AST changes

Hello,

As you are in process of reworking AST I wish to throw some creative ideas.

The current major problem is having a non-interactive DPS kit consisting of 2 buttons for ST and 1 for AoE.

The Cards system does not solve this in any way as they are essentially oGCDs used for minor DPS gain. In any unoptimized environment, AST is more work for a weaker end result. This is one of the main reasons why AST is so unpopular within the healer community as well as SCH.

Non-essential buttons suggested for removal:
Benefic
Benefic II
Helios
Synastry
Astrodyne
Minor Arcana
Crown Play
Draw
Undraw
Redraw
Play
Combust
Celestial Intersection
Exaltation
Divination

These all are buttons that severely contribute to the button bloat AST is experiencing and most of them do not contribute in any meaningful way nor interact with the most important button - Malefic.

I would like to request a re-introduction to an actual card system with diverse options.

The Balance: Damage dealt increased by 10%
The Bole: Damage taken decreased by 10% and recovers HP
The Arrow: Critical hit increased by 15%
The Spear: Direct Hit and Determination increased by 15%
The Ewer: Restores MP and MP cost required is 20% of the original for all spells
The Spire: Increases LB generation
Cards last for 10 seconds

As for the buttons that will be replacing the ones removed:

Gaze
Type: Spell - GCD
Cast: 2,5 seconds
Recast time: 15 seconds. Has two charges (Spell shares recast time with Reflection)
Range: 25y
Effect: Draws one arcanum
Combo Action: Malefic
Combo Effect: Applies Combust to enemy target if one is selected.

Stella
Type: Spell
Cast: Instant
Recast: 2,5s
Range 25y
Effect: Plays the drawn arcanum
Combo Action: Gaze or Reflection
Gaze Combo Effect: Deals unaspected damage to target
Reflection Combo Effect: Draws another arcanum if possible and plays it at the same time. Cannot draw arcanum whose buff is currently active. Does not apply to arcanum activated by Parallel Existence.

Time Dilation
Type: Ability
Cast: Instant
Recast: 30secs (Has 2 charges)
Range: 25y
Radius: 30y
Effect: Extends all buffs applied by you on targets within range by 5 seconds
Additional effect: If used immediately after an arcanum is played triples its remaining time.

Stargaze
Type: Channel
Cast: 5 seconds
Recast: 30 sec
Effect: Reveals the remaining arcana in random order. Contemplation becomes available during channel
Combo Action: Gaze
Combo Effect: Seals the currently drawn arcanum. Obtains Sealed Fate.
Additional Combo Effect: Allows for the execution of Destiny Embraced and Fate Denied while channelling.

Sealed Fate
Stores the last Arcanum sealed

Destiny Embraced
Type: Ability
Cast: Instant
Recast: 0,5s
Effect: The currently revealed arcanum will be enhanced and drawn next. When drawn and played the buff provided becomes constant. The buff is overwritten by a card played which is enhanced by Destiny Embraced.
Additional Effect: The effect gets cancelled if used on more than 1 card during the channel and if no card has been lost to Oblivion by the end of the channel.

Fate Denied
Type: Ability
Cast: Instant
Recast: 0,5s
Effect: The currently revealed arcanum will be lost to Oblivion. Obtains 1x Oblivion stack per use. Effect gets cancelled if no card has been enhanced by Destiny Embraced by the of the channel.
Additional Effect: Allows for the execution of Rewind

Contemplation
Type: Ability
Cast: Instant
Recast: 10s
Effect: Currently revealed card will be drawn next after the enhanced arcanum if there is one. Card's buff duration increases from 10s to 15s

Rewind
Type: GCD - channel (Available only after Stargaze)
Cast: 1 second per card lost to Oblivion
Effect: Allows for the execution of Contemplation on cards lost to Oblivion.

Oblivion
Effect:
At 1x stack of Oblivion action changes to Supernova.
At 2x stacks of Oblivion action changes to Stars Collide
At 3x stacks of Oblivion action changes to Stasis of Time
At 4x stacks of Oblivion action changes to Shared Consciousness
Stacks of Oblivion are lost upon execution of the corresponding action.

