Astrologian 5.0 Discussion

[Seraphor]

Now I do feel the new system is a bit lackluster. Having each pair of seal having a different effect would have been nice (DMG, Crit and DH up for instance), even if it's just flavour because it ends up in DPS up anyway. Then I wish we would have had a system like Divination that would spread card effects based on active Seals... It would have been a nice compensation for losing Royal Road.

Remember that cards where changed in the early 4.0X patches, so there is still hope there.

Nice idea, and to add or change to my previous post:

The biggest downside to this Card system gutting, is the lack of agency we now have.

Sure, fishing for Balance might be irritating, but you did have options in Spear and Arrow, and the option to decide where these cards would be most effective.
Who’s doing the most damage? Who benefits more from Crit? Who benefits more from speed?
Now, you get a half-Balance to use on the player the game has selected for you to use it on… which basically makes the melee/ranged distinction pointless, you will use it on whichever gives the full effect.

How I would do it:

Minor Arcana and Seals stay as they are. Lord/Lady giving 8/4% to melee/ranged, and Divination giving AoE 6/3% based on Seals.

Balance: 8/4% Direct Hit to Melee/Ranged, grants a Solar Seal
Arrow: 8/4% Speed to Melee/Ranged, grants a Lunar Seal
Spear: 8/4% Critical Hit to Melee/Ranged, grants a Celestial Seal

Bole: 8/4% Direct Hit to Ranged/Melee, grants a Solar Seal
Ewer: 8/4% Speed to Ranged/Melee, grants a Lunar Seal
Spire: 8/4% Critical Hit to Ranged/Melee, grants a Celestial Seal

This way, you have the same ranged/melee system, but maintain some agency as to which method of DPS increase you employ and where.
Each option isn’t a full on Balance, so there’s nuance to your choice, and potencies increased to 8/4% to account for that, but each one upgrades to a Balance via Minor Arcana or Divination.

Draw a Bole, that’s as generic as you get, use it on a ranged DPS and get a solar seal.
Draw a Spear, do you have a Monk? Great! Use it. Do you have a Bard and Samurai? Oh... maybe it’s more useful on the Bard even at half potency… get a Celestial seal.
Draw a Spire, you already have a Celestial Seal, Minor Arcana it into a Lady for a flat damage boost for ranged.
Draw an Arrow, you have a BLM and a NIN? Then it’s actually better to use on the BLM even though it’s down to 4%. Get your Lunar Seal.
Use Divination for your 6% AoE Balance.

Perhaps instead, it could be:

Balance: 8/4% Determination to Melee/Ranged, grants a Solar Seal
Arrow: 8/4% Direct Hit to Melee/Ranged, grants a Lunar Seal
Spear: 8/4% Critical Hit to Melee/Ranged, grants a Celestial Seal

Bole: 8/4% Determination to Ranged/Melee, grants a Solar Seal
Ewer: 8/4% Direct Hit to Ranged/Melee, grants a Lunar Seal
Spire: 8/4% Critical Hit to Ranged/Melee, grants a Celestial Seal

Minor Arcana could be maintained as:
Lord of Crowns: 8/4% flat damage buff to Melee/Ranged
Lady of Crowns: 8/4% flat damage buff to Ranged/Melee

Then Divination would be:
2 or 3 Solar Seals: 4% AoE Determination buff
2 or 3 Lunar Seals: 4% AoE Critical Hit buff
2 or 3 Celestial Seals: 4% AoE Direct Hit buff
One of each: 6% AoE flat damage buff