New AST from a New Player

[Mesarthim]

In two years? Not sooner?
This makes me feel bad about myself since I literally left my AST in the dust.

They never do anything drastic until a new expansion drops. At best they might give a skill back or change potencies until then.

[Hatstand]

They never do anything drastic until a new expansion drops. At best they might give a skill back or change potencies until then.

Not for healers, anyway.

https://nordic.ign.com/final-fantasy...or-inspiration

"Some people have shown their dislike of some classes, like the Ninja and Astroligian, are you looking into fixing that, and how?

"We talked about this a bit in the last letter from the producers. In the latest patch we changed some stuff for the Astroligian and we noticed that we restored the balance a bit. Still we see some feedback from players that want the same effects for the cards as we had before, but the dev team doesn’t have the intention to bring the old system back. We can’t make everyone happy. If we change back the system, a different part of the community will get mad. Some people loved the old system, and some people love the new system. You can’t please everyone.

"In regards to Ninja. We get a lot of feedback from the community that the class feels clunky now since spells don't line up nicely with Global Cooldowns, and the DPS-spec isn’t as strong as other classes, so we get the frustration. It is a challenge for the development team, but we are aware of the situation. For the next patch we will make some changes for the solo DPS Ninja, like number values. Since the job got released we have actually not changed it, so for patch 5.1 we are planning a big class overhaul. It will feel like the Ninja will be born into a new class. So for people that are waiting for changes, big changes and smaller ones like number values are coming!"

Emphasis mine

[ForteNightshade]

Devs so adamant about the changes on AST, makes me wonder if we are the minority in this issue. Every time they will say players don't want useless card.
Unfortunately we will not see AST restored, wonder why would they satisfied with such bland mechanics

While I certainly cannot say one way or another. The devs do react faster towards complaints from the more casual side of the playerbase even if it's a minority complaining. They can also be rather stubborn with their vision somtimes. Look no further than Monk. They were told endlessly how much people disliked the slow on Riddle of Fire. They didn't listen—only to panic when Monk was barely clinging to life.

Not for healers, anyway.

https://nordic.ign.com/final-fantasy...or-inspiration

"Some people have shown their dislike of some classes, like the Ninja and Astroligian, are you looking into fixing that, and how?

"We talked about this a bit in the last letter from the producers. In the latest patch we changed some stuff for the Astroligian and we noticed that we restored the balance a bit. Still we see some feedback from players that want the same effects for the cards as we had before, but the dev team doesn’t have the intention to bring the old system back. We can’t make everyone happy. If we change back the system, a different part of the community will get mad. Some people loved the old system, and some people love the new system. You can’t please everyone.

"In regards to Ninja. We get a lot of feedback from the community that the class feels clunky now since spells don't line up nicely with Global Cooldowns, and the DPS-spec isn’t as strong as other classes, so we get the frustration. It is a challenge for the development team, but we are aware of the situation. For the next patch we will make some changes for the solo DPS Ninja, like number values. Since the job got released we have actually not changed it, so for patch 5.1 we are planning a big class overhaul. It will feel like the Ninja will be born into a new class. So for people that are waiting for changes, big changes and smaller ones like number values are coming!"

Emphasis mine

I do find that amusing given one look at Savage uploads tells you just how many people like the new system. It's so popular Astro has 90% less representation on Titan than White Mage or Scholar. Maybe it's more popular in dungeons but considering White Mage is a damn near god in dungeons. I highly doubt it.

I sometimes wonder if they're trying to save face. They had to backpedal on Monk and Ninja. It really doesn't look good if they throw Astro into that pile, especially since they already had to buff it once. (They still need to again.)

[ZeroFool]

Not for healers, anyway.

https://nordic.ign.com/final-fantasy...or-inspiration

"Some people have shown their dislike of some classes, like the Ninja and Astroligian, are you looking into fixing that, and how?

"We talked about this a bit in the last letter from the producers. In the latest patch we changed some stuff for the Astroligian and we noticed that we restored the balance a bit. Still we see some feedback from players that want the same effects for the cards as we had before, but the dev team doesn’t have the intention to bring the old system back. We can’t make everyone happy. If we change back the system, a different part of the community will get mad. Some people loved the old system, and some people love the new system. You can’t please everyone.

"In regards to Ninja. We get a lot of feedback from the community that the class feels clunky now since spells don't line up nicely with Global Cooldowns, and the DPS-spec isn’t as strong as other classes, so we get the frustration. It is a challenge for the development team, but we are aware of the situation. For the next patch we will make some changes for the solo DPS Ninja, like number values. Since the job got released we have actually not changed it, so for patch 5.1 we are planning a big class overhaul. It will feel like the Ninja will be born into a new class. So for people that are waiting for changes, big changes and smaller ones like number values are coming!"

Emphasis mine

They're not even trying to hide that they're downplaying all of this, huh? That juxtaposition is so stark, it's a little grim.

It's become so evident that we aren't going to see changes within the lifetime of this expansion, which is so disappointing because I was pulled in by the universal acclaim it was getting. And it probably deserves it, making it sting that much worse.

Good thing there are so many other games being released right now, here's hoping it's enough to ride the wave til the next expansion. My time with the game has been much too short, and maybe I'll bite it and sub every now and then. But for a regular investment, I've come to care so much that these forums will have to do.

If only we had a more actionable avenue, but I guess they also thought these forums will have to do as well.

[ZeroFool]

Honestly, man, after seeing what they did to SCH/AST in the name of "balance", I'm glad there isn't a 4th healer, because they would've made that one just as boring as well. They can't make 3 healers fun and unique, I'd hate to see what they do to a 4th one.