Supernova
Type: GCD
Cast Time: 4s
Recast Time: 2,5s
Effect: Deals unaspected damage to target
Combo Action: Malefic
Combo Effect: Cast time reduced to 1,5s
Additional Combo Effect: Applies Starfire(DoT) to target
Additional Combo Effect: If The Bole or The Arrow is applied to self, share its remaining cooldown to nearby party members

Stars Collide
Type: GCD
Cast Time: 4s
Recast Time: 2,5s
Effect: Deals unaspected damage to target and all nearby enemies
Combo Action: Gravity
Combo Effect: Cast time reduced to 1,5s
Additional Combo: Stuns targets and pulls nearby enemies towards the target.
Additional Combo Effect: Target, afflicted with Starfire explodes, dealing damage to nearby enemies.
Additional Combo Effect: If The Bole or The Ewer is applied to self, apply regen with 500 healing potency to party the member with the highest enmity.

Stasis of Time
Type: GCD - channel
Cast: 5s
MP Cost: 5000 every second
Effect: Holds back the flow of time, extending the remaining time of active buffs and debuffs applied by all party members up to 5s.
Additional Effect: If The Spire is applied when channelling, Stasis of Time increases the duration of party buffs up to 15s instead of 5s.

Shared Consciousness
Type: Ability
Recast: 1 seconds (after 10 seconds Collective Unconscious becomes available)
Effect: Shares the effects of arcanum applied to self to all nearby party members. Effect ends upon reuse.
Additional Effect: Gradually loses any sense of self. After 3 seconds effect gets cancelled as you lose control for 10 seconds while your unconsciousness wanders around searching for yourself.
Additional Effect: If The Bole is applied, upon activation, roots your consciousness in place, preventing loss of control 3 seconds after activation.
Additional Effect: After 12 seconds your mind starts breaking apart. Effect gets cancelled. Applies Collapse, a debuff increasing cast and recast time by 30% for 30s. Cannot draw arcana while under the influence of Collapse

Collective Unconscious
Type: Ability
Cast: Instant
Effect: Retracts Shared Consciousness. Arcana shared upon activation get collectively distributed for:
5 seconds if CU is cast at the 10th second of Shared Consciousness
4 seconds if CU is cast at the 11th second of Shared Consciousness
3 seconds if CU is cast at the 12th second of Shared Consciousness


Reflection
Type: GCD
Cast: 2,5s
Recast: 15s, Has two charges (Shares Recast time with Gaze)
Effect: Draws current arcanum in Sealed Fate
Combo Action: Malefic
Combo Effect: When drawn arcanum is played, extend its buff duration by 5 seconds

Stars' Recreation
Type: GCD
Cast: Instant
Recast: 2,5s
Effect: Withdraws all currently drawn arcana and recreates arcana lost to oblivion. All stacks of Oblivion are lost after execution.
Additional effect: For every card played with a currently active buff and for every card lost to Oblivion, deals additional damage to target and all nearby enemies.
Additional Effect: Resets Gaze's and Stargaze's cooldowns if Oblivion action has been used.


Spells & Abilities dedicated for healing:



Diurnal Sect

Aspected Helios
Type: Ability
Cost: 3000MP cost
Recast: 5s
Effect: Restores HP of all nearby party members and applies regen. While on cooldown, changes action to Helios

Helios
Type: Ability
Cost: 1500MP
Recast: 1s
Effect: Restores HP of all nearby party members

Aspected Benefic
Type: Ability
Cost: 1200MP
Recast: 3 seconds cooldown
Effect: Restores target's HP and applies regen. While on cooldown, changes action to Benefic II

Benefic II
Type Ability
Cost: 700MP
Effect: Restores target's HP


Nocturnal Sect

Aspected Helios
Type: Spell
Effect: Restores HP and creates a shield equaling the amount of 125% HP restored

Aspected Benefic
Type: Spell
Effect: Restores HP and creates a shield equaling the amount of 250% HP restored


Neutral Sect
Type: Ability
Cast: Instant
Recast: 30s (Has 3 charges)
Effect: Empowers your next Aspected Helios or Aspected Benefic. Healing done is increased by 20% and gains the effect of the opposite Sect.

Lightspeed
Type: Ability
Cast: Instant
Recast: 1s
Cost: 1000MP
Effect: Reduces cast time for spells by 2.5s while active. Channel time does not reduce but movement speed is increased. Effect ends upon reuse
Additional Effect: Turns Ascend into Stars' Touch.
Additional Effect: Increase MP cost by 50% for all actions

Ascend
Type: Spell
Cast: 7,5s
Recast: 2,5s
Cost: 2400MP
Effect: Resurrects target to a weakened state.

