Hi SE, can we get rid of the current card system in next expansion, pls?

[Mansion]

Counterpoint: Having MP reduction on a skill that could otherwise be saved wholly for mobility or weaving, where they produce a far more tangible and gameplay-related benefit, is weird.

Yeah but movement (and weaving to a certain extent) is less of a problem for AST, as it has weaving into Malefic (and Aspected Benefic, Benefic and Combus), and Malefic + slidecast offers more movement flexibility than any other healer (or caster).
Whereas the only MP recovery tool within AST kit is Lightspeed. That's more valuable than the movement / weaving tool as AST needs the latter less (except for Sleeve Draw windows).
In the end, that's another ability that changed a lot compared to its original iteration (where AST had 2.5sec+ casts), and that's a problem in AST's current flow.

If the developer’s intentions for Lightspeed were to be movement and weaving related, then they need to give AST another way to recover MP. Especially if they were to remove the MP reduction from the skill. AST is decidedly last place in terms of mana economy—it’s not uncommon to end up MP negative after using Raise or a death. WHM and SCH can recover significantly better than AST.

Adding a "Recover 400 MP" to Draw would be a simple way to have an Assize or Aetherflow-like gimmick. It would encourage the Drawing as part of the general rotation too. Of course it needs to be balanced because its CD is shorther than AF (1 000 MP per minute) and Assize (500 MP every 45 seconds).

[BloodRubyXII]

The card aesthetic is the only reason I played Astrologian.

Adding a "Recover 400 MP" to Draw would be a simple way to have an Assize or Aetherflow-like gimmick.

We actually had this in PvP for a while (albeit for 1k mana since mana pools deplete quicker in Feast and obviously we don't have Lucid Dreaming, because in PvP you actually heal.)

[Lodi]

We actually had this in PvP for a while (albeit for 1k mana since mana pools deplete quicker in Feast and obviously we don't have Lucid Dreaming, because in PvP you actually heal.)

PvP has a lot of things I'd love to see in our PvE kits. Actual cards, little to no redundant skills...

[MitsukiKimura]

[Ceasaria]

You can add Lady and Lord, even Royal Road, Spread, old Sleeve Draw effect, Time Dilatation, old Celestial Opposition effect.

[MOZZYSTAR]

I love you, OP. I have the same issue. I didn't actually realise it was different for gamepad & mouse/keyboard. (It really sucks on gamepad, I can't play it on harder content, it's just too much. I think it's really inefficient and not user-friendly.[Or perhaps not gamepad friendly.)

Though, I think waiting till next expansion would probably be too long. If they could just go back to the original card system, it shouldn't take that long, right? The old system was fine, there was no need to change it.

But if we do have to wait for another year and a half, then so be it I guess. (But I'm already getting healing withdrawals and I don't like the other two healers. /plays tiny violin for self xD)

[monk-dps]

You can literally just change the effect of old Spire. They did it with Spear in 4.x. Citing “no more TP” is a poor reason to give with regards to not returning the old card system. And Balance fishing was only a thing in top-tier play—anyone who didn’t care about parsing or speedkilling didn’t care to always Balance fish, and this is coming from someone who does care about at least one of those things.

Even as a raider, I’d give anything for Ewers to give MP again, and for a nicely juicy Bole in dungeons to give the tank during a large pull.

Even if it's a poor excuse, It's most likely one of the reasons they changed it in the first place. All I'm saying is expecting a return to form 100% isn't likely due to said changes and SE isn't going to go back and revert all the changes. I'd even go as far as saying that if anything instead of asking for the old system back which I don't think is ever happening. What should be asked is a NEW system. You'd have better chances of that happening then asking for something to return when half of the reason it worked in the old patches was cause the battle system was completely different. One of those being TP. I guess changing the one old TP card to something else, but that doesn't solve anything either. Honestly like it or not.. but I still say blame the top people for the change as clearly they were the ones who got to talk to SE and give feedback that was listened too. - points to the cards being damage up cards now-

[Miu-Tiiu]

Hmm... I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but what about having 2 decks of cards? Much like how AST has 2 Sect stances, why not there being 2 Card Decks? So you have Deck 1 being the old card system from Stormblood, and Deck 2 the current card system now in Shadowbringers.

Perhaps the devs could comply by giving both old and new card system and the player can choose between which card system they want to play with. Then maybe everyone is happy hopefully? So 2 new abilities given that allows the AST to switch their card system decks.

Storm Deck, and Shadow Deck

[Miu-Tiiu]

You name the decks however way you like. I've only given these names from the expansion they came from.

Oh and I guess rework the Spire card to not give TP since that's gone. So maybe another defensive card like the bole card.

[Pyitoechito]

Something that might help controller users struggling with AST cards: Macros. I know macros are the devil's crutch, but manually-targeting cards felt awful so I made an exception and it has helped me to actually enjoy the card mechanic.

This guide helped me specifically

Some notes:

• For ease of use, make sure the target-selection macro actions are on the same trigger as the "Play" and "Minor Arcana" macros (so you don't have to change triggers, so using cards is faster and smoother)
• I personally added a "Go Back" macro among the target-selection buttons (on the opposite trigger) in case I accidentally hit Play or Minor Arcana and don't want to actually use a card.
• Just for fun (totally optional), I also added a macro to target my chocobo companion (also on the opposite trigger alongside "Go Back"). Use <c> to target your chocobo with a card.