It's unfortunate that all evidence so far seems to support this. As much as I'd like to disagree because it seems that they did once design exactly 3 fun and unique healers, if this is the treatment we can expect a fourth to get, then better off without it.

[Sloprano]

That's the part that gets me, like, the class is card based. Cards are, by nature, random and unpredictable, so having them tied to RNG I don't think is a problem. A way to force the card you want at a cost would've been a nice addition to AST, instead of outright removing what a lot of people loved about the class in the first place.

Hang on this is sounding very familiar. Six years of having Adlo have that secondary effect, wherein if you get a crit heal, the shield effect is double of that. And that dopamine release of seeing a big fat heal land, then spread at and seeing "Ultra finishing destroyer" attack hit for 0. It was completely random and rarely happend so you longed for those moments and quickly learned fishing for it was a good way to drain yourself dry of mp. It was one of the many little moments that made the it so fun to play. Stacking healing buffs to see how far it'd go. Being able to force crit was the spell I thought SCHs should always wish for, but never get since it'd remove that feeling of joy in the rare moments when everything clicks. Maybe it was the same with AST: Balance was the card you always wanted, but should never get all the time.

Cue Shadowbringers and we can now force a crit shield while also limiting it severly. Can't shake the feeling SE listened to the same guy saying he'd like Balance on every card all the time. I never play ast but I think I know a tiny bit on how it feels having the unpredicability removed.

What with WoW Classic hopefully being a runaway success, would love for someone to sneak in and swap out WoW Retail as the source of inspiration.

[ZeroFool]

Oh man, that sounds so satisfying. The majority of my playtime as a healer was spent on SCH, and I thought that clink when you hit a crit-adlo is wonderful.

I can imagine it slowly becoming less rewarding when you can just have it on a whim, just like any other skill in a rotation.

Must be the same for the ASTs hitting that AoE Balance to collectively go to town on the last stretch of a boss.

Too bad we as healers aren't allowed to take any risks anymore, that would just be 'sub-optimal'.

[HyoMinPark]

Not for healers, anyway.

https://nordic.ign.com/final-fantasy...or-inspiration

"Some people have shown their dislike of some classes, like the Ninja and Astroligian, are you looking into fixing that, and how?

"We talked about this a bit in the last letter from the producers. In the latest patch we changed some stuff for the Astroligian and we noticed that we restored the balance a bit. Still we see some feedback from players that want the same effects for the cards as we had before, but the dev team doesn’t have the intention to bring the old system back. We can’t make everyone happy. If we change back the system, a different part of the community will get mad. Some people loved the old system, and some people love the new system. You can’t please everyone.

"In regards to Ninja. We get a lot of feedback from the community that the class feels clunky now since spells don't line up nicely with Global Cooldowns, and the DPS-spec isn’t as strong as other classes, so we get the frustration. It is a challenge for the development team, but we are aware of the situation. For the next patch we will make some changes for the solo DPS Ninja, like number values. Since the job got released we have actually not changed it, so for patch 5.1 we are planning a big class overhaul. It will feel like the Ninja will be born into a new class. So for people that are waiting for changes, big changes and smaller ones like number values are coming!"

Emphasis mine

Generally, the developer don’t make huge overhauls to any job in the middle of an expansion; they save those for expansion releases. The largest changes they make tend to be things like WAR’s Inner Release change during Stormblood, in which they changed how the skill inherently functioned (same with Shake it Off). The changes they are discussing for NIN—where they’re talking about a major overhaul that will make it feel like a different job—are actually unprecedented in the history of this game.

[Hatstand]

Generally, the developer don’t make huge overhauls to any job in the middle of an expansion; they save those for expansion releases. The largest changes they make tend to be things like WAR’s Inner Release change during Stormblood, in which they changed how the skill inherently functioned (same with Shake it Off). The changes they are discussing for NIN—where they’re talking about a major overhaul that will make it feel like a different job—are actually unprecedented in the history of this game.

I think it's a very good thing that they're doing this. There's only so much playtesting that SE can do on new classes before release (and based on the fact that almost half of the jobs seemed to have major complaints (SCH, AST, MNK, SNM, NIN, BRD, SAM, DRK) they could clearly do with more playtesting). 2 years is a long time for a class to feel bad to play, and being open to making changes as the playerbase demands them (although I wish they'd get a better mechanism for player feedback than whatever distortion gave them the idea that every card except balance was worthless and SCHs were dpsing too much) is a good thing. I just wish healers could get the same consideration.

[Billythepancake]

Oh man, that sounds so satisfying. The majority of my playtime as a healer was spent on SCH, and I thought that clink when you hit a crit-adlo is wonderful.

I can imagine it slowly becoming less rewarding when you can just have it on a whim, just like any other skill in a rotation.

Must be the same for the ASTs hitting that AoE Balance to collectively go to town on the last stretch of a boss.

Too bad we as healers aren't allowed to take any risks anymore, that would just be 'sub-optimal'.

To play devil's advocate a bit, I do understand the critlo change. I say this as someone who raids as scholar, and is considered pretty good at it, spreading a critlo was really broken strong. You could outright ignore some mechanics if you spread a critlo, so from a dev point of view, I can understand why they wouldn't allow you to spread a critlo. I also feel like what we got in exchange for not being able to do it anymore was well worth it, recitation is an amazing ability,and the only good thing that happened to SCH this expac.

My issues with SCH is that they took away my interesting DPS options, and neutered my fairy to the point she's basically only good for dissipation and getting 3 more aetherflow, because her healing is unresponsive, has to be weaved in, and is pathetically weak.