Feedback on AST's Arcana Gauge

Hi, I'm here today to talk about this new Arcana Gauge and how it isn't as good as I thought it would be...

First, The Royal road effect is too smal compared to the whole gauge, but thats not the worst part, actually it's just the beginning...

Secondly, the Arcana Gauge doesn't allow us to see our own cards as status, neither the other ASTs' as well. This is a bad thing, because in a party with two ASTs, we need to see what the other guy have so we won't rush into his plans (like when someone throws an AoE balance and we replace it with an AoE arrow one second later...)

Secondly, we got this skill, Undraw, and some people liked it, because we wouldn't need a macro with the command /statusoff anymore... but let me say something: While I had a macro, the status would be erased anytime, now I have to consume a cast (even if it's instant) to remove it...
Let me detail: If I would draw a spear, and wouldn't use it, I had a macro to use redraw, wait 5 seconds, then remove spear, ewer and spire automatically. I replaced the /statusoff with undraw, but it won't work while I'm casting...
I know I'll probably want to make any unwanted card a Lord/Lady in the future, but this would still bother me in low level content...

Anyone has any thought about it? Any help is welcome :)

Speaking about the gauge, honestly I think this issue would go for all of the jobs and not just AST. Sure they look pretty or cool, but definitely like you said in some situations you can't not see what your allies status is with them at that moment in time.

The AST is a good example of preparing your cards, especially is another AST is in the group. I've found the Aetherflow for both SCH/SMN to be important to see as well, more the SCH so the group would know if they have instant heals available if things get a bit mad etc. The other jobs maybe not as important, but I like seeing numerals (of stock skills) or icons on the enhancements bar rather than fancy imagery. But having the option to have both showing would be nice.

Any thoughts?

Yeah. I think the gauge is fantastic and I don't have any issue with it.

Not being able to see the buffs of other ASTs is problematic. This can be worked around by either being on voice chat (which you should be if you're raiding), or by simply not running an AST/AST healer combi, though there's nothing you can do about it if you wind up that way in duty finder for a trial or 24-man.

I also agree that the Royal Road indicator is a little too small.

I disliked the gauge at first but very quickly got used to it and now I actually enjoy having it. However, they definitely should do something about being unable to see the cards another AST has ready.

I hate not being able to see other AST's cards in the party list. I hate not being able to see my own cards in the party list. I hate having to shift my focus off of everything else to glance at an obtrusive widget every time I draw or shuffle because there's no more floating text. I hate how much space it takes up to display what would otherwise be a handful of icons at the bottom of my screen.

I've gone from having all the information I need in all the places I need it presented in an unobtrusive way, to having to either A) have this widget permanently in the middle of my screen or B) constantly look away from what I'm doing to check it.

I find it incredibly obnoxious and I hate it. I want the status icons back...

You can't click off your saved card..... I hate this most of all.

I like it but do think the option to see cards as buffs should be there too; my eyes are so used to looking there that I'm struggling and not knowing what other people are doing makes coordination too complicated. Not the end of the world by a long shot but it would be an improvement for me.

The cards no longer show on the buff bar.
The ruby road buff no longer shows on the buff bar.
The cooldown of any relevant abilities does not show on the UI, meaning that you still need to prominantly display some or all of the abilities on a hotbar central in your UI (as well as the Astralogian gauge), which also show the same information regarding held cards on them while you hold them.
Because the abilities are no longer buffs, you cannot see other Astralogian buffs, nor can you see them easily on your buff bar or party window.

It would have been (significantly) more functional to NOT have the astralogian UI and put the buff being held on the ruby road hotbar icon. The gauge is a significant downgrade in functionality. Of all the classes I've tried, Astralogian has by far the worst UI gauge. Most of the others are simply impractical in terms of size and bulk, but show the necessary information. The astralogian gauge removes information from where it is desired and still requires the same number of UI elements to be present that used to be.

Oh.. and it looks good. Yippee; flash over substance.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Furious

The cards no longer show on the buff bar.
The ruby road buff no longer shows on the buff bar.
The cooldown of any relevant abilities does not show on the UI, meaning that you still need to prominantly display some or all of the abilities on a hotbar central in your UI (as well as the Astralogian gauge), which also show the same information regarding held cards on them while you hold them.
Because the abilities are no longer buffs, you cannot see other Astralogian buffs, nor can you see them easily on your buff bar or party window.

Oh.. and it looks good. Yippee; flash over substance.

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Well, as a personal matter, I still have another issue. I have all my card-related abilities in the L2+R2 hotbars, so I don't have the cooldown visible for any of the actions (my choice, I know, and I'm doing pretty good so far). What I did to solve this problem was to have a horizontal hotbar on top of my cross hotbar to show me the CDs of the skills thar are not visible, It was super easy to track them down.

With the new gauge I was so excited that I removed the card-related skills of the hotbar... Then I had to put them back because I couldn't track the CD to Draw and when I could use it again... Now I have the hotbar AND the gauge to show me information...

But the gauge is super beautiful...