Did people even ask for changes to AST, like they do / did for MNK and MCH?

[Averax]

No, when you actually think about it, it did not work that way in practice.

You had Balance, you had attack speed balance that fucked up rotations sometimes, you had crit balance, you had a defensive buff only good for dungeons, and then you had 'redraw this bullocks.'

You did not have more decisions than you do now. You were just fooled into thinking you had options by that Spire sitting there.

Be honest.

You never used Spire.

Spire was royal road fuel and that was okay. And with the TP removal this expansion they could have made it something else. If we had kept the old card system we could have gone:

Balance = Damage Boost Direct Hit
Bole = Damage Reduction
Spear = Crit
Arrow = Attack/Spell Speed
Ewer = Refresh
Spire = TP Refresh Direct Cooldown Reduction (not passive like old spear)... or maybe even an OGCD HoT.


The problem with old Arrow is no longer existent with the removal of TP

[Reyna_Balmore]

Spire was royal road fuel and that was okay. And with the TP removal this expansion they could have made it something else. If we had kept the old card system we could have gone:

Balance = Damage Boost Direct Hit
Bole = Damage Reduction
Spear = Crit
Arrow = Attack/Spell Speed
Ewer = Refresh
Spire = TP Refresh Direct Cooldown Reduction (not passive like old spear)... or maybe even an OGCD HoT.


The problem with old Arrow is no longer existent with the removal of TP

Oooo, I like this suggestion!

[YusiKha]

Spire was royal road fuel and that was okay. And with the TP removal this expansion they could have made it something else. If we had kept the old card system we could have gone:

They also removed outside sources of MP generation, so Ewer needs to be changed as well.

Ewer = Refresh Increased Healing Received
Spire = TP Refresh | Direct Cooldown Reduction (not passive like old spear)... or maybe even an OGCD HoT. that’d also mess people up like old arrow.
The oGCD HoT would work, or a damage shield to keep a mitigation theme.

The problem with old Arrow is no longer existent with the removal of TP

The problem was throwing people out of their rotations due to the GCD length change- SAM right now works in a very strict 60s cycle, so they’d have to adjust to getting an extra GCD (or a fraction of a GCD) after an unexpected Arrow.


Of course, all of this is implying that the RR values stay the same.

They shouldn’t.

Enhanced RR was 1.5x effect
Extended RR was 2.0x effect
Expanded RR was 3.0x effect (napkin maths puts it closer to 2.7, but the point stands)

People wanted to expand every card they drew, because of its stupidly higher multiplier, and the only card that was universally beneficial was Balance
(and Spear, but spear was weaker than Balance on everyone except maybe MNK/BRD)
So Balance got to shine. If the RR values were normalised to 1.5x effectiveness, you’d see more arrow/spear usage and less complaining (because you’d give arrows to people who wanted them, not have to apologise to the poor SAM)

Now on to nondamaging cards -
If they can be sacrificed to increase the effectiveness of damaging cards (RR), they’ll never be considered for optimisation.
If they aren’t available when you need them (gated behind RNG) they’ll never be considered for optimisation.

My solution would be a skill that’d let you use the most recent card you consumed for Royal Road (but at diminished effectiveness).
That way it’s on-demand (stored in a separate ‘spread’) and doesn’t affect the use for foddering cards.