AST changes for 6.0: Let's forget 5.0 happened, and just fix what was wrong with 4.0

[Seraphor]

After playing around with the class for the changes to the class in the past 2 raid tiers and progressing in TEA, I don't really have concern with the cards anymore. Most people that I see advocating for card changes, just advocate on changing them to other forms of damage increases; I'm not really sure how this is suppose to be more fun. I also, see occasionally people advocating that the bole should be defensive, but I strongly disagree. It's extremely difficult to plan a bole around a specific mechanic due to the random nature of the card, this is why in SB you didn't see ASTs holding out for that ellusive 50% AoE Bole. It just seems that most of the changes being advocated for aren't really any different from how the class is currently being played. To me, it just seems like a lot of effort is being placed on charging a system that won't really make the class more interesting or fun to play. If you give raiders the option between using a defensive CD or a DPS buff, they are going to choose the DPS buff. I know they probably made the changes in Shadowbringers with that in mind.

There are some things that I think need changed though. I believe Sleeve Draw needs a bit more thought and they probably need to rework the seal system to make it more rewarding. Sleeve Draw in it's current iteration feels really bad for a 180s CD ability, I'm not sure why they didn't align this ability with the divination timer. I think the Lord and Lady need to be brought back in a more meaningful way, it was really nice to use minor arcana to get either a healing or damage card. I don't see a reason why we can't have a 8% damage increase assigned to a different ability to free up the minor arcana to start pumping out DPS and healing cards again, perhaps they could be assigned to a different CD. Outside of that, I'm been mostly happy with the changes. Celestial Opposition feels like a meaningful oGCD heal since they made the change way back at the beginning of the expansion. Neutral Sect feels rewarding to use and has a lot of viability. Celestial Intersection always feels meaningful to use in either sect.

This has been pretty much my opinion since day one. Glad to see some people are coming around to the idea that the old card system was just a lot of fluff for little gain.

I agree with what needs to be changed too.

1. I Think Sleeve Draw could benefit from having 2 charges.
This would allow you to have a three-card + Divination opener, and allow you to save up Sleeve Draws for burst windows.

2. Lord and Lady could go back to being a healer/defensive option for cards instead of a more powerful card option. Increasing the potency of individual cards to make up for it, back up to the 10%(/5%) the Balance used to be.
Perhaps something like Lady = Regen and Lord = Shield like a bonus Celestial Opposition.

This would however give you less control over the seals you hold, as you'd have to choose between keeping your seals and your dps output.
I think with the increase to base card potency, you could swap the seal generation over to Minor Arcana, so that regular cards don't generate any seals, but using a Minor Arcana grants you the seal instead.
This makes Divination the 'reward' for not using card buffs, similar to WHM's Misery.
This would also turn the opener into three regen/shield applications in order to proc a Divination.

[Liam_Harper]

I feel Sleeve Draw lining up with Divinations CD would feel much smoother, though I'm unsure how much of a rdps increase that is and whether it would be difficult to balance. It would flow nicely though.

I'm also not the biggest fan of Redraw giving you the same seal multiple times, but I'm still fairly new to AST so I won't suggest that needs changing yet.

[Side-Eye]

I also, see occasionally people advocating that the bole should be defensive, but I strongly disagree. It's extremely difficult to plan a bole around a specific mechanic due to the random nature of the card,

It was the ability to HOLD a card for use, that was the cornerstone to being able to choose WHEN to use those "random" cards for specific moments in a fight. There were so many capabilities taken away from AST, it's difficult to explain how much was lost when 5.0 came out, to people who never played AST as main, or to its fuller capacity before Shadowbringers.

[Seraphor]

It was the ability to HOLD a card for use, that was the cornerstone to being able to choose WHEN to use those "random" cards for specific moments in a fight. There were so many capabilities taken away from AST, it's difficult to explain how much was lost when 5.0 came out, to people who never played AST as main, or to its fuller capacity before Shadowbringers.

I played, and to some degree mained AST in SB (in the sense that I played each role more or less evenly and AST was my main healer)

Holding a card was necessary when the cards all did different things and you had to juggle Royal Road effects, it's not necessary in this new system.

