Astrologian 5.0 Discussion

[galbsadi]

It is truly hilarious to me that in a game where 95% of the population is DPS obsessed, we have people crying over the fact that all of the cards are now damage up cards.

Sometimes things other than 'damage up' can actually provide better optimization...even for doing damage.

For example, if a BRD gets extra procs from crits on their songs....crit might be more damage than damage up.

For example, if a boss does a heavy aoe attack and Bole-Spread might keep people alive....living dps do more damage than damage up.

For example, if you have the best player ever who keeps running into stupid and dying...Ewer to pick them back up might be more damage than damage up (might in this case b/c they also might just be a waste of MP).

For example, if you also have a dancer in your party and the arrow can allow one more attack to be squeezed in under technical finish...that might be more damage than 'damage up.'

I mean, that shouldn't be super-surprising when you already elsewhere in this forum have conversations about how in a WHM/SCH pairing it could potentially be a rDPS gain to have the SCH not DPS as much...because that allows the WHM (who has higher pDPS capabilities) to DPS more.

Further, all of these provide some versatility and some interesting gameplay alternatives.

[Miziliti]

My biggest problem with the new card buff is how badly adjusted it is. I almost forgot the info of old cards and had to google for a bit. Thank god the old info are still available.
http://www.ffxivinfo.com/job/astrologian.php

Take a look at the balance, bole, arrow, and spear. These main buff cards no matter their effect, they all have base duration of 30s. When using card on a single person, I could also use time dilation to add 15s.

The new cards even thought they are all damage buff, they lasts only a pathetic 15s with no way to extend. I said new cards are a waste of time is because so far when I played DPS with AST in party, the 15s buff feels like nothing at all. Imagine someone lift you high up and immediately drops you to the ground. That's how I felt as DPS given buff by AST now. It is not long enough to feel the impact. It's a rather depressing feel than good feel.

Divination though it is now more frequent with shorter cd, it's still a pathetic 15s buff that comes and goes like a blowing wind.

If new cards have the same 30s duration, I would be more indifferent towards the whole new vs. old thing.

Not gonna lie, I never liked handing out cards one by one. Outside of 4 man dungeon, it's aoe royal road or GTFO.

[IanFrench]

So I have levelled my AST to lv80 after 5.05 changes, and after some Eden(normal) and Titania runs, I realize this class is no longer fun and doesn't feel as flow as it used to be. So I probably will drop it again.

New card system requires more attention because there are now two judgments to make, and way more efforts since every card has to be handed out singly(as a console player this is just annoying).

With way more efforts and time, the card now last merely 15seconds, feels like been busy all the time through the encounter and get tiny difference in return you could almost ignore it.

Very disappointing, SE!

[creamcaramello]

I haven't tried out the new changes properly but while I do like that CO has a shorter CD, I still wish that it could apply stun. Why does WHM gets to keep their stun but we don't? Sometimes when I want to help out with interrupting, I remember belatedly the CO doesn't stun anymore...

Also, this was before the changes in 5.05 but I was surprised by how much I struggled as a noct AST in Ala Mhigo when it used to be a breeze in SB. I could carry even the squishiest tank but my gosh, I had to swap to diurnal AST halfway (and even struggled!!).


Question: What do you meld your AST with now? Piety and det?

[LalaRu]

What do you meld your AST with now? Piety and det?

Crit and Piety here. When I see I am consistent on always have spare mana, will move to spell speed than piety.

[Boomsmash]

New card system requires more attention because there are now two judgements need to be made, and way more efforts since every card has to be handled out singly.

With way more efforts and time, the card now last merely 15seconds, feels like been busy all the time through the encounter and get tiny difference in return you could almost ignore it.

Very disapointing.

Pretty much this. I may do something with them if I've got brain and oGCD space, but I don't feel bad at all if I haven't got the time to bother with them, because the cost/benefit is above 1...

GG, SE, you made the core theme of the AST something I can't be arsed to keep up with.

What's that you say, having too much damage boost makes it hard to balance? Well, hmm... How about ... having a card effect that boosts MP regen, because people almost always need more. And, how about one that gives damage reduction? One that boosts crit chance? You know, adding more variety to make it a bit more interesting to use...

OH HEY, that sounds more and more like what we had!

[Boomsmash]

Raiders were upset about the randomness of the buffs. Non-raiders are upset about our 6 Flavors being made 1. What if... we could pick which card/effect we were playing? Like, you want +damage? Select Balance. Want DR, select Bole. MP regen, select Ewer.

I have no idea of the dynamics of it, how the controls would be done up or what. But if the cards either had individual recast timers or just drawing the card had a timer, that might regulate it.

The troll in me wants to say a settings toggle of "Always Draw Balance?" would have been much simpler, fixed things for the raiders without affecting the rest of us any. But if some of us want Balance and the rest of us want variety and adaptability, can we get a schema that preserves the lore and original flavor but is consistent?

[Celestiannah]

Things that made me love AST:

♥ Casting Animations of Avatar - met gala ballet level grace
♥ Blue/purple ribbons of light
♥ Star/Nautical chart artistry on certain spells
♥ Deep, subwoover BOOOOM of our AoE spell (even tho it was kinda expensive and wimpy, still worth b/c SUPER COOL)
♥ Variety of Card Buffs
♥ Options to turn less useful cards to Enhanced Buff for more useful cards, or Lord/Lady dmg or heal instead
♥ Celestial Opposition being an AoE stun that also gave everyone in range +10 seconds to my buffs (this let me increase mana regen, heal boost, cleric, etc on myself during intense fight phases!)

