Yikes Astro has issues

[Liam_Harper]

All things considered the current AST is as good as it's gonna get with SE's narrow mindset. I don't want to say I'm super happy about the changes but I'm glad they gave it at least some flavour back, if that makes sense.

I think that's the stage many players are at. Fairly certain the Devs can't do any better, not really happy with the changes ...but hey, it has a vague flavor that reminds them of something they used to enjoy, so they'll settle for it. We've given up hope.

[Avenheit]

Keep minor arcana as is

I disagree, this is prob my only grip i have with the class. MA and Crownplay should be the same button. I don't have any more hotkeys available for crown play

[Absurdity]

There are abilities in this game that already track cooldown timers, so I’m sure this could be implemented with regards to the cards themselves (with the timer on Draw shown on the Arcana gauge somewhere) so that we don’t have to have Play as a button at all. Even if they kept the no timer on drawn cards.

GnB's Gnashing Fang combo already does this. It immediately starts the cooldown when you execute Gnashing Fang and since the change to how long your combos last you can now sit on Wicked Talon for so long that by the time you execute it your Gnashing Fang cooldown has finished, allowing you to execute the combo again immediately. Granted it doesn't show you the remaining cooldown on Gnashing Fang anywhere while you are technically still in your Gnashing Fang combo.

[Avenheit]

Minor Arcana and Crown Play should be the same damn button.

[Archwizard]

I feel like AST's top priority problem is just the sheer volume of buttons it has, many of which don't feel impactful to use because they're just extra knobs for controlling the randomness of its card system... which just gets progressively busier each expansion.

So, a couple thoughts:

• Rework the Astrodyne effects. Each seal should have one specific effect attached to it (for instance, Haste on Celestial seals, Refresh on Lunar seals, Potency Up on Solar seals).
  For each additional copy of a single seal that you stack, the potency of that one effect given by Astrodyne grows, but with a diminishing return (so 3 of the same seal is only, say, 1.75x as effective rather than 3x). If you have all 3 unique seals, you get the spread of all 3 effects as now; if you have duplicate seals, you get a slightly stronger version of each effect you doubled- or tripled-down on to compensate.
  While still retaining the element of randomness and encouraging a spread for best effect, this should provide consolation so that bad RNG strings are no longer a punishment for the player.

• Rework Minor Arcana. Go back to the old system where it transmuted your active Major Arcana into a Crowns card, but have it provide a consistent effect regardless of what card you transmute, or at least have a trait where it does. Something where you don't want to necessarily game Minor Arcana over using Draw effectively, but can use it to safely dump a card you don't want without having to think further on it.
  For instance, when you activate Minor Arcana, the cooldown of Draw is reduced by a few seconds, in addition to changing the card and gaining its own effects.
  • Rework Lady of Crowns specifically, or remove it.
    Lord of Crowns is a semi-effective dump card since cards are always being drawn in a combat situation to enhance ongoing damage; if you get Lord during a pull, you dump it immediately without a second thought because oGCD damage is always valuable, even coming from the hands of an Astrologian. The current Lady of Crowns is, instead, ideally held for a scenario where healing is valuable... but its healing potency is so minor and niche so that it won't turn the tide even if you can use it without overhealing, and even in a scenario where all healing is "necessary", it's unreliable to obtain in the first place.
    Lady of Crowns' effect should instead be of equal value to Lord's -- which in this case is to say, consistent even if functionally inconsequential.
    If this cannot be done without making it the same effect as Lord or creating something players would try to game... then simply scrap Lady. Minor Arcana was made to mitigate the RNG of a 6 Major Arcana system; retaining two outcomes within that mitigation element is already extremely counterproductive. (And then Minor Arcana suddenly has a consistent effect.)
    And heck, if Minor Arcana only had one outcome, you could even save an oGCD and just have Minor Arcana activate its effects directly instead of using Play again.
  • Whether Lord of Crowns retains the current/original "direct damage" iteration or returns to Shadowbringers' "consolation buff" iteration is... largely irrelevant here and a matter of design preference. I have no objection to the current one staying as-is; personally, I even think having an alternative option that doesn't just tread the same ground as the Major Arcana is an idea with its own potential, even for niche scenarios.
    I will say if it does go back to the ShB iteration however, absolutely scrap Lady. Just have one card that gives a flat damage buff regardless of what job you use it on, slightly weaker than if you'd used a specialized Major Arcana but stronger than if you'd used one on the wrong role (so, 4-5%). If you don't have a ranged DPS in your party, choose whether to Minor Arcana away your ranged cards for a better buff on melee.

• Remove Crown Play and Undraw... and possibly Redraw. With the changes to both Astrodyne and Minor Arcana above, you wouldn't necessarily need Redraw.
  Not to mention repeatedly Redrawing just never feels good -- it wastes multiple oGCDs and feels like "RNG just screwed me over... twice." At least when you were discarding via Minor Arcana, you had a fallback.