What AST still needs

Hi,

Seeing Patch 5.05 notes, I have some opinions on AST:

I liked the Sleeve Draw changes, maybe I'll use it more.
I liked the potency buffs (who wouldn't)

But I still think Celestial Opposition should have it's stun back. Also people say it could have a MP refresh on it and it wouldn't be half bad...

Also, Diurnal Aspected Benefic should last longer and Nocturnal Asp.Bene should cost less.

Collective Unconscious should be buffed too.

And I guess I'll try to use Lightspeed more often...

- SCH got Energy Drain back, yay!

Honestly, the only thing I think AST needs now is an MP regain that is not Lucid Dreaming. WHM has two, SCH has three now with ED back. Give Celestial a 500 MP gain and I'm good.

If they're not going to buff Collective Unconscious any more, perhaps that's what should get the MP regen.
Could even give more by holding it, making it perfect for transition phases. Basically work like UI for BLM. Huge MP ticks that you don't intend to use for more than a couple seconds, but if the situation calls for it, you can hold it to gain most of your MP back.

Also, given Gravity's buff... I'd be happy with Celestial Opposition not having a stun, if Gravity got a Slow.

What AST needs is it old card system back

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Originally Posted by Jkap_Goat

What AST needs is it old card system back

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That is, "FOR THE LORE" people??

In reality, almost every AST I witnessed in game (other than me) were just rng-fishing for balance (and maybe commenting on back luck when it never happen).

SE taken note of that and made all cards effects as the old-balance. End of rng. Oh well, still that melee/ranged thing but not an issue with premade.

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Originally Posted by LalaRu

That is, "FOR THE LORE" people??

In reality, almost every AST I witnessed in game (other than me) were just rng-fishing for balance (and maybe commenting on back luck when it never happen).

SE taken note of that and made all cards effects as the old-balance. End of rng. Oh well, still that melee/ranged thing but not an issue with premade.

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In all fairness, that could have been because 10% damage is a huge buff, whereas the lower percentages of crit/speed were less optimal for a damage perspective. This could have been fixed by adjusting percentages.

Instead, now all cards give a 3-6% buff (literally one-to-two-thirds of what Balance was). They didn't turn everything into Balance cards. They turned it all into the Spear and made it not applicable to healing.

But, did lore made comments about card's effects? I'm not much into it but I only remember the introduction of cards but nothing said about the effects.

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Originally Posted by LalaRu

That is, "FOR THE LORE" people??

In reality, almost every AST I witnessed in game (other than me) were just rng-fishing for balance (and maybe commenting on back luck when it never happen).

SE taken note of that and made all cards effects as the old-balance. End of rng. Oh well, still that melee/ranged thing but not an issue with premade.

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Couldn't be further from the truth. Are you talking about ASTs who came as such job because the party told them they wanted Balance? Are you talking about non-regular ASTs who just thought ASTs are only benefitial because they could spread Balance? I main AST since it came out and I can tell you, a true (TRUE) AST could do with whatever card they drew. Either for the benefit of the next card or even turn that TP upside down. Seriously, stop making temporary or "one-night stand" ASTs be the spokespeaker here just because that's what they used to do. In all fairness, even a spread SPEAR or ARROW could add up to a heavy percentage of damage (not as much as Balance, probably) if used apropriately. It's basically more damage in terms of SkSp/SpSp or in Crits.

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Originally Posted by xDaemianx

Couldn't be further from the truth. Are you talking about ASTs who came as such job because the party told them they wanted Balance? Are you talking about non-regular ASTs who just thought ASTs are only benefitial because they could spread Balance? I main AST since it came out and I can tell you, a true (TRUE) AST could do with whatever card they drew. Either for the benefit of the next card or even turn that TP upside down. Seriously, stop making temporary or "one-night stand" ASTs be the spokespeaker here just because that's what they used to do. In all fairness, even a spread SPEAR or ARROW could add up to a heavy percentage of damage (not as much as Balance, probably) if used apropriately. It's basically more damage in terms of SkSp/SpSp or in Crits.

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I mean, pretty much. I'm not even an AST main, and all the cards had a place.

Everybody knows about the Balance card, which was nice, sure.

However, the Spear was almost as good all the time, and even better in certain situations (BRD got extra procs, SCH got more shield procs in full party content, etc.).

The cast-speed one (I forget the name offhand, sorry) was basically a single-target Bloodlust (for anybody who played WoW), and the spread version was basically a bloodlust every minute or so on demand.

The Bole, while certainly less valuable in a competent group...was FANTASTIC for those tanks that didn't know how to use cooldowns (like 75% of them in leveling roulette).

Ewer was fantastic if you ran into mana problems (like lots of people dying to stupid).

They ALL had a place...and again, this is coming from someone who isn't even an AST main, and never has been.

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Originally Posted by galbsadi

I mean, pretty much. I'm not even an AST main, and all the cards had a place.

Everybody knows about the Balance card, which was nice, sure.

However, the Spear was almost as good all the time, and even better in certain situations (BRD got extra procs, SCH got more shield procs in full party content, etc.).

The cast-speed one (I forget the name offhand, sorry) was basically a single-target Bloodlust (for anybody who played WoW), and the spread version was basically a bloodlust every minute or so on demand.

The Bole, while certainly less valuable in a competent group...was FANTASTIC for those tanks that didn't know how to use cooldowns (like 75% of them in leveling roulette).

Ewer was fantastic if you ran into mana problems (like lots of people dying to stupid).

They ALL had a place...and again, this is coming from someone who isn't even an AST main, and never has been.

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I do miss aoe bole during high pressure situations. Took the heat off.

And melee dps used to hate the arrow when TP was a thing, but now without TP they'd probably love it.

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Originally Posted by xDaemianx

Couldn't be further from the truth. Are you talking about ASTs who came as such job because the party told them they wanted Balance? Are you talking about non-regular ASTs who just thought ASTs are only benefitial because they could spread Balance? I main AST since it came out and I can tell you, a true (TRUE) AST could do with whatever card they drew. Either for the benefit of the next card or even turn that TP upside down. Seriously, stop making temporary or "one-night stand" ASTs be the spokespeaker here just because that's what they used to do. In all fairness, even a spread SPEAR or ARROW could add up to a heavy percentage of damage (not as much as Balance, probably) if used apropriately. It's basically more damage in terms of SkSp/SpSp or in Crits.

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Thank you! THIS SO MANY TIMES!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xDaemianx

Couldn't be further from the truth. Are you talking about ASTs who came as such job because the party told them they wanted Balance? Are you talking about non-regular ASTs who just thought ASTs are only benefitial because they could spread Balance? I main AST since it came out and I can tell you, a true (TRUE) AST could do with whatever card they drew. Either for the benefit of the next card or even turn that TP upside down. Seriously, stop making temporary or "one-night stand" ASTs be the spokespeaker here just because that's what they used to do. In all fairness, even a spread SPEAR or ARROW could add up to a heavy percentage of damage (not as much as Balance, probably) if used apropriately. It's basically more damage in terms of SkSp/SpSp or in Crits.

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"one-night stand" AST has to be the best description of those players that say "YoU OnLy fIsHeD FoR BaLaNcE AnYwAy", I don't want to generalize but I do wonder how many of those AST were asked to play that class only for a static purpose and become a Balance dispenser.

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Originally Posted by KanameYuuki

I don't want to generalize but I do wonder how many of those AST were asked to play that class only for a static purpose and become a Balance dispenser.

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A lot. A lot.

The stronger AST gets, the more intense the pressure to switch gets.