Stars' Touch
Type: Ability
Cast: Instant
Recast: 1s
Cost: 7200MP
Effect: Resurrects target to a normal state.

Parallel Existence
Type: Ability
Cast: Instant
Recast: 1s
Cooldown: 60s
Effect: Stores the chosen Arcanum currently enhanced by Destiny Embraced but not activated. Upon re-activation overwrites the currently played card enhanced by Destiny Embraced.

Celestial Opposition, Macrocosmos, Earthly Star and Horoscope are the same.


Piety Stat

Now increases max MP
Reduces MP consumed when casting
Increases MP regeneration
Increases strength of Healing Actions
Increases Buff efficiency

Total number of buttons: 26 (24 without Diurnal and Nocturnal Sect)
Role actions: 6

New traits

For Aspected Benefic
Available at level 4
Base heal potency increases as the target's HP decreases. At level 30 the trait increases in strength

For Essential Dignity
Celestial Interaction becomes a trait of Essential Dignity at level 74, and activates when the target's HP is below 75%
Exaltation becomes a trait of Essential Dignity at level 82, and activates when the target's HP is below 50%
Synastry becomes a trait of Essential Dignity at level 50, the buff gets applied to targets healed when their HP's below 20%.
Resets the cooldown of Essential dignity if the target healed was below 10% HP.
Essential Dignity has 3 charges at level cap, and 30 seconds time to recharge.


Edit:
Changed Time Manipulation to Statis of Time
Changed Star's Recreation's additional effect, which now increases damage based on cards played and lost to Oblivion rather than stacks of Oblivion remaining.
Made overall adjustments for smoother gameplay. Added Contemplation and Rewind.
Removed Starfire from Reflection
Gaze and Reflection have two charges
Revamped Shared Consciousness
Added Healing Spell and Abilities sections.

You know there was a reason the cards lost their original effects of things like haste, MP recovery, defense mitigation etc, as it made AST pretty much meta. Like if one healer can offer a ton of buffs, why would you take anything else? Granted the cards currently are not fun to use and really need some changes, but I don't see them going back to a state similar to what they used to be in.

I kind of expected the Harmony of Spirit/Mind/Body to be useable on a party member rather than the AST taking it for themselves, feels a little wasted otherwise.

I can understand why you proposed a lot of the changes, and would be on board with most of them. I'm not so keen with removing combust.
I do like the 2 new skills, and basically I like the combos, basically in order to have a decent QOL and to remain mobile (i.e. avoid those horrid cast times) , just hit a very simple 1-2 combo which fits in very well with the current skills. even the names sound good!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kurando

You know there was a reason the cards lost their original effects of things like haste, MP recovery, defense mitigation etc, as it made AST pretty much meta. Like if one healer can offer a ton of buffs, why would you take anything else? Granted the cards currently are not fun to use and really need some changes, but I don't see them going back to a state similar to what they used to be in.

I kind of expected the Harmony of Spirit/Mind/Body to be useable on a party member rather than the AST taking it for themselves, feels a little wasted otherwise.

---

They were removed because in optimal play only the Balance card was wanted, and that level of RNG made the job unsatisfying - hence why all cards act as a balance now. The other cards didn't contribute at all to AST being overpowered in late 3.x.

As much as the idea of choice and making snap decisions is appealing, it most likely won't make the rework. You simply go back to the issue of a job not being optimal because 5/6 of the cards aren't directly increasing damage in a game where DPS is everything.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kurando

You know there was a reason the cards lost their original effects of things like haste, MP recovery, defense mitigation etc, as it made AST pretty much meta. Like if one healer can offer a ton of buffs, why would you take anything else?
I kind of expected the Harmony of Spirit/Mind/Body to be useable on a party member rather than the AST taking it for themselves, feels a little wasted otherwise.

---

You just answered your own question. They basically brought back a nerfed RR but only for AST exclusively. We all know how insane balance spread with earthly star was, or enhanced/extended balance time dilation earthly star. The devs are dead set on this hyper balance and illusion of choice job design. They are going to dig themselves into a hole and stagnate, hence the reworks to DRG and AST.

Imo SB AST was fine. Just remove the damage and have it affect utility, i.e. increase defense, sks/sps or even MP regen. Bringing MA back but making it worse is not how you design a job. MA worked in SB because it was used to mulligan a card if you didn't want to mess up your RR or spread. In EW its just a one min ogcd with another button required to use it. Makes me question the design team because that can easily be fixed.

