recover from group-wide AOE damage - throw out one or two Medicas, gain one or two confession stacks, and instead of using MP to heal the rest of the way, hit Plenary Indulgence for free AOE heal. This version of the skill is a reworking of the original Plenary Indulgence, which only added a Confession stack when using Cure I or Cure II, which meant that really only the tank was getting stacks. The current version offers much more utility, and I am really glad that they reworked it.
For AST:
Level 62: Earthly Star
This skill is SO COOL. Execute the ability to draw the very stars from the heavens ;-; No ok so it creates a circular field (Earthly Dominance) which, at first, just hangs around and looks cool. For best effect, place so that it encompasses large groups of mobs and also party members. After 10 seconds, if you haven’t executed Stellar Detonation, Earthly Dominance becomes Giant Dominance. If you execute Stellar Detonation while under the effect of Earthly Dominance, your field will explode, dealing damage to all enemies within its bounds for 150 potency, while ALSO healing any party members within its bounds for 540 potency. If you let Earthly Dominance become Giant Dominance, the damage dealt increases to 200 potency, and the healing increases to a delicious 720 potency. So you can play with this in multiple ways - you can set it up prior to a group-wide damage mechanic for quick (and free!) heals, or you can use it to do some free damage (though not a TON of damage) to a group of annoying enemies while ALSO healing anyone in range. I’ve seen ASTs use it to great effect in some of the Ex Primals and Savage fights, and when I run dungeons, it’s my favorite skill to spam (as soon as it’s off cooldown, of course).
Level 64: Malefic III
Just an upgraded version of Malefic, nothing to really write home about. It does look cool, though!
Level 66: Minor Arcana
I really like this skill. When you Draw a card, you now have the option to convert it into a new card: either a Lord of Crowns of Lady of Crowns (randomly), which goes into its own spread. Executing Minor Arcana again will use the card on your target. Lord of Crowns deals unaspected damage with 300 potency, and Lady of Crowns heals your target for 500 potency. So you’re getting either an instant free damage dealer or an instant free HP restorative move. Personally, I like it best when I get a Lady of Crowns, as I just add it to my healing arsenal, along with my normal Benefic/Benefic II and Essential Dignity. It can be great in a pinch when your tank is taking big damage, and you need every bit of quick heals you can get. It’s also a good way to use up a card that you don’t need, say, if you draw the Spire but you’ve already Royal Roaded a Spire or Ewer and no one needs TP.
Level 70: Sleeve Draw
This is an interesting skill. Upon using it, you will automatically execute Draw, Royal Road, Spread, and Minor Arcana in succession. You don’t always end up with the cards/effects that you want, but sometimes you’ll get lucky, or you can execute Minor Arcana to get rid of whatever is held there in order to use Minor Arcana again (it only has a 5 sec recast timer) to get rid of whatever card is currently waiting to be used if it’s something you don’t want (see Spire example above). So there are ways that this skill can be useful, and it is fun to use, and maybe I’m just missing something but it can sometimes be such a crap shoot that I’m not exactly sure of its utility.
6. Personal thoughts/opinions on how the new jobs/abilities might affect the overall meta for those who take raiding UBER seriously
So Stormblood is the first time that I’ve ever really given the Ex Primals and the Savage versions of raids a serious go. With WHM’s extra healing potency (Cure II has a higher potency than any other healing job’s healing skills, other than Giant Dominance but that can’t be used as often or reliably as Cure II, and SCH’s Excogitation, which, again, can’t be used as often) and their new, free AOE heal potential (Plenary Indulgence), plus their ability to dish out some serious damage (Stone IV’s damage potency + two DoTs), AND their superior MP management, I think that WHM is going to be clutch for some of the higher end content. I have tried to run Susano Ex as an AST, and while group-wide shields can be a serious boon, I found that my heals had a hard time keeping up with the incoming damage, and my MP management was so, so bad. I’ll definitely be sticking to WHM for most of the high end content, and I think that raiding groups recognize WHM as a boon to their team.
