What do you want in your AST?

[Leareaux]

I'd like for current cards to be instantly playable and go to the correct player on a hierarchy system if I target no one. ie: Ewer could be (Caster->Phys Ranged->Healer). Spire could be (Phys ranged->Caster->Healer)

I'm by no means a career ast, but currently in 70+ dungeons it feels like I have no time to play with its main mechanic in cards. Wall-to-wall if I'm not following up ED with a Bene2 the tank is pretty much floored. I like that GCD cures come out faster than other healers' but 1 second is not enough time for me to use cards to their fullest. Dont even get me started on sleeve draw.

Lightspeed makes this way easier but starting a pull with it down you are always playing catch up with tank hp.

This is also coming from a ps4 perspective where trying to tab through your party during a weave is a nightmare.

[Roxas_Andrade]

That's...that's the point of the cards, even in the old system, to BENEFIT other jobs.

I think I can explain. Let's take Sleeve Draw as an example. Until 4.X you could use Sleeve Draw all to yourself if you wanted (when out in the world or soloing content), because you could have a stronger effect on you right away, and use the next draw to have a stronger effect on you for your RR. Also you'd have Lord/Lady to use and they weren't buff related...

Now, you can't use Sleeve Draw only for yourself, because you would waste draw CD if you did, therefore the argument that AST buffs are intended to other classes...

I wish we could get the Stun back on CO. Also we could have a better Collective Unconscious (the idea that you can drop it wherever you are and then you can walk away is good...). Also, Noct Asp.Bene cost is too big.

[Synaesthesia]

I would like time dilation and celestial opposition back, although I also like the new opposition, so perhaps split into a separate skill. The stun has nothing to do with balance, time dilation won't overpower balance either with the low effect of the cards. These were things that were very satisfying to work with in dungeons, adding to your party support and offering a chance to line things up as a skill ceiling challenge.

The old card system back coming back with whatever necessary balance tweaks are required would be great.. But if we're really stuck with this new system, I would like the target switching, seal fishing, and constant weaving to feel like it's actually worth something. It's a large amount of focus to mix in with monitoring your party and doing mechanics in exchange for a small return so you can stay damage competitive and feels very frustrating as a result. If that request imbalances AST for raids, I'd be happy to take a personal damage loss to balance it back out.

Please replace repose with something worthwhile. I feel like that's something the other healers would also appreciate. It feels like we got a very weak role skill just to do one quest.

Nocturnal aspected benefic is a sore spot. I actively avoid using it while in that stance due to the high mana cost and the general availability of other options that can save someone in a pinch, like using essential dignity. It simply does not feel good when you can get a free equivalent while in diurnal that works about as well and is available often enough for tank busters and such. I'd like it to either cost less or be more powerful.

[Lubu_Mykono]

Some kind of defensive buff, and the option to swap sects in battle at a cost of MP or no use of cards for x amount of time.

[Brandedblade]

I think I can explain. Let's take Sleeve Draw as an example. Until 4.X you could use Sleeve Draw all to yourself if you wanted (when out in the world or soloing content), because you could have a stronger effect on you right away, and use the next draw to have a stronger effect on you for your RR. Also you'd have Lord/Lady to use and they weren't buff related...

Now, you can't use Sleeve Draw only for yourself, because you would waste draw CD if you did, therefore the argument that AST buffs are intended to other classes...

I wish we could get the Stun back on CO. Also we could have a better Collective Unconscious (the idea that you can drop it wherever you are and then you can walk away is good...). Also, Noct Asp.Bene cost is too big.

And why is it a bad thing for a system of buffs to benefit other players more then yourself? That's what I'm failing to understand. Nothing is stopping you from giving yourself a card to buff your own damage should you choose to.

The problem with the old system, as has been pointed out already, is that mechanics that should be baseline for a healer where instead locked behind an rng mechanic. Bole is covered by shields and CU, ewer was removed with every other external mana regen mechanic, spire would've been useless without tp, and crit and haste buffs are harder to quantify the value of, and direct hit and det would likely have been the same if ewer and spire where replaced with those.

While old Lord and Lady had their moments of awesome, it was still rng. You still ran the risk of drawing nothing but Lady's when they would overheal and be a waste of a card slot.

[Billythepancake]

If the card system is here to stay, then I honestly think the seal system needs to go. It is RNG for RNG's sake. There is nothing rewarding about having your entire opener relegated to whether or not you get screwed over by the cards. Especially when you have to give yourself carpal tunnel just to attempt to get a 6% DPS increase, while other classes can get the same thing 100x easier. I could not imagine playing current AST optimally on a controller,it's enough of a nightmare on keyboard and mouse.

[Seraphor]

If the card system is here to stay, then I honestly think the seal system needs to go. It is RNG for RNG's sake. There is nothing rewarding about having your entire opener relegated to whether or not you get screwed over by the cards. Especially when you have to give yourself carpal tunnel just to attempt to get a 6% DPS increase, while other classes can get the same thing 100x easier. I could not imagine playing current AST optimally on a controller,it's enough of a nightmare on keyboard and mouse.

Woah what?
There's less RNG punishment than the old system.
The difference in damage output between Balance and Arrow, was way bigger than the difference between a full 6% Divination and a 'failed' 4% Divination. If you even managed to get a Balance/Spear/Arrow in your first two cards anyway...

[Billythepancake]

Woah what?
There's less RNG punishment than the old system.
The difference in damage output between Balance and Arrow, was way bigger than the difference between a full 6% Divination and a 'failed 4% Divination. If you even managed to get a Balance/Spear/Arrow in your first two cards anyway...

The keyword is optimally,the entire point of new AST is that you're supposed to never get a bad card, no fishing, and it's supposed to be better for optimization, so why is the seal system here? Isn't fishing for seals to get that increase the exact same thing as fishing for balance? The only purpose of the seals is to frustrate you when you can't get 3 different ones within 4 GCDs so it can line up with the other buffs. And attempting that on a controller? Jesus Christ, that sounds dreadful.

[Allegor]

The keyword is optimally,the entire point of new AST is that you're supposed to never get a bad card, no fishing, and it's supposed to be better for optimization, so why is the seal system here? Isn't fishing for seals to get that increase the exact same thing as fishing for balance? The only purpose of the seals is to frustrate you when you can't get 3 different ones within 4 GCDs so it can line up with the other buffs. And attempting that on a controller? Jesus Christ, that sounds dreadful.

As you said, its there for the sake of being there. It's the illusion of complexity - Without the seals, it would be VERY apparent of how dull and boring the new system is, because you'd just Draw, throw, Draw, throw, Draw, throw, with the only time to use Redraw being when there's no melee/ranged, which personally is what annoys me more than the seals.

[Hatstand]

Woah what?
There's less RNG punishment than the old system.
The difference in damage output between Balance and Arrow, was way bigger than the difference between a full 6% Divination and a 'failed' 4% Divination. If you even managed to get a Balance/Spear/Arrow in your first two cards anyway...

I’d be fine with the seals going, too, albeit for a different reason. I don’t like randomness for the sake of randomness. I like randomness for the sake of forcing decisions. When you got, say, an Ewer in the old system you had to think about whether anyone needed mana, and if they did what your royal road setup was and whether it was worth upsetting that to use an Ewer. If you weren’t going to use it, did you need it for royal road or would you be better served with a redraw, or with a minor arcana?

By contrast, when you get a seal, you only need to check whether you’ve got it and if you have you minor arcana it. It’s not exactly involved.

I would like it a lot if they introduced more thought into how you responded to the randomness of the cards, but I don’t think the randomness there is currently adds much.