But holding a card wasn't the problem, it was how the different effects of cards clashed and conflicted with each other.
Having a significant mitigation skill tied to RNG that you shared with your dps was always a poor design choice, even if you didn't accept it back then.

When it comes to balancing healer kits, it's not something that works, because you can't account for this skill being available.
It's like saying Celestial Intersection or Divine Benison or... Emergency Tactics, has no effect 50% of the time. It's not a skill you can rely on, therefore it's not a skill they can take into account when balancing the healer kits, and therefore represents an unfair advantage on the occasion it IS available.
This was part of the problem with balancing AST in HW and SB, and why it would yoyo from the bottom of the pile to the top of the healer tables from relatively minor adjustments.

For this reason I, and most other AST, simply never used Bole, or at least never used it effectively. You Royal Roaded it, or you went "what the heck!" and threw it on a tank in a casual dungeon setting where it had no real impact.

RNG has no place in deciding the functionality of your jobs skillset. It can be used as a quirky way of applying your skills, as our current card system does, but the functional result of your actions on the party have to be more or less consistent.
A choice between damage or healing/mitigation is far too crucial to leave to RNG. Which is why having a choice between these, say via Minor Arcana, having a choice between whether you use your cards for damage or healing, as a second layer to it's current job gauge specific RNG, is the best way of doing it.

Healers are the most balanced now than they've ever been, though it has been at a cost of some more intricate functions and some job identity.
But I think it represents a good base to build upon in the next expansion, with extra layers that compliment, not conflict, with the current skill sets. Rather than calling to turn back the clock to when everything was a slightly more fun but still complete mess.
And in a more general sense, I am stick to death of seeing all these '6.0 Job X concept' posts that all invariably boil down to "basically just like it was in SB". Go forward, not back.

[Side-Eye]

I played, and to some degree mained AST in SB (in the sense that I played each role more or less evenly and AST was my main healer)

When most people say "main," it's the job they play most of the time.. not one they play 20% of the time, whether you play others in the same role or not.

RNG has no place in deciding the functionality of your jobs skillset.

Especially when playing healer or tank, you'll occasionally have to use a cooldown to handle an emergency, and not have that CD when you'd normally use it. Not every moment of every fight needs to be mapped out -- I'd argue that the game loses some of the fun with content which is 100% predictable -- and not every ability needs a predetermined use. Much of the fun of AST (at least for most of us who played it often) was those variances that kept every fight, every encounter, from being a duplicate of the last.

[Seraphor]

When most people say "main," it's the job they play most of the time.. not one they play 20% of the time, whether you play others in the same role or not.

Well lets say I played DRK 30%, RDM 30%, NIN 20% and AST 20%.
Do I get to claim any of those as a "main"?

[Irenia]

Not every moment of every fight needs to be mapped out -- I'd argue that the game loses some of the fun with content which is 100% predictable -- and not every ability needs a predetermined use. Much of the fun of AST (at least for most of us who played it often) was those variances that kept every fight, every encounter, from being a duplicate of the last.

This is one of the core conflicts involving this game's concepts. Getting skilled in this game involves two things:

1) the ability to learn and memorize monsters' patterns
2) the ability to exploit those patterns.

If you accept these things, then mapping out encounters is an inevitability as you climb the skill ladder and take on harder encounters, since exploiting pattern weaknesses may require a fight long plan.

The problem is that certain players, classical healers especially, like uncertainty, so conflicts about how to handle cards are expected.

I doubt they will make cards like old bole the more skillful play over damage cards, except in edge cases where you are dealing with the unpredictability of bad players.

[Side-Eye]

Well lets say I played DRK 30%, RDM 30%, NIN 20% and AST 20%.
Do I get to claim any of those as a "main"?

IMO? Not really. But if you spend the most of your time playing DRK, I'd consider that your main. I don't generally consider a "main" as a job you play a small amount of time but it happens to be the one you play most in a certain role.

[Kabooa]

Claiming a class as a main means nothing other than "I play it more than the others."

[MintnHoney]

I doubt they will make cards like old bole the more skillful play over damage cards, except in edge cases where you are dealing with the unpredictability of bad players.

Edge cases?
Bad players are like the creamy filling in this Twinkie.