Everything about AST made me happy. Even during that time period when Stormblood came out where AST was bottom of the barrel and struggled to preform, I stuck through it because it was so much more fun to play than the other healing classes. I felt cool playing it, the sparklies, the movements, the sound effects, and the constant card weaving kept my ADHD brain so happy I didn't mind that struggle. This expansion made me ANGRY. Struggling to keep a tank alive with every cooldown left in my arsenal being used as soon as it came available in my SB raiding gear that first dungeon, then switching to a White Mage alt with no gear and breezing through it with the same dang group of friends...I quit healing. Every time I switch to AST and think about playing, I lose the desire to play anymore. I've switched to Dancer, and I am working on alts and generally ignoring the new content, because the things that made AST truly the most enjoyable are just gone, or so changed that it's not enjoyable to play anymore.

Things I hate:
• Every buff is the same buff...BORING!
• Finding the teeny tiny sun/moon/star symbol to make sure I use the "right" buff so my 3 minute buff is worth chasing...ugh
• My AoE now sounds like a poop plop in a public restroom toilet now compared to the old sound effect...
• DPS is like hitting enemies with a wet noodle
• Healing feels IMMENSELY undertuned--my "cooldown" heals aren't even worth wasting a global cooldown on except they are free
• Loss of 2nd Mana Regen via card
• New 15 second limit on Card Buffs
• 3 minute cooldown on Group Buff ---what, three?! THREE?? T H R E E ... M I N U T E S ?????

Yes I know we have NEW stuff now. But the "new" abilities to "make up" for what we've lost...Quite frankly, it's sad. Underwhelming, disappointing, and for me personally it's insulting. I'm not playing AST anymore, (or any healing) and I am very close to leaving FFXIV--which is sad, b/c I may not have a lot of time since I work so much, but because I work so much I DO have the funds to support games I enjoy. I don't really want to sink money into a game I am not really enjoying.

[Kye]

What in the world is happening at Square Enix these days? Have they pulled all competent devs off XIV to work on FF7 remake? It feels like we're back in the XI/1.0 days where sweeping and hated decisions were being made without any explanation or room for feedback.

They ruined the most fun mechanic AST had, and for what? Because raiders fish for balances? 95% of this game is 4-man dungeons for crying out loud! The previous card system was so much fun for those because of all the unique situations you could use your cards during them, it honestly felt more strategic than SCH. This game is much more an instanced dungeon-crawler than it is an endgame raiding scene. Considering that the majority of the playerbase spends most of their time leveling and running these dungeons for tomes, wouldn't it make sense to keep the things that make these feel fresh and fun?

What's truly incredible is that this game is now one of the highest played MMOs in the world, and yet SE can't implement what is standard to so many: freakin test servers! Let players test out planned changes before making sweeping changes to see if A) They're viable, and B) If the majority of players enjoy them. At the end of the day we constantly pay our subscriptions for a consistent service (whether that be in the upkeep of their servers or in the balancing and maintenance of gameplay elements), it is unacceptable that a system that has been in place for over 4 years, that countless people have enjoyed for thousands of collective hours be unceremoniously removed without any reason or explanation besides "balancing". And "balancing", by the looks of it, is something that they can't even get right at the most basic level if the recent buffs to AST are anything to go by since it was barely even able to heal up until now. I'm all for the evolution of job usability, but this is not an evolution, this a complete overhaul of something that needed QoL tweaks at best.

The lore behind the cards is now meaningless too, what happened to the Bole's World Tree granting life and protection? Or the Ewer's water of knowledge spun from the aether of Nymeia's loom, where all magicks come from? lol nope, just attack now. We should not be made to suffer such lazy, thoughtless, and negligent changes for the next 2 years.

What happened to Yoshi P's famous candidness and humility? Feeling like Hiromichi Tanaka is back and running XIV these days.

Signed, a slightly disgruntled former AST

[Side-Eye]

What in the world is happening at Square Enix these days? Have they pulled all competent devs off XIV to work on FF7 remake? It feels like we're back in the XI/1.0 days where sweeping and hated decisions were being made without any explanation or room for feedback.

They ruined the most fun mechanic AST had, and for what? Because raiders fish for balances? 95% of this game is 4-man dungeons for crying out loud! The previous card system was so much fun for those because of all the unique situations you could use your cards during them, it honestly felt more strategic than SCH. This game is much more an instanced dungeon-crawler than it is an endgame raiding scene. Considering that the majority of the playerbase spends most of their time leveling and running these dungeons for tomes, wouldn't it make sense to keep the things that make these feel fresh and fun?

What's truly incredible is that this game is now one of the highest played MMOs in the world, and yet SE can't implement what is standard to so many: freakin test servers! Let players test out planned changes before making sweeping changes to see if A) They're viable, and B) If the majority of players enjoy them. At the end of the day we constantly pay our subscriptions for a consistent service (whether that be in the upkeep of their servers or in the balancing and maintenance of gameplay elements), it is unacceptable that a system that has been in place for over 4 years, that countless people have enjoyed for thousands of collective hours be unceremoniously removed without any reason or explanation besides "balancing". And "balancing", by the looks of it, is something that they can't even get right at the most basic level if the recent buffs to AST are anything to go by since it was barely even able to heal up until now. I'm all for the evolution of job usability, but this is not an evolution, this a complete overhaul of something that needed QoL tweaks at best.

The lore behind the cards is now meaningless too, what happened to the Bole's World Tree granting life and protection? Or the Ewer's water of knowledge spun from the aether of Nymeia's loom, where all magicks come from? lol nope, just attack now. We should not be made to suffer such lazy, thoughtless, and negligent changes for the next 2 years.

What happened to Yoshi P's famous candidness and humility? Feeling like Hiromichi Tanaka is back and running XIV these days.

Signed, a slightly disgruntled former AST

Very much this. -^