Example:

Minor Arcana
-1 sec recast
-Effect changes to Lady or Lord of Crowns based on the current card drawn
-Balance, Arrow Spear = Lord of Crowns
-Bole, Ewer, Spire = Lady of Crowns

Using the example above, when you Draw a card, Minor Arcana procs and it changes to either Lady/Lord depending on the drawn card (as shown in the example). You can then either play the card as normal, redraw or use MA if you don't desire the seal the card provides. No need for a separate button like Crown Play since the action Minor Arcana, changes to the effect tied to the drawn card. If they can do it for Macrocosmos, Earthly Star, and Horoscope, why can't they do it for Minor Arcana?

It simply procs when a card is drawn and you can use MA to mulligan. This means you have a way of getting rid of cards (meaning no need for undraw), you can control the RNG (removing a card that will mess up your seals) and its easier to use and has synergy with AST's tool kit (cards and available every time you Draw). You can still keep the 3 seal system and you don't even need to change how redraw works (though imo they should) since you have another way to mitigate the RNG. smh

Figured it would be a good idea to give an illustration of how I intend AST to play with these changes:

Prepull:
Stargazer
Contemplation - The Arrow or The Spear (when going for Supernova in the opener)
Contemplation - The Ewer or The Spire (when going for Stasis of Time in the opener)
Contemplation - The Balance or The Bole (when going for Balance spread in the opener)

I think the job should be balanced around having Stasis of Time in the opener for raids as the best option, followed by The Arrow & The Spear spread through Supernova and lastly Balance spread through Shared Consciousness.

In any case, the following rotation against a dummy target goes for Supernova in the opener, followed by Stasis of Time and Shared Consciousness.

Prepull:
Stargazer
Contemplation - The Arrow (or The Spear)

When Global Cooldown is at 2,5s:

Malefic - 2.5

Gaze - 2.5
Draws The Arrow

Stargazer - 5s

Sealed Fate - The Arrow
Destiny embraced - The Spear
Fate Denied - The Ewer or The Balance or The Bole
Contemplation - The Spire

10 seconds

Malefic - 2,5

Reflection - 2,5
Arrow is drawn

Stella - 2,5
Arrow is played, The Spear is drawn and played.

Time Dilation

The Arrow - 45 seconds buff
The Spear - constant buff

Malefic - 2,5


20 Seconds


Supernova - 2,5s (recast)

Shares The Spear and Arrow(40s) with the whole party

Three cards remain

Star's Recreation - 2.5

Six cards remain

Malefic - 2,5s

Gaze - 2,5s
Draws The Spire

30 seconds

Stargaze - 5s

Sealed Fate - The Spire
Destiny Embraced - The Ewer
Fate Denied - The Spear, The Arrow, The Balance
Contemplation - The Bole


Malefic - 2,5

Reflection - 2,5
Draws The Ewer

40 seconds

Stella - 2,5
Plays The Spire, draws The Ewer and plays it
The Spire- 15s buff
The Ewer - constant buff, overwrites The Spear

Stasis of Time - 5s

Stars' Recreation - 2,5s

50 seconds

Malefic - 2,5s

Gaze - 2,5s
Draws The Bole

Stargaze - 5s

50 seconds

Sealed Fate - The Bole
Destiny Embraced - The Balance
Fate Denied - The Arrow, The Spear, The Spire, The Ewer

Rewind - 4s
Contemplation - The Arrow


Malefic - 2,5

Reflection - 2,5
Draws The Bole

59s

Stella - 2,5
Plays the Bole, draws and plays The Balance
The Bole - 15s buff (if Time Dilation is not)
The Balance - constant

Shared Consciousness - Ability

Stars Recreation - 2,5

64s

And from here on out everything loops. If instead of going for The Arrow + The Spear Spread, the player wants to go for Stasis of Time they will have to use Contemplation on either The Ewer and/or The Spire during Rewind if they want to get the maximum potential out of Stasis of Time.

Note that this is purely for illustration purposes, to communicate how I envision the job to play out with the changes proposed.

Healing on GCD can be done almost at any point between combos and channels.

I would like the implementation of Raise on oGCD.

How to make cards diverse again? Take away damage increase from cards and put it elsewhere like lady does damage and shield lord does damage and regens.

Then we can have damage reduction/mp gen increase/ threat reduction card/ lb gen card/ shield card/ combat run speed card/