About Shuffle,Spread,Royal Road and Draw.

[Muahbec]

...

Yeah, i understand your point and i totally agree with you.
SE had the chance to truly fix AST and make it unique but messed it up ... sadly :/

[GideonHighmourn]

I do think the card buff duration and percentages are fine, but the system is still a little clunky to me. Mainly because of how RR interacts with skills; it seems odd, to me, and I feel it should work similar to Deployment Tactics, rather than being automatically consumed for the next card.

I don't think we really need much more control over the cards (via shorter Shuffle CD), but I feel like little QoL changes could make it feel less clunky and more thought-out. I've kind of gotten use to Shuffle returning the same card at times, and while it's annoying, I just make the best of it; for this reason, I never RR before I Spread a card I want to use. With that said, I'd rather have a shorter Spread CD than a shorter Shuffle cooldown.

Sometimes, I think I'd be better off not using RR at all, unless it's between pulls or during transition phases. I usually give myself one Draw/Shuffle combo to fish for the RR buff I want, while holding Balance/Arrow, before I will just apply the buff to someone. Otherwise, I feel like I'm sitting on a CD that's not being used; not only for the Balance/Arrow, but also Spread's CD.

[Roxas_Andrade]

Well, that's just me, but I think the card system is ok.
The whole purpose of the system is the RNG and the lore of the role has everything to do with it.

My guess is that people want the best combos all the time and I don't think they are wrong, but we have to remember that every card is positive in a way.

Like the example of the OP: If you had a NIN, a DRG, a MCH or a BRD, you wasted all your cooldowns trying to get rid of a spear that would be SUPER useful. More useful than an arrow, which would drain the TP of everyone above. Spear would even be good for other classes with short CDs.

I believe that we have to deal with the RNG throwing every buff the best way we can and AS FAST as we can. (Not that I don't use shuffle, but I use 1-2 times in a raid) This way, we can guarantee that someone will be buffed and we will not waste time looking for the "perfect buff" that might never come...

[Muahbec]

....

Then spear should be changed to affect ongoing CDs as well, we can't guess when someone is about to use their CDs >_>

[Roxas_Andrade]

Then spear should be changed to affect ongoing CDs as well, we can't guess when someone is about to use their CDs >_>

Indeed. It would be awesome!

[spelley]

Royal Road

Or just have it so that using Royal Road again while you have something Royal Roaded causes you to use the card w/Royal Road effect. If you want to use the card without the Royal Road, just use the Draw command again as normal.

[GarnetTribal]

I like at AST healing potencies are the same as WHM. Should you have a SCH/AST party, they'll be set. WHM has more instant healing/emergency healing with better mana management than AST. They're reliable in comparison to the AST.

Personally, I'd like to see spear be applied retroactively and the effect changed to CURRENT cooldown. It'll have diminishing return, but it'll have nearly it's full effect when used on someone after they've just used an ability. Increase the duration to 30 seconds as well. It's such an awkward duration right now. Plus, the 30 seconds - extended to 60 seconds with RR effect will have a far more reliable use. There have been PLENTY of times where I've used spear on a SMN just for them not to take advantage/not pay attention/not have the appropriate spear duration, and they don't get a shorter cd aetherflow.

[GarnetTribal]

Also, I would like to see a liiiiittle bit more to CO. I like what someone suggested- depending on your sect, it could apply an immediate AoE shield or heal. Do increase the range on it though...as it stands, it's pathetic. Quite often I think I'll have just extended an AoE buff on the team, only to have 2 or 3 people not get the effect because they weren't t sitting on my ass. Quite unfortunate. Doesn't make sense on the range. If it's for the stun, get rid of the stun. People almost always use it to extend buff durations - the stun is just a nice offset.

[Zaj_Quilos]

Spread cooldown should be reduced considerably and they should make it so you don't lose the card in there when you die.

[416to305]

Haven't read through all the posts but definitely agree on the Shuffle issues. I mean it's on fricken cooldown, to pull Spear or something, Shuffle and get the exact same card, feels the same as basically popping Collective Unconscious when the party isn't near by, and then moving to remove the effect. It's just a waste of a cooldown.

I'm loving AST more now though, just got to 60 last night. It's fun when in A1 or whatever when you can build a cool combo, like when everyone stacks, Swiftcasting Aspected Helios while in Noc, then popping Collective Unconscious, and then a Expanded Balance followed by Celestial Opposition and a Time Dialation on the strongest DPS is pretty cool! Stuff like that HAS to help party wide, it's just a pain that then you basically go on hold for 2 mins or so before being able to use CO again lol.