Astrologian Speculations! How will it fit in?

[Blueyes]

So we got a few new details about Astrologian which can be found in this post. Also a video with some very pretty animations, the last of which being my personal favorite. To watch the full live letter you can do so from this link with the Astrologian section starting at 2:52:40.

It's been confirmed that the effects of card draws include benefits such as enhanced attack power, haste, and damage reduction. There is an action which can be used to enhanced the effect of a card which the official translation calls Royal Road. The exact effect is described differently in the official translation than how it was explained during the live letter (setting the drawn card aside as opposed to putting it back into the deck) but in either case the result is modified effect. While perhaps it is unclear as to which card the Royal Road action would enhance, an example of such an enhancement would be changing a buff that would normally be single target into an AoE. Based on that example it's suggested that not all buffs are AoE by default.

One thing that has me a little bit concerned is the randomness of the card buffs. Having played Corsair in FFXI, randomness and luck played a big role in the mechanics of that job, but that only applied to the potency of effects. You had full control over which buffs you wanted to use which isn't going to be the case for Astrologian. Some of the randomness will be mitigated with the Shuffle and Spread actions, such as setting aside the defense buff in preparation for an forthcoming attack, though it is unclear how often those actions can be used. I do hope that Astrologian won't have to spend too much down time drawing for specific cards instead of using that time to deal damage. The damage buff could be substantial, but having the time to benefit from that buff as well would be nice.

And lastly, some observations and guesses about the actions shown off in the video.

1. Simple card draw, pulling the Fire (enhanced attack?) card.
2. Action that uses the drawn card, applying the associated buff to the AST.
3. Diurnal Sect/Nocturnal Sect stance activation?
4. AoE heal?
5. Offensive spell, inflicting heavy status.
6. Offensive spell. Possible AoE around target. Caster floats similar to a WHM casting Holy.
7. Possible self buff. AST Swiftcast?
8. Offensive ability, inflicting stun status.
9. Possible AoE heal. Shown casting instantly.

Oh also, a little more than an hour into the live letter we see a full party consisting of WAR, DRK, MNK, NIN, MCH, BLM, WHM, and AST with all six attribute modifiers in effect. Unless Dark Knight or Machinist add Piety it's probably coming from the Astrologian.