AST Cards: Why they aren't fun and how they can be made better

[MuseTraveller]

I don't know why they couldn't just change Spire and Bole's effect to something useful and call it a day instead of change the whole game style of the class.
I do get that we get simplified combat with each expac but get more dynamic fights instead but there is so much you can simplify before it gets too...simple.

Ok tanks no longer have dps stance so they are forced to tank, bole is now bit more useless.
Ok no tp anymore so spire is useless too.
MP is now a % and everyone has MP regen skill so ewer is...useless I guess?

So now when I think of it, beyond DPS increase or shields/regens (which you give with your sects anyway) what else can they do with the cards? :/
I'm sure we can come up with something but at the end, I think it's just the system getting so simplified which forces the more versite healers to get bit too close to WHM which is the simple power healer class.

[TankHunter678]

I don't know why they couldn't just change Spire and Bole's effect to something useful and call it a day instead of change the whole game style of the class.
I do get that we get simplified combat with each expac but get more dynamic fights instead but there is so much you can simplify before it gets too...simple.

Bole was useful in the majority of content beyond letting a tank tank in DPS stance, it helped with pulls, it helped with TBs, and it helped with raid/party wide AoEs. Spire needed a rework regardless. Balance was problematic in that it created the whole fishing problem that tricked down from optimizers. If any cards needed changes in the old system it was just Spire and Balance.

Also Ewer would still be useful, as despite them improving lucid dreaming you still run into a lot of MP issues if you try to be a shield healer.

Of course one major problem is the fact that everything is built around damage. If you took out the straight DPS boosting cards in the old system and replaced them with more utility/healing cards (such as a cooldown reduction card, excog style shield card, or a card that made it so all damage taken during its effect was staggered like WoW Brewmaster Monk) then if AST still had its pDPS reduced as per utility tax then the class would never see high level play despite the range of useful effects it could give.