Petition: Revert AST card changes

[Crushnight]

Balance, Arrow, Spear were all straight dps gains, bole was an indirect one as it allowed less healing needed thus slight gain on healer dps, Ewer was for mp or RR, Spire was nigh useless in SB.

Fishing for old ast was like this 1/3 chance for Ewer/Spire for RR then 1/2 chance or 1/6 for pure optimal(good ast really would care about the 1/2 rather than the 1/6)
so odds on happening = 1/3 x 1/2(1/6) = 0.167(0.056)
Now add in redraw = 2/5 x 1/2(1/6) = 0.2(0.067)
1/3 x 3/5(1/5) = 0.2(0.067)
2/5 x 3/5(1/5) = 0.24(0.08)

Fishing for new ast is garenteed 1 seal, then 2/3 chance for next useful seal then 1/3 chance for last seal.
So odds on happening = 2/3 x 1/3 = 0.222
Now add in redraw = 4/5 x 1/3 = 0.267
2/3 x 2/5 = 0.267
4/5 x 2/5 = 0.32

They made the system more reliable by a good chunk but at best your still working with a 32% chance you will get Divination with 3 seals by the 3rd draw with a redraw on the second and third draw, so 68% of the time you will be fishing for that last seal and unlike the old system while having a lower probability to achieve an aoe Balance/Spear/Arrow, this new system seems far less impactful when you get that luck, something SE should look into sorting out.

[Avidria]

I mean I don't play AST much... but I dislike the card system less now than I did before. Was actually kind of enjoying playing it while I was leveling it, though it definitely felt weaker than white mage overall.

New system has some issues, but I personally think it's still better than the old one.

[ForteNightshade]

I think they work better. Fishing for a balance is way overrated.

How is it any less overrated to now fish for Seals then mindlessly Minor Arcana every card without a second thought once you have said Seals? And you do this all for a weak buff.

Regardless, it speaks volumes when Astro has only 10% the clear rates of White Mage and Scholar for Titan. Despite the state White Mage was in throughout Stormblood, it never once fell to even half less Savage uploads than its counterparts. Current Astro has yet to break 1,000 on Titan. This is in spite of it receiving buffs.

[Rai_Takara]

The new card changes are great. After maining AST for 4 years, having to play for balance (which is a real thing if you cared to optimize) was boring. Minor Arcana alleviated some of the issue but instead of throwing the card away, you just MA'd them away, to get something for it.

The current system is easier to balance and is more consistent at the same time, keeping the same RNG mechanics. If anything the new card system is harder to optimize and depth there is welcome over balance or bust.

[rachcouture]

None of the original cards were useless. While some were more situational and dependent on party composition, there were numerous cases where I made use of every single one. If someone was fishing for balance, that was a player problem; not a design one.

There is nothing superior about the new system, nor can it be salvaged. Damage-only is incredibly boring; it lacks actual strategical input. I spend more time looking for seals/Arcana conversion than I ever did trying to get a particular buff I wanted with the old cards. Single card deployment is exceedingly cumbersome, especially on controller. There's also the issue of how this change completely and utterly butchers both the storyline for AST and its core lore. The same goes for removal of the time stretching with Celestial Opposition and Time Dilation.

For those of you that actually prefer the new cards: I genuinely question if y'all ever played AST long enough to understand what made the old system better.

[Hash_Browns]

None of the original cards were useless. While some were more situational and dependent on party composition, there were numerous cases where I made use of every single one. If someone was fishing for balance, that was a player problem; not a design one.

None of the original cards were useless, in content such as the DF where people would make mistakes. They were useless in content where you were expecting high level play. Bole/Ewer/Spire should never have had to be played on your group. If they were required, mistakes that could have been prevented were happening.

There is nothing superior about the new system, nor can it be salvaged. Damage-only is incredibly boring; it lacks actual strategical input.

The strategical input is knowing when to use your cards, and on who - not drawing your cards. Lining up a card with something like trick attack, or using cards/divination during burst phases is the key.

I spend more time looking for seals/Arcana conversion than I ever did trying to get a particular buff I wanted with the old cards.

This makes me think 2 things are happening then:
1. With the old system you didn't care what cards you drew, as long as you got to use them

or

2. You aren't using your full kit.

It's easy to get full seals, and another set with your current kit, and be able to give Lady/Lord for the next minute and a half.

Single card deployment is exceedingly cumbersome, especially on controller.

Can't say anything about controllers, since I don't use one, but you can easily plug a mouse.keyboard into your PS4, if that is what you are using.

There's also the issue of how this change completely and utterly butchers both the storyline for AST and its core lore. The same goes for removal of the time stretching with Celestial Opposition and Time Dilation.

This isn't about the lore, it's about the gameplay.

For those of you that actually prefer the new cards: I genuinely question if y'all ever played AST long enough to understand what made the old system better.

Ah yes, No True Scotsman.

[Shalan]

While it certainly works better and is much more predictable for raiding and such it sure is boring as hell to use now. Bored me to the point I don't feel like playing AST much nowadays.

At this point I don't get why we even have cards at all. Might as well cut the fat, remove all the abilities tied to them and just give us a straight up DPS boost ability with a card animation. Not like there's anything special to the cards or any decision making that we didn't have before. It's just busybody work now.

[Mikhaill]

None of the original cards were useless. While some were more situational and dependent on party composition, there were numerous cases where I made use of every single one. If someone was fishing for balance, that was a player problem; not a design one.

There is nothing superior about the new system, nor can it be salvaged. Damage-only is incredibly boring; it lacks actual strategical input. I spend more time looking for seals/Arcana conversion than I ever did trying to get a particular buff I wanted with the old cards. Single card deployment is exceedingly cumbersome, especially on controller. There's also the issue of how this change completely and utterly butchers both the storyline for AST and its core lore. The same goes for removal of the time stretching with Celestial Opposition and Time Dilation.

For those of you that actually prefer the new cards: I genuinely question if y'all ever played AST long enough to understand what made the old system better.

It's good for a raider standpoint, but outside that, nah.
Therefore the job is gutted into a Balance bot and is boring.
Don't really care for the Savage related crap I keep getting. I just wish the job was fun again.

[alimdia]

I don't know how anyone can look at this and say "AST is fine"

All raids



Titan



It's anything but.

They fixed a lot of healing issues and AST is able to clear content, but most people no longer find it fun, the changes just aren't good for most people, and the change to cards is the worst of them.

[Hatstand]

The new card system is fine in itself (could use some QoL improvements, though), but it’s not a good replacement for the old card system. The old card system encouraged a play style where you had to adapt to what you drew to get the most out of your kit. It was a bit unreliable, but that could have been mitigated by a) adding new tools for burning cards you don’t want in a way that’s useful (like the new minor arcana system, for example) and b) adding tools for getting the card you want reliably (my personal suggestion is a cooldown which changes your basic moves into card icons a la dancer to allow you to draw the card of your choice), and c) bag randomisation, which means that each card you draw is removed from the set of cards to be drawn from until all 6 have been drawn. This means you’ll get exactly one balance every 3 minutes, and exactly one spire, etc.

The new system (with a non-card flavour) should have been the basis for a new healer class. That way people who don’t like the rng can go without it and people who do can keep it.