5.0 AST is a failure

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Originally Posted by Aomine1992

I still disagree, People only used balance and spear that was not engaging, now you have to decide on the fly and plan on actually using stuff instead of just spread balance, spread spear and that’s it. But like you said this is about the kit because the uniqueness is still in tact

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That is a pretty broad statement. Most ASTs I know did not just fish for balance or spear. Yes Balance was optimal and spear to a lesser extent, but most ASTs I know used what cards that came or strategized which cards to hold onto. I loved being able to stash a ewer or a bole for those "Oh Sh*t" moments. I LOVED throwing my BLM an Arrow. The most fun, and yes sometimes aggravating, part of the cards was that they were always different, you had to think on your feet and every run was a different experience because of it.

Collective Unconsciousness is in need of a major buff now, it is inferior to sacred soil in every way,
-has longer cd
-roots ast in place and no casting allowed
-heals less
It is baffling sacred soil buff got through while CU is left in this state

Time Dialation felt needlessly removed and could have add a bit more complexity to the more linear card system

Celestial Opposition is too weak for its cd and needs a buff

Nocturnal is just no at this point 1k mp for a shield that disappears like a knife through butter on tanks.

Sleeve draw and minor arcana were better in SB hands down though minor arcana could've remained the same, Sleeve draw had to have changed with this system so no real idea for that.

Divination is boring, the goal of the new card system is boring, rather than trying to deal with what we got handed we have a very clear you want this only scenario no ifs, ands or buts, 3 different seals or don't bother because it is not worth the cd otherwise.

Earthly star is still awesome ty for not breaking that

Heals feel weak but not 3.0 levels thankfully (yet)

I miss so much of HW/SB ast it was fun, yea it had dud cards (spire) but you could make use of them if you were skilled enough, the card system as in the actual moves draw,RR felt far less clunky than what we have now.

Will say ty for making Gravity a lower level spell we really needed that a long time ago :D

Exactly why I switched to dancer. Used to be a healer main for two expansions straight on AST but nah not anymore. They ruined the class and made it so boring.

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Originally Posted by Aomine1992

I still disagree, People only used balance and spear that was not engaging, now you have to decide on the fly and plan on actually using stuff instead of just spread balance, spread spear and that’s it. But like you said this is about the kit because the uniqueness is still in tact

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If you could refrain from lying, that would be great. There are posts immediately before your detailing how people used cards other than balance and spear. It was a small minority of tryhards and youtube copycats that played mathematically correct rather than convenient/fun.

So I am just a casual player so my opinion means little. When I first heard about AST changes I was excited. I had it in my head that AST was playing like XI's RDM or WoW Cassic's PLD where it was a buffer job that also healed. Obviously jumping into the class it was very much not the case. With long cooldowns buffing still takes a large backseat.

So what if they removed cooldowns entirely ? If AST main job was to maintain 100% uptime on both Cards and Divination with healing in between ? Obviously numbers can be tweeked but I am more so talking about the playstyle.

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Originally Posted by Alathon

If you could refrain from lying, that would be great. There are posts immediately before your detailing how people used cards other than balance and spear. It was a small minority of tryhards and youtube copycats that played mathematically correct rather than convenient/fun.

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If we want to go off my own personal experiences in this game then most ASTs didn't use cards at all. Remember the people on these forums are a very small portion of the population. There's no point in looking back at what ASTs used to do, or how they should have been played, because most of them probably weren't playing correctly no matter whether or not you say Balance fishing is correct or using what you have is correct.

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Originally Posted by Elamys

If we want to go off my own personal experiences in this game then most ASTs didn't use cards at all. Remember the people on these forums are a very small portion of the population. There's no point in looking back at what ASTs used to do, or how they should have been played, because most of them probably weren't playing correctly no matter whether or not you say Balance fishing is correct or using what you have is correct.

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I wonder if that is a server thing or not. In my experience most ASTs, at least ones who played them on a regular basis and not ones who were just leveling or playing for glam, used their cards, regardless if they were balance fishing or not. In fact on my server I've run into a lot of ASTs, usually new to the job, who would override my cards because not paying attention.

Nice post OP!

As it is now i will level my AST to 80 and shelve it with tear in my eyes. The class went from my favourite by far to class which I feel is chore to play and I cannot wait to finish it and be done with it.

Is anyone monitoring Japanese forums? How they feel about AST? I dont know if they will listen to vocal minority of EN forums but they might to their own.

Regens and shields do stack for Neutral Sect.

The only things that don't stack are:
The same regens/shields, so two Nocturnal Benefics, or two Diurnal Benefics, if you have two ASTs. (WHM regens however do stack)
AST's Nocturnal Shields and Scholar's Galvanise shields.

Neutral Sect Shields do stack with SCH's, and Catalyse does stack with all of AST's shields.

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Originally Posted by Aomine1992

No you’ve completely missed the point, there’s nothing wrong with the card system because you don’t like it. The problem is the kit that revolves around the card system itself i.e divination, sleeve draw and what not are the problems along with its healing problems.

And nerf to things like collective, don’t push your card agenda on a post about the core issues of the class.

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I never said I didn't like the current cards. I did convey that the current system is a watered-down version of what it used to be. It's not fun to play because you're basically a dmg booster while still forced to heal, or the other way around because you have two jobs (not including DPSing): healing and cards. The kit that revolves around the cards has other issues, too.
I'm not saying I like them either, they used to have their own playability. One would have to plan ahead. Now it's basically a choice of whom to use it on because the effect is the same regardless of the situation.

And I'm sorry but I don't fully see you understanding what's under discussion here. The original post also discussed cards so I didn't stray from the original topic. See below.

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Originally Posted by AmurT

- Cards:
There are two arguments here, one side preferring the RNG, unique and versatile nature of 4.0 cards. Another is pro 5.0, where the cards sacrifice much of that for consistency. I think the proper question to ask here is, what's fun for the players?

Much of the outrage I've seen regarding cards has been surrounding the lack of any flavour of the new cards. With all having the same effects, they are just not that interesting anymore. Surely some middle ground could have been met? Personally after having played AST for over a year as my main, gone into Savage and farmed EX trials to death, the new cards do not interest me in the slightest.

If you asked me what I hated about the 4.0 card system, I would have said that it felt a bit too linear that we always went for and AoE Royal Road followed by whatever DPS card, yet somehow 5.0 has managed to make the card system even more linear. There are no questions asked and no decision for you to make, only the right 6% buff and the wrong 3% buff. The cards even tell you who to buff and you just do it, it's very robotic.

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