Fix AST's Accessibility Issue

[Side-Eye]

They started to do that.

What happened was more and more of the cards became DPS buffs. Inferior to Balance, however, so most people still sought that.

Making all of the cards practically the same (and worse than Balance) was not making the old cards more desirable -- it was just a cheap, quick, easy thing to appease DPS who just wanted bigger epeens.

Squeenix could have kept the flavor of the old cards and simply made each better at its purpose, and given Spire a purpose to replace TP. And if they were going to kill off RR/spread, they could have attached a minor DPS boost to each of the cards so that they could provide their original benefits and still be useful on a recipient even if the original benefit wasn't particularly needed at the moment.

What they did was neither creative nor inspired; and it left a lot of AST mains wondering why the F so much was taken away that was scarcely related to the card system, like TD buff extension and AE stun.

[HyperiusUltima]

Making all of the cards practically the same (and worse than Balance) was not making the old cards more desirable -- it was just a cheap, quick, easy thing to appease DPS who just wanted bigger epeens.

Squeenix could have kept the flavor of the old cards and simply made each better at its purpose, and given Spire a purpose to replace TP. And if they were going to kill off RR/spread, they could have attached a minor DPS boost to each of the cards so that they could provide their original benefits and still be useful on a recipient even if the original benefit wasn't particularly needed at the moment.

What they did was neither creative nor inspired; and it left a lot of AST mains wondering why the F so much was taken away that was scarcely related to the card system, like TD buff extension and AE stun.

SE was looking to simplify things because there was too much going on for the player; the level of complexity was something they were looking at, and they wanted to slow it down so that it's not as difficult compared to having to throw cards around. Play fixed many of the Draw Issues when trying to spam it to get the action in because of ping, but either way they should have not removed CO's Stun. TD on the other hand could've been redone for just their own cards to nerf them a bit since it was generally applied to all buffs since inception. Again, look up above for what my suggestion is along with @Risvertasashi's arguments because mind you reverting back and forth from one thing to the other takes a lot of development time to test, perfect, and make sure everything works properly with the new system they had set up for Shadowbringers.

[Side-Eye]

SE was looking to simplify things because there was too much going on for the player; the level of complexity was something they were looking at, and they wanted to slow it down so that it's not as difficult compared to having to throw cards around.

If simplification was truly their goal, they failed spectacularly. Sure, sandpaper is more "simple" than a drill with a sandpaper attachment, but it takes a tremendous amount more work and effort to get similar results. After a session playing AST, my wrists sometimes actually ache from the constant re-targeting and clicking to use those 15 second tiny-dps-booster cards.

Furthermore, there was already a less complex option if one wanted to play a healer job without as much complexity. That's one of the things that has traditionally been great about this game: choices.

[Risvertasashi]

Squeenix could have kept the flavor of the old cards and simply made each better at its purpose, and given Spire a purpose to replace TP. And if they were going to kill off RR/spread, they could have attached a minor DPS boost to each of the cards so that they could provide their original benefits and still be useful on a recipient even if the original benefit wasn't particularly needed at the moment.

Well, for example, SE quite literally doubled the potency of bole, and people still found it to be useless.

So... how would you change it to make it useful? Either you make it not RNG (which means removing it from the card system), or you make it so powerful it breaks the game and lets you flat out ignore mechanics. Not quite as simple as "just make it better", is it?

[SleepyNeko]

Well, for example, SE quite literally doubled the potency of bole, and people still found it to be useless.

So... how would you change it to make it useful? Either you make it not RNG (which means removing it from the card system), or you make it so powerful it breaks the game and lets you flat out ignore mechanics. Not quite as simple as "just make it better", is it?

You can just keep the old cards but have the new Lady/Lord system, since lady/lord guarantees a dps increase effect on any card.

[Side-Eye]

Well, for example, SE quite literally doubled the potency of bole, and people still found it to be useless.

So... how would you change it to make it useful? Either you make it not RNG (which means removing it from the card system), or you make it so powerful it breaks the game and lets you flat out ignore mechanics. Not quite as simple as "just make it better", is it?

It could be better at its purpose by boosting two caster-centric attributes, so instead of just increasing MP regen, it could also decrease cost, or also make the next two casts MP-free, or also provide a lesser DPS boost, or also add a crit%, or....

I mean, I'm sure you get what I'm saying: there are ways to make a card better at its purpose without making that one boost so big it's game-breaking.
(edit: I mentioned caster stuff as an example but similar thinking can be applied to tank/defensive stuff too; a card need not have a single benefit, but two lessers to be better at its purpose)