Looking to pick up AST, tips/tricks appreciated

[Sciwolf]

Is there a good online source that explains all the intricacies of cards (when to use, when to shuffle, royal road ,etc...)? something comprehensive maybe.

[Elamys]

Is there a good online source that explains all the intricacies of cards (when to use, when to shuffle, royal road ,etc...)? something comprehensive maybe.

One of the (good, in my opinion) things about cards is there's no 100% right way to arrange them every time. There's certainly "best" arrangements to get, but if you're focusing solely on that, you're discarding a lot of cards and ultimately hurting more in the end because especially with 3 dps increasing cards, a buff is better than no buff. Of the cards, Spire is the weakest but it's not -completely- useless.

There are a few rules of thumb, though:

In 8 man, you pretty much always want to use your cards as AoE unless you're saving Ewer for yourself, or Bole for the tank. (Or I guess Spire for some melee DPS that died) So Royal Road all your Ewers/Spires. Do your best to manage your MP without using Ewer as you want to minimize how many of those you have to skip over RRing.

In 4 man, you're better off using Extended/Enhanced RR.

Unless you need a card right away for some reason, you're better off waiting to use a card until you have an RR buff up. So unless you already have one, Spread Balance/Arrow/Spear.

I shuffle pretty much every time if Draw didn't give me one of the 3 DPS cards. If I already have one in Spread but nothing in RR, I'll shuffle if I don't get a card to burn for an AoE buff (or Enhanced/Extended in 4 mans)

Minor Arcana I don't actually use very much though it is useful. I'll only use it basically in a situation where I already have something in Spread, I have an RR buff (or the card I drew won't give me the RR I want) and Redraw didn't get me anything better.

Sleeve Draw you should avoid using until you already have something in Spread.

The Undraw abilities...I don't use much either, and they pretty much only get used in relation to Sleeve Draw. If Sleeve gives me a Spire in Spread, I'll take that out. If I need to ST a card when I have an AoE buff ready, I'll use Empty Road. And Undraw I will only use if I get a card that I can't use in some way for some reason, though I honestly can't think of a situation where I've used that recently with the changes that have been made. I guess Spire when your group is all casters. Maybe if I already have a Minor Arcana, but the nice thing about that is you can use MA, wait five seconds, then put the card you drew in MA. It helps if you think that your goal is to get Draw on CD as soon as possible. Very rarely should you be hanging onto a drawn card. That's the real purpose of Undraw, when you end up with a card you absolutely can't use and need to just get moving to the next chance.

Oh, on the subject of holding Drawn cards, I only do that in relation to the MA thing I described above or if, say, I just drew another DPS increasing card but I don't want to overwrite the one currently up. Or if I'm separated from the group temporarily for some mechanic but I have a good card to use.

And that's been my experience with AST cards. I will say most ASTs I group with almost never touch their cards. Please don't be that kind of AST.

[paoweeotter]

always use lucid dreaming and celestial opposition together for massive MP regen. they have the same cooldown

pulling off diurnal aspected Helios plus aspected benefic on tank then aoe balance with collective unconscious hot followed ny lucid dreaming then celestial opposition feels good when used right