Spear card suggestion

[NocturniaUzuki]

It has absolutely nothing to do with "elites". The Spear is a bad card to draw because there are better cards you can draw, not because hardcore raiders don't like it or something.

It's a bad card because even the best communication doesn't make it good. You can cast it on someone and hope they use some cooldowns, but as I stated above even in optimal situations, the DPS added from it is extremely marginal.

The Balance is a better card because it directly grants more damage output, the Bole because it reduces the damage a tank will take. The Spear's actual effect isn't that strong to start with, and on top of that, it has absolutely NO effect unless someone actually uses a CD while it's active.

You suggested saving it for yourself, but A) there are better cards to spread and B ). you can't anticipate when a DPS is going to take extra damage or something else that would encourage you to need to use a CDs.

By all means, if you get a Spear just as you see the need to blow a CD arise, throw it on yourself. It's better than nothing, but "better than nothing" doesn't make it actually good.

Don't take my analysis as nothing but some mindless attack at elites. I simply stated a fact, which is that elite players tend to see the game in terms of pure DPS optimization (assuming perfection from players). Another fact is that not everyone is an elite. In fact, elites are a minority of players. Therefore, balancing the game around only elite gameplay makes no sense. There will always be "useless" abilities at that level of play, but the answer is not to downright remove or replace those abilities. Rather, the elites simply need to ignore them and player within their sphere. Meanwhile, the players who are not striving for absolute perfection can make good use of those abilities' strengths in imperfect parties, by playing within their sphere.

You seem determined to ignore the actual point I made about Spear though, which is that it is best used on as a self-cast for party carrying as a healer. As a self-cast, the player has full control over how much use he/she will get out of the reduced cooldowns, unlike trying to predict an ally's actions. Also, holding Spear does not radically impact one's ability to use "better" cards. One can still use Royal Road and Draw freely while Spear is held. The only difference is that you can't save the card to cast at an ideal time. However, for general DPS (Balance, Arrow), the timing makes little difference as the goal is to have as much up-time on the buffs as possible, with rare exceptions, like using a Balance AoE to edge past a difficult DPS check. But then, if we're talking elite parties, the help would not be needed in passing that DPS check and the use defaults to general up-time again.

"By all means, if you get a Spear just as you see the need to blow a CD arise, throw it on yourself. It's better than nothing, but "better than nothing" doesn't make it actually good."

You act like I was suggesting to use Spear haphazardly to lower random cooldowns that I might use. That is completely misguided. Here's are some examples of how I use Spear:

Spear > Lucid Dreaming > Draw [if Ewer, use it on myself] > Celestial Opposition. This combo is ideal for hard MP sustain in rough battles, or simply battles that require hard MP usage (like A12S, for instance).

Spear > Lucid Dreaming > Swiftcast > Ascend > Draw > Lightspeed > Celestial Opposition > [if Arrow was drawn, use it on myself] > Ascend x3 or more. This combo is essentially an alternative to LB3 and has brought my party back from an expected wipe many times. As you can see, using Spear at the start reduces not just one or two cooldowns, but 5. Almost all of AST's emergency spells on reduced cooldown. In fact, prior to Stormblood, this combo would have included a Synastry on the tank. One could still throw Largesse in there somewhere, but it would be hard to get good use out of it until the end, so it may be better to wait until then and potentially skip the Spear benefit (assuming the Arrow draw). Also, if I draw Bole instead of Arrow, I throw it on the tank and use Time Dilation, which also goes on reduced cooldown.

Of course I can't predict when I'm going to have to use cooldowns. I can hazard a guess based on how experienced a party is, but usually it's all reactive. But that is, of course, why the Spear is held - so I can use it immediately in reaction to disaster situations (of which there are a lot in PUG learning parties, etc).

You might think that it's a waste to lower the cooldowns on spells that I'm "probably not going to have to use again within their usual cooldown times". All I can say to that is this: try playing with some less experienced groups. Believe me, when half the party can't stay alive for longer than a minute at a time, those reduced cooldowns make all the difference. And yes, I still believe playing in such "bad" parties is worth it. Because to me, being a healer is only fun when I actually have difficult situations to help the party recover from. Healing in experienced parties gets rather boring.

[RichardButte]

I simply stated a fact, which is that elite players tend to see the game in terms of pure DPS optimization (assuming perfection from players). Another fact is that not everyone is an elite. In fact, elites are a minority of players. Therefore, balancing the game around only elite gameplay makes no sense.

Again, it has nothing to do with "elites", or "hardcores" vs. "casuals" or anything else like that.

People play DPS classes because they like doing damage. You don't have to be a 1%, world-firster to appreciate one buff giving you more DPS than another buff.

The observation that the Spear is the worst card to draw doesn't have any qualifiers following it (ie. "...worst card to draw...unless you're a casual player"). The possible exception is that you might want to draw a Spear if you're prepping before a pull.

Other than that, it's the worst card because it stands the lowest chance of significantly influencing anything happening in the fight.

The only card that MIGHT be worse is the Spire because TP management isn't generally that much of an issue, but there are still a number of classes that love having a Spire tossed on them because it allows them to go ham on AoEs.

I'm fine with the Spear being an awful card because we need something for RR and MA fodder, but there had to be a card that we generally don't ever want to draw and Spear is it. It has the lowest chance of having any meaningful influence on a fight and any other card would've done something more meaningful in its place.