Astroligian easy fix please send it to Yoshi

[lordparanoia]

Lol... Seriously? You aren't playing cards, you are a healer with a support system involving cards BUT your job is healing, not only supporting.
The cards system is simply perfect the way it is. And Who complains about it maybe has not understood how this job works.

[Phenidate]

Except that drawing cards takes up a large chunk of class identity and utility - and I get the feeling it's why our primary healing skills output is less than the more focused job counterparts, WHM and SCH - sometimes as much as half the potency of comparable skills. It feels like everything we do is not at the same potential as our fellow healers and drawing cards is somehow to make up for it. That AST is intended to be a support healer rather than just healer.

Keep in mind that SCH's fairy can put out a comparable speed buff with about the same uptime as Draw. This is in addition to providing supplementary heals, AoE esuna, and can be hotswapped for a fairy that increases healing potency and casts a superior AoE regen. It also provides buffer time to pump out supplementary DPS, up to about half a proper damage dealers worth.

WHM has multiple regens with superior output, a superior stoneskin, TWO massive heals to our one, heal potency c/d, access to Eye for an Eye and Virus, and superior base healing output. Pure focused healing.

What may help is that casting Royal Road reduces the recast time on Draw. By 15 seconds maybe. So in effect this Draw/Play phase comes out at 45s for a maybe better card than before. This is justifiable by the fact that Balance and Bole are only 1.5x as effective. Right now you give up two card draws for 1.5x the benefit? That doesn't really make any sense. How are we getting a 'buffed card' when we're in fact getting poorer effective buff performance. In reality none of the card draws are buffed as you're just condensing two card draws worth of buffing into a single card, (aside from the aforementioned Bole/Balance). Furthermore, there's balance to this in the fact that you're taking a risk by re-drawing - you may get an inferior card to the one you had before, a ewer or spire instead of Balance or Arrow.

Additionaly, the duration of all cards should be 20s base, not just some of them. This way we're providing effectively a DPS cooldown on any of the cards we draw - considering that the effects on cards like Balance and Bole are half the effectiveness of a propper cooldown. This would make up for lackluster healer DPS at least - bear in mind again that AST heals and shielding/regen provide less of a buffer for time to DPS than other jobs. One of our AoE effects doesn't even let us do anything for it's 18s duration.

Edit: And to expand on some of the difference in healing power that we see between say, a WHM and AST:
Regen, 21s of 150 potency healing. That's 3150 total healing potency over it's duration. It's an instant cast.
Aspected Benefic in Dirunal Sect. 190 potency up front. 18s of 100 potency. That's 1990 total healing potency. With the 5% heal buff it's 2089.5.
Whats this mean? Well Regen is 1.5x better than Aspected Benefic!

How about our Nocturnal Aspected Benefic vs. Scholars?
250 (262.5 with the 5% healing buff from stance) potency with a shield for the amount of healing done. Vs 300 potency with a shield for the amount of healing done.

If we stance to heal and regen like a WHM, we're inferior to a WHM's output. If we stance to heal and shield like a SCH, we're inferior to SCH.

[Nague]

except raging strikes is one little class ability from archer and cards are basically the whole scholar class.
with the 30 secs and average luck its worse than 1 selene skill.
And by "it" i mean the whole astro class mechanic.

[VitalSuit]

Lol... Seriously? You aren't playing cards, you are a healer with a support system involving cards BUT your job is healing, not only supporting.
The cards system is simply perfect the way it is. And Who complains about it maybe has not understood how this job works.

The cards are far FAR from perfect and saying otherwise means you know nothing of the class.

It's super perfect to have a 17% chance to draw the card you want/need but instead get 6 spires in a row with a caster party. Tank might love you but you brought nothing for the others.

[Eraqus]

The Diurnal Sect, while a bit better, is pretty horrible too. 18 seconds of standing still in a mechanic heavy game is pretty ridiculous.

It's a pretty easy fix though, make it an 18 second Aura that moves with us and allows us to cast at the same time.

Another Cool idea for collective unconscious

[Eisenhower]

It's a pretty easy fix though, make it an 18 second Aura that moves with us and allows us to cast at the same time.

That would be a good fix. But I don't think the game engine could easily adapt such a thing. At least, I haven't seen any aura effects in this game that move seamlessly with a character or enemy. On the other hand, that could be circumvented with a spell that pulses in an AoE every X seconds to reapply a buff. Not perfect - but if it works in HotS it can work here.

[Eudyptes]

That would be a good fix. But I don't think the game engine could easily adapt such a thing. At least, I haven't seen any aura effects in this game that move seamlessly with a character or enemy. On the other hand, that could be circumvented with a spell that pulses in an AoE every X seconds to reapply a buff. Not perfect - but if it works in HotS it can work here.

I'd be happy if you could at least just simply drop the bubble. Anything that's not completely locking you out from spell casting is fine by me.

[UOdhn]

That would be a good fix. But I don't think the game engine could easily adapt such a thing. At least, I haven't seen any aura effects in this game that move seamlessly with a character or enemy. On the other hand, that could be circumvented with a spell that pulses in an AoE every X seconds to reapply a buff. Not perfect - but if it works in HotS it can work here.

You have seen them, but not realized it. Bard songs are auras from the bard. So it is possible to do.

[PetiteMalFleur]

Honestly, the biggest complaint I see in game about the class is astrologians not using cards at all. Why do people not use their cards on a class where it is an integral part of how it plays?

So serious question: how often do you actually get a buff up in an average dungeon run?

[Eisenhower]

You have seen them, but not realized it. Bard songs are auras from the bard. So it is possible to do.

Oh. Right. Well then. Carry on citizen.