AST 5.3 Sleeve Draw and Controller Complaints

[Bsrking5]

Clearly this is a nerf in rdps but a fairly good QOL update. To return some of its rdps the devs could buff it by making a charge action with 2 charges on a CD of 90 sec each. I doubt it'll go back to 3 cards but thats a possibility with 60 sec CD. Either way I prefer this over the previous clunky version.

[Risvertasashi]

Clearly this is a nerf in rdps but a fairly good QOL update. To return some of its rdps the devs could buff it by making a charge action with 2 charges on a CD of 90 sec each. I doubt it'll go back to 3 cards but thats a possibility with 60 sec CD. Either way I prefer this over the previous clunky version.

AST still outdamages every tank, and every non-AST healer on the percentile scale. It does not need a DPS buff.

Of course, someone will note that AKSHUALLY there's a tiny number of white mages in the world that can outdamage AST. Yes, true, but they're so few that even at 99th percentile (ie a real sample size) AST is still stronger.

[AdamFyi]

Hi, I’m one of those controller players that asked for the QoL. o/

I think old Sleeve Draw was interesting for the first few pulls, but after the 30th+ wipe during prog it gets old fast. I’ll take the rDPS nerf if it means that I don’t have to break my hands for every opener. Honestly, the nerf is pretty reasonable considering the amount of MP sustain we got. Being able to get rid of excess Piety means more sub stats to work with for pDPS and healing.

[Shieky]

Controller users: " I dont want to git gud" just make the game easy af. Why not just using 5 skills so it would easily fit on a controller?

[elioaiko]

Controller users: " I dont want to git gud" just make the game easy af. Why not just using 5 skills so it would easily fit on a controller?

Perhaps people simply didn't like how hectic and aggressive the opener was for AST?

Even with the change, AST is still one of the best healers with high APM. Like the OP said, it wasn't just controller users that complained.

Simply put, a lot of AST mains coming from the 4.0 version were turned off by what Sleeve Draw became.

Also it's not wrong for SE to want a middle ground between controller and kbm users. Like AdamFyi said, after awhile, redoing the opener would be incredibly taxing and personally would rather they not return to that.

As it stands, it's a guaranteed seal for the cost of 2 extra cards. The CD should be lower to 2mins to match Divination but I'm glad the skill isn't clunky to use anymore.

[Gravagar]

Perhaps people simply didn't like how hectic and aggressive the opener was for AST?

Even with the change, AST is still one of the best healers with high APM. Like the OP said, it wasn't just controller users that complained.

Simply put, a lot of AST mains coming from the 4.0 version were turned off by what Sleeve Draw became.

Also it's not wrong for SE to want a middle ground between controller and kbm users. Like AdamFyi said, after awhile, redoing the opener would be incredibly taxing and personally would rather they not return to that.

As it stands, it's a guaranteed seal for the cost of 2 extra cards. The CD should be lower to 2mins to match Divination but I'm glad the skill isn't clunky to use anymore.

I'm seeing a lot of agreement within the community that the next step is to lower the cooldown. I like it! It's realistic that it might actually be implemented, and I agree that the current version of the opener feels like it's higher QoL. If they make up the difference of some of those lost cards by reducing the cooldown, then you prevent so many front-loaded cards from bloating the opener with a lot of extra GCDs. Hell, they should've done that in the first place, I think.

[Crushnight]

Just if you're curious, currently AST is tied with SCH. Though it's still early in the patch and we can't be sure how the numbers will settle, it does seem to have increased the popularity of AST by at least a bit.

If that holds through 5.4(since we are in a catch up patch with no Ultimate so we'll see how it stands in 5.4) then the change will be classed as a success, I certainly think it is better than what it was and I'm all for lowering the CD of Sleeve Draw.

[Brandedblade]

Controller users: " I dont want to git gud" just make the game easy af. Why not just using 5 skills so it would easily fit on a controller?

Look at me folks. I overcame bad game design, I'm clearly better then the rest of you.

[Shieky]

Look at me folks. I overcame bad game design, I'm clearly better then the rest of you.

Why exactly is it bad game design?
Im mean im not completely against simplicity but why oversimplify things?

I also dont think all roles should be perfectly balanced so everyone can play them, there definitely should be some "skillcap"..
It should be like: "Oh you got some skill? then try this job", what would be the problem in that approach.

[elioaiko]

Look at me folks. I overcame bad game design, I'm clearly better then the rest of you.

Right? Not to get ugly or mean but saying those things are rather tone-deaf to those who did struggle with how Sleeve Draw originally was. It sounds pretty entitled to say that "I was good at it why aren't you?" Of course everyone has different tastes in what jobs feel like to them but to make a point on controller users being lazy or catered to is rather disgusting. This isn't an FPS, using a kbm doesn't make you better than a controller player.

Sleeve Draw was bad design and a major turn off because it's too hectic for some. There's a reason why people requested it other than the good ole "I want to be lazy." It was a hassle to use and just like how SE is clutching WHM's mobility by the throat, the change did more to improve the job rather than take away.