Question from a new player - can AST change back to what it was before ?

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Originally Posted by Insertcoins

It can't go back to SB ast. Why? Tanks have way better defense and more importantly there's no tp. Half those old cards are useless now with the overall battle changes. To want old ast back means you also want tp and everything else they changed. It's not happening like you want it to.

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If the tank doesn't need Bole anymore, it could be put on a dps who's struggling with aoes. Or it could be put on the tank anyway to allow the healer to spend a few extra gcds dpsing. The only card that wouldn't work now is spire, and honestly it's be fine if they just removed that one card. Or gave it something different to do. The hardest part about fixing the ast card system would be SE swallowing their pride and recognising that their "fix" made things worse.

Balance - Damage up -> best DPS
Arrow - Skill/Spell Speed -> sometimes ok DPS
Spear - Critical chance -> good DPS, but only for specific jobs
Spire - TP Regen -> Allows more AoEs from physical job -> DPS
Ewer - MP Regen -> Allows more spells to be cast -> DPS, sometimes heal but you'll be told everything can be healed with oGCDs anyways so just DPS
Bole - Damage Reduction -> Not DPS -> Throw it away because its not DPS.

Congratulations, 5 out of 6 of the old card system was literally varying methods of doing more DPS, but 1 of them is the best and everything else is just mediocre except in very specifc, niche circumstances that someone somewhere anecdotally had at some point before ShB and therefore validates the entire craptastic RNG garbage that characterised pre ShB AST.

Wanna know what my experience with cards was pre ShB? Spire. Ewer. Spire. Spire. Spire. Ewer. Bole. Spear. Spire. Ewer. Ewer. BALANCE!!!!! Spire. Spire. Spire.
I abandoned the job entirely after my 20th dungeon run and never drawing Balance, Spear or Arrow during a boss fight.

The new cards are significantly better than the old ones. Everything I draw is useful, every time. Manipulating RNG to give me all 3 Seals in as few Draws as possible for a best Divination so I can spend the rest of my Draws on Lords/Ladies is far more entertaining to me than Drawing a TP regenerator for the 6th time.

Divination feeling on the weak side and Nocturnal Sect being not worth using if I can help it are things that feedback and balance passes can fix. But overall I very much enjoy new AST.

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Originally Posted by Hatstand

If the tank doesn't need Bole anymore, it could be put on a dps who's struggling with aoes.

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No that DPS just needs to get good and actually dodge AoEs.

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Originally Posted by Hatstand

The hardest part about fixing the ast card system would be SE swallowing their pride and recognising that their "fix" made things worse.

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Their fix works, it gets the job done, much better than the older cards do, as a matter of fact. The only real issue is now, you're pretty much done with cards once you have all three seals and Divination is on cooldown, you're just sitting and using Minor Arcana to get the better buffs from the cards. Personally, the cards are fine as they are, I can't see myself enjoying AST if cards return to their old form and Divination remains as is.

If they just made opposition what it was before, but like, IDK make it so it doesn't extend Divination (Prob why they removed it in the first place) I would be a much happier camper. Or at least let it stun.

Otherwise I'm still enjoying the class. Cards are a bit less interactive but more rapid fire and still need some quick decision making. I like the new horoscope and intersection spells as well, they do add some interesting "think ahead" moments.

But I would really just like some pot/MP buffs :(

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Originally Posted by ErryK

No that DPS just needs to get good and actually dodge AoEs.

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So lag isn't a thing? Or undergeared tanks? In the old system, I loved that you could judge what you'd need based on the party that you had, and feed the other cards to the royal road. I used to take great satisfaction in putting aside a bole to use in a boss room when I knew that my tank wouldn't be able to cope with the incoming damage well. I can see how these uses would be lesser in raids, and how if you were trying to push for maximum use in a party that is already operating at peak performance it could get frustrating to draw the cards that in there seemed useless. Still, I can't help but think they could have found a solution for this that didn't involve stripping all decision making and planning out of the use of cards.

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Originally Posted by ErryK

Their fix works, it gets the job done, much better than the older cards do, as a matter of fact. The only real issue is now, you're pretty much done with cards once you have all three seals and Divination is on cooldown, you're just sitting and using Minor Arcana to get the better buffs from the cards. Personally, the cards are fine as they are, I can't see myself enjoying AST if cards return to their old form and Divination remains as is.

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You're entitled to like the new card system. It seems incredibly boring to me, but to each their own. And I'm sure there are plenty of other things that need fixing, but that doesn't mean we can't advocate for both fixes.

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Originally Posted by ErryK

Their fix works, it gets the job done, much better than the older cards do, as a matter of fact. The only real issue is now, you're pretty much done with cards once you have all three seals and Divination is on cooldown, you're just sitting and using Minor Arcana to get the better buffs from the cards. Personally, the cards are fine as they are, I can't see myself enjoying AST if cards return to their old form and Divination remains as is.

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To be frank the fix does not work and the buffs are so butchered that they fail to compare to the old cards and fail to allow AST to actually be viable. Not to mention if we went back to the old system divination would not even exist anymore as we would have Royal Road to do the job of divination even better without a 3 min cooldown.

The cards are so bad now I am seeing them get hardly used anymore.

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Originally Posted by Hatstand

So lag isn't a thing? Or undergeared tanks? In the old system, I loved that you could judge what you'd need based on the party that you had, and feed the other cards to the royal road. I used to take great satisfaction in putting aside a bole to use in a boss room when I knew that my tank wouldn't be able to cope with the incoming damage well.

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That's no longer the healer's role, seeing as tanks have plenty of mitigation tools available to them in addition to the 20% reduction. I had more satisfaction in pulling an enhanced or expanded Balance, considering the rest of the cards were sub-optimal in any and every situation (perhaps barring Spear and Arrow in certain situations). And again, players need to stop being bad and actually gear themselves instead of having me babysit them because they couldn't be bothered to spend 20k or so Gil buying new gear with better defense.

As for saying the cards are worse than the previous set, I disagree, but we'll keep it at that as they seem to be a controversial topic, especially on these forums.

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Originally Posted by TankHunter678

The cards are so bad now I am seeing them get hardly used anymore.

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If you're seeing people not use the cards, I honestly think you're just playing with people who don't know how to play AST. You might want to suggest White Mage to them.

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Originally Posted by ErryK

Personally, the cards are fine as they are, I can't see myself enjoying AST if cards return to their old form

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and personally I can't see myself enjoy AST with the current card system

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Originally Posted by Quizotic

and personally I can't see myself enjoy AST with the current card system

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Thankfully there are two other healers you can "enjoy".

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Originally Posted by ErryK

Thankfully there are two other healers you can "enjoy".

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of which I don't enjoy, hench why I lvl'd AST in the first place