Astrologian - Observations and Proposed Rework

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
1. The card system is what makes AST unique, and should be reflected in capstone skills job flow.
2. Our healing kit is cluttered
3. Our personal DPS is lacking. Potencies/card percentages should be increased to make our buffs feel relevant
4. RNG has been hotly debated. We can agree that RNG has been an integral part of the card system since HW, and does have a place in its playstyle, with some options for “controlling fate.”
5. When we talk about job identity, AST has always been about drawing from/manipulating elements of time and space. From the cards to the temporal nature of many of our healing tools, Astro’s identity should maintain that feel.

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK
1. Not all jobs need to be equal in difficulty to play, and diverse skill floors make the game more interesting
2. Lore and job flavor matter
3. Engaging gameplay is extremely important, and can mean different things.
4. We do NOT want homogenization

MY PROPOSED AST REWORK – HEALING/DPS/UTILITY TOOLS
1. Leave Helios, Aspected Helios, Aspected Benefic, Exaltation, Celestial Intersection, and Combust as they are.
2. Add trait to replace Benefic with Benefic 2
3. Remove Synastry, Collective Unconscious, and Lord/Lady of Crowns
4. Lightspeed: reduce cooldown to 60 seconds
5. Restore 3 second stun to Celestial Opposition
6. Restore Time dilation
7. Sun Sign is great, but not a Capstone-worthy skill in my opinion. This should be a trait applied to Neutral Sect at level 98.
8. CAPSTONE SKILL: Time Warden: acquired at level 100. Instant cast. 2 minute cooldown: Grants the caster 2 stacks of Double Cast, allowing the Astrologian to cast an oGCD follow of the following spells: Fall Malefic, Gravity 2, Benefic 2, Helios. Follow-up spells: Fall Malefic, Gravity 2, Benefic 2, Helios. Additional Effect: Grants Prescient Draw. Prescient Draw effect: Enhances the effect of next card drawn by 5%. Effect remains even if Royal Road is used.

CARD SYSTEM
1. Draw: 30 second cooldown, stacks up to 2 times. Additional effect: Fates Foretold – prevents the drawing of a duplicate card from the Divining Deck for 30 seconds.
2. Cards are now changed to incorporate Astral/Umbral Effects. Astral cards: Balance, Arrow, Bole; Umbral cards: Spear, Spire, Ewer. Counterparts: Balance = Ewer, Arrow = Spire, Bole = Spear.
3. New Action: Royal Road: Switches Drawn card to is other aspect (thank you to Supersnow845 for the basic concept!)
4. Astral card effects (all 15 second duration): The Balance – Increases damage dealt by 10%; The Arrow – Reduces weaponskill cast time and recast time, spell cast time and recast time, and auto attack delay by 10%; The Bole – Reduces damage taken by 10%
5. Umbral card effects: The Spear – Increases Crit rate by 10%; The Spire – Increases Direct Hit rate by 10%; The Ewer – Increases healing done by healing actions by 10%

I know there has been a LOT of discussion on the forums lately about AST going into Dawntrail. We all have ideas and opinions about what the job has been, and what we feel it could or should be, and I know I haven't always seen eye-to-eye with peeps. But I believe there has to be a way to make the job into something that would be fun for everyone, and wanted to share my own ideas for the job. The post I made is definitely influenced by many posts made by several of you (and others) over the lifespan of AST, and I hope to bring these ideas together to present something cool, interesting, and potentially viable. Thank you for taking the time to read it.

Really, something like Royal Road / "reverse" like that right now would make this feel a Lot better as is. Give it a Eukrasia style "flip" (probably as oGCD instead of GCD, since cards), and.. yeah.

I'd not miss Synastry.

Of your observations, I am probably one of few AST mains who will disagree with 2. I like AST's healing kit and how it functions thematically, and I would not enjoy pruning it. Maybe changed effects, potencies or cooldowns, but I couldn't see deleting a single healing spell or ability.

Of your feedback. Yes. To all of it.

Of your proposal, 2, 4, 6 and 7 stand out to me, maybe because I already said I didn't want to get rid of heals. It's past time for Lightspeed to be a competitive movement cooldown and Sun Sign just doesn't feel like a capstone ability. To be honest, only SCH got something that feels truly capstone to me this time.

Now, if Sun Sign instead worked as a few have suggested, and instead of reducing damage, it would spread damage out as a dot... that would be a capstone ability I'd agree with and it would fit the thematic job identity to me, manipulating fate and time.

An issue with 8 - it's a capstone at level 100 , it wouldn't affect anything under level 100- so really not a very good QOL improvement. Not only that- it's tied to 2 minutes. I don't see why such a long CD is necessary. That's already what SE has done in the current DT and I don't like it, I don't see this as an improvement.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IDontPetLalas

An issue with 8 - it's a capstone at level 100 , it wouldn't affect anything under level 100- so really not a very good QOL improvement. Not only that- it's tied to 2 minutes. I don't see why such a long CD is necessary. That's already what SE has done in the current DT and I don't like it, I don't see this as an improvement.

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You make a great point - an oversight on my part! My goal was to create an ability that would allow a bit more DPS in our rotation while also having some kind of synergy with our cards. I hope at least the concept is good, even if the execution needs work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BlueMageQuina

Of your observations, I am probably one of few AST mains who will disagree with 2. I like AST's healing kit and how it functions thematically, and I would not enjoy pruning it. Maybe changed effects, potencies or cooldowns, but I couldn't see deleting a single healing spell or ability.

Of your feedback. Yes. To all of it.

Of your proposal, 2, 4, 6 and 7 stand out to me, maybe because I already said I didn't want to get rid of heals. It's past time for Lightspeed to be a competitive movement cooldown and Sun Sign just doesn't feel like a capstone ability. To be honest, only SCH got something that feels truly capstone to me this time.

Now, if Sun Sign instead worked as a few have suggested, and instead of reducing damage, it would spread damage out as a dot... that would be a capstone ability I'd agree with and it would fit the thematic job identity to me, manipulating fate and time.

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Thank you for engaging! I agree - I’d be much more into Sun Sign if it helped out with some aspect of our kit outside of healing/mitigation, which we’ve got in spades…a DoT spread would be cool, though I imagine it might take some heat from SGE/SCH due to their new AoE DoT mechanics, but I like the suggestion nonetheless. :)

Removal of minor arcana receives my automatic approval.

I don't dislike the royal road flipping. But I still am of the opinion that single-target buffing is a pain and will always invite overbalancing against RNG. The cards should be reworked into AST's main DPS minigame; it has plenty of support spells outside of its cards.