Can AST have Royal Road back? Cards lack depth without it
I like unique cards. But unique cards that just get thrown out feel no different from regular cooldowns, we already have a bunch of abilities that don't get used much in regular content, and now cards like Bole/Spire are just worse versions of Exaltation/Intersection.
I think what the card system needs is something like Royal Road to bring back the depth and planning that made the card system unique, since they've already removed the RNG. Allow us to manipulate cards again
My idea is:
Royal Road - Grants self Royal Road Ready. The next Arcana played is burned instead and grants a buff corresponding to the Arcana burned.
The Balance - Grants Royal Spear. The Spear potency is doubled on the next cast.
The Spear - Grants Royal Balance. The Balance potency is doubled on the next cast.
...
The Arrow - Grants Royal Bole. The Bole is AoE on the next cast.
The Spire - Grants Royal Ewer. The Ewer additionally restores MP to the target on the next cast.
etc.
This, to me, is more interesting and also solves some problems. Not only are you no longer getting screwed over if you queue into a melee/ranged only party, but you get more value from solo content when giving yourself The Spear. And then there would sometimes be unique cases where you would want to super buff a single DPS in a party, whether it be because other DPS have weakness from dying or because someone discovered some cursed optimisation tech.
Additionally, while Royal Road would be a new button, it's something you can prep during "downtime" outside of your 2 minute burst where you aren't doing much anyway. This aligns with their intentions to make the 2 minute burst less weave heavy since you're removing the amount of cards you potentially have to use during burst.
Since the cards are already separated into 3 Play buttons as well, there is no overlap between the cards that are strictly damage related and utility related. Therefore, you won't run into problem of "Balance fishing" and defensive cards aren't just completely ignored in favour of maximising DPS
These are just my thoughts on current AST. I think I'm pretty happy with the job now after so many years of frustration. With Lightspeed becoming a charged action soon, all that really remains to be desired from my end is just a little bit more creativity from the cards.