Astrologian 5.0 Discussion

[heynowjose]

In all honesty, after four years with the same card system, was anyone actively thinking about what they were doing with the cards? I don't really like that they've all been made into the same thing, there's definitely a better way to have gone about it, but the cards were by no means situational. If you're in a raid, from the most devoted Balance-worshiping Astrologian to a level 30 newbie, you knew Balance was the best card to Spread. After that, Spear and Arrow are acceptable if nothing else is coming around, or if you're a more active Astrologian, you would cast Spear and Arrow as they showed up, along with Balance whenever it showed up. In a raid, these were all pretty much locked into being Spread to the party.

Then we go to dungeons, anything that can go faster without ruining a rotation takes Arrow, anything that especially benefits from Criticals takes Spear, any DPS can take Balance. Ewer is burned or used to fix MP issues, Bole is basically always tossed.

The way people assigned their cards was already decided by the time they reached higher levels and knew what they preferred to put on each party member. Some few circumstances where a card appeared and fit a rare situation just don't make up enough of the Draws to be considered true variation.

Then we have what happened to Celestial Opposition, which was likely changed more as a response to the addition of Neutral Sect, and the ability to turn the potential 10-15 second +14% damage buff on each DPS into a 25 second buff. But it's honestly another thing I haven't particularly missed, whether I was using it to extend tank regens or lengthen spread skills, I gain the same amount from casting one of the new oGCDs, or just casting Divination after buffing all of the DPS.

We lost some Mana Regen, we lost some card theming, and trimmed the Time mechanics, and let's be honest, Astrologian had no claim to Time spells in the first place, but that doesn't suddenly make AST horrible.

no ones saying its horrible. the cards and their buffs dont feel rewarding and the cooldown for Divination is way too long.

You can;t deny that no ones winning a fight bc you buffed the party 6% for 15 seconds every three minutes. The buff is pretty pointless and it's the only mechanic we have now. It's all we're supposed to be striving for.

[Cidel]

Having finally completed the MSQ and the 2 extra dungeons (haven't tried EX primals yet), I don't entirely dislike the direction they've taken AST in, but as many have voiced, it needs a bit of fixing (Play not "queuing" correctly, delay in Divination registering "in battle-" or just let us set-up Divination seals anytime, etc.) and adjustments to ability timers (waiting for Divination, which is pretty much the whole 'goal' of playing the new system when a lot of the time most ASTs will have a new set of seals ready in half the recast).

Healing is going to be harder from here on out it seems. No more throwing hots on the tank and playing dps for prolonged durations. You will NEED to use nearly every aspect of your kit in these large pull situations. The same could be said before with new content and possibly under geared tanks, but with your nerfed hots it's all the more difficult.

-And I actually enjoy this new "challenge." The 1st time a tank did a big pull on me in the 1st dungeon, I literally had to use my whole kit to keep them alive, even slapping-on the now underwhelming Celestial Opposition's regen; it felt good. Might just be a symptom of the early expansion undergearing, but I like being preoccupied using more of my healing kit- and the card system still gives me something else to juggle- even if it's not as involved and diverse/rewarding as it used to be. Will see if that changes once I've dipped my feet in the EX primals; the Normal Trials weren't too taxing. Will be leveling WHM to 80 next and I'll see how that compares.

[Chortle]

-And I actually enjoy this new "challenge." The 1st time a tank did a big pull on me in the 1st dungeon, I literally had to use my whole kit to keep them alive, even slapping-on the now underwhelming Celestial Opposition's regen; it felt good. Might just be a symptom of the early expansion undergearing, but I like being preoccupied using more of my healing kit- and the card system still gives me something else to juggle- even if it's not as involved and diverse/rewarding as it used to be. Will see if that changes once I've dipped my feet in the EX primals; the Normal Trials weren't too taxing. Will be leveling WHM to 80 next and I'll see how that compares.

100% agree! The increased healing requirement is something I think was needed. I think the harder they make content for healers, the more rewarding it will be to play as one.

[Cyrocco]

no ones saying its horrible. the cards and their buffs dont feel rewarding and the cooldown for Divination is way too long.

You can;t deny that no ones winning a fight bc you buffed the party 6% for 15 seconds every three minutes. The buff is pretty pointless and it's the only mechanic we have now. It's all we're supposed to be striving for.

We have...a lot of people saying they're quitting the role because of the direction AST has been taken in...I think it's fair to say they believe the job is horrible.

Realistically, the same could be said for AST before the card changes, it was by no means a mandatory role, as no healer should be. No one has ever one fights because of AST. The best we've seen is slightly faster clears, and in the big picture, that's the only thing we've slightly lost. And at the very least we now have something AST is ultimately supposed to strive for with their cards, instead of each cast being independent, I'd personally like to see how SE can enhance this current system with an ultimate goal, rather than the old one.