AST "The Spear"

[Thrivaios]

I think spear requires really good understanding of the other jobs. and admittedly the only time I ever use it is when I can swing it with an enhanced royal road, because otherwise I don't feel it's at its best. And I will usually always throw it on PLD or WHM because if they're in my party I know those jobs very well and know that sometimes the CD can be a bother on certain abilities.

Your idea is not bad per se but I think the challenge with spear is that the majority of the other cards are far more desirable and thus spear usually gets redrawn or RR'ed for extended. I'm not sure if I'm fully bought in to your suggestions. Are you suggesting it's a guaranteed "x-seconds off CD" so for example, cutting let's say Aetherflow from 60 seconds down to 50 or even 45? Instead of a percentage as it is now? If so then that could be good but it would suck for longer cool downs like Hallowed Ground.

[Veachie]

I like the idea of a flat % taken off aswell. I just dont like the fact that it HAS to be cast before they cast their cooldowns.

"HEY DONT CAST HOLLOWED JUST YET I WANT TO GET MY SPEAR ON YOU" you know?

[randysquirrel]

Rather they change spear entirely. Any meaningful fight I'll have my CDs planned out anyway according to boss jumps and phase changes. If Spear gives me them all 5 seconds earlier, well they just sit there unused for an extra 5 seconds as I still have to use them at set times

[Thrivaios]

Ugh yes I agree. I wish maybe instead of ones they cast during the time they are under the effect of spear, it would do that AND also reduce the CD of any they'd already used. That might be too much though.

[Chronons]

I think spear requires really good understanding of the other jobs.

I would agree with this statement. If your not sure which person could make the best use of the Spear I would err on the side of probability. Go for the jobs that have a high amount of cooldown usage. WAR is a good example. If they are in Defiance then they should be using their cooldowns to mitigate properly. If they are Deliverance they should be using their cooldowns to generate free stacks. Either way a Spear is beneficial. There is nothing like having Infuriate have its cool down time reduced from a well played Spear card.

[Publius85]

Is it weird to consider royal roading spear one of its uses? I know the discussion is more on actual use on players but still.

[Thrivaios]

Is it weird to consider royal roading spear one of its uses? I know the discussion is more on actual use on players but still.

Actually if I'm not looking to use it for its initial purpose that's exactly what I do. I would much rather RR a spear than an arrow, especially because lately idk why but I've been running into a lot of casters and they love their extended arrows (myself included when I play mine!)

[Neela]

"HEY DONT CAST HOLLOWED JUST YET I WANT TO GET MY SPEAR ON YOU" you know?

O.O i would cast it instantly than... don't wanna get someones "spear" on me.... q.q

[Fernosaur]

The issue with this is coordination...Most people just run expanded balance cause its easy to use.

Let's be completely honest, though, letting some jobs re-use CDs from their openers one more time during a fight, one which is already very likely scripted in how they use those same CDs, is probably less of a DPS gain than giving the same 8 people a +10% damage boost for 40 seconds. And this only applies to the opener, use of Spear at later points in the fight is completely unreliable and thus the card becomes garbage. In a game in which boss jumps are so common and phase changes dictate the timing of CD usage, you can't expect a card that requires such coordination and cannot reliably be drawn to be of any real use.

Sure, it's nice in theory with the abilities that have long recasts, but in praxis it's hot garbage.

[Veachie]

So I got banned for 2 weeks. Havnt been able to repost. Sorry.

I like the idea of "% off of cooldowns that have already been popped. "

If you like this idea please thumbs this up so maybe we can get a developer statement.