Please buff AST

[Semirhage]

It may have been lost in the thread (I forgot who it was too), but Lisaa is a troll. She's a top-performing Astro whose preferred troll method is making threads claiming AST needs buffs when she knows it's one of the strongest healers in the game.

[Sebazy]

Sometimes I wonder if Lisa just buys clears tbh. Some of the comments in the past were just that far off the mark

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

Either way, it makes it hard to take her words seriously lol.

[elioaiko]

It's interesting , that's honestly the first time I've seen someone express that AST feels disjointed to them - however you certainly may not be the only person. I don't feel that way, especially since I would disagree that "cards just get thrown out whenever" (at least in content when it really matters) . I feel that is truer of SCH though- however SCH mains might well fight me on that.

I would agree that AST isn't weak on healer however there is more to the job than just its role in healing 8 man parties, or buffing in 8 man parties, or even provides heals in 4 man parties, and this is where there could be some adjustments.

I mean yes, there's still optimal card placements but I miss building up the seals into Divination in ShB. Not its type of card rather than your own seal alignment. Astrodyne's 3 seal makes no sense to me either. AST is all about buffing the team. Idk they just to slowly make the cards feel more like an afterthought.

The disjointed bit was mainly about the card system not influencing any part of their kit, not even Divination anymore.

Lord/Lady are also terrible. They're just AoE versions of SB's iteration. And the removal of Sleeve Draw was a choice. The dopamine hit (or PTSD 1.0 ShB) when you used it.

[ForsakenRoe]

Astrodyne's 3 seal makes no sense to me either.

Someone (maybe Semi, maybe Sebazy i dont remember) once said that Astrodyne feels like a WHM thing that they couldn't work out how to tie to WHM's kit, so they dumped it on AST, and I just realized: If WHM HAD Astrodyne from 6.0 launch, it's MP economy issues (that were addressed by making lilies 20s, Misery damage neutral, and encouraging 'overspend lilies on purpose to put Misery in 60s window!') wouldn't have been issues at all. It makes perfect sense why WHM had MP issues on launch if you consider it through that lens, that 'it had one of it's MP restore abilities ripped from it'. It also explains why AST is constantly drowning in MP, it's got an additional MP restoration tool it was never meant to have (maybe)

One thing I don't get about Astrodyne though, is why does it need to give one status, with one effect, per seal? Rather than:

Harmony of Spirit: MP restore
Harmony of Body: Spellspeed buff
Harmony of Mind: 5% damage

Why is it not just...

1 seal = Harmony of Spirit: MP restore
2 seals = Harmony of Body: MP restore + Spellspeed buff
3 seals = Harmony of Mind: MP restore + spellspeed buff + 5% damage

Wow now instead of granting three separate buffs, it grants only one that compiles all previous buff effects along with it's own, thereby freeing up two buff slots and not hitting the buff cap in TOP quite as hard!

As for card effects, I'm fine with them being single target. AOE Balance was not cracked strong because of Balance alone, but because it was AOE. Keeping the effects single target makes them easier to balance, while still allowing for 'some' variety in the effects. I previously wrote this:

Balance: Flat damage boost of X%
Bole: X% mitigation. If struck, deals damage to the attacking enemy with a potency of Y (idk what number would feel good here)
Arrow: Increases Autoattack speed by X% (only want to use this on melee/ranged ideally, but there could be interesting moments where a PLD can make use of the extra gauge it'd give (lmao))
Spear: Crit rate increase by X%
Spire: X% increased magic damage (want to use this on casters)
Ewer: MP restoration. If used on a healer, causes the target's spells to echo a second hit for X potency (or X% of the initial hit, whichever), which can't crit or dhit. (best used on healers, but can be thrown on casters in a pinch. casters would only get the MP)

So they all 'increase damage' in some way, but some are role specific, with the Balance being the 'wildcard' and useable on any role. Though, that does come with a caveat: If you Balance your only caster, and the next card you draw is the Spire, you're forced to reroll it or overwrite. And yes, I thought ahead enough to remember how important 'keeping rotation aligned to 2min buffs' is now, so Arrow keeps it's Haste themed flavor, but in a non-rotation-destroying way, via AA speed buffs, which we know is possible thanks to MNK having Riddle of Wind as a CD. Which brings me to the reason everyone should want this implemented: a monk using ROW and having an Arrow thrown on them would be doing an autoattack every one second (maybe even faster), and I think that'd be hilarious to see

[IceBlueNinja]

Someone (maybe Semi, maybe Sebazy i dont remember) once said that Astrodyne feels like a WHM thing that they couldn't work out how to tie to WHM's kit, so they dumped it on AST, and I just realized: If WHM HAD Astrodyne from 6.0 launch, it's MP economy issues (that were addressed by making lilies 20s, Misery damage neutral, and encouraging 'overspend lilies on purpose to put Misery in 60s window!') wouldn't have been issues at all. It makes perfect sense why WHM had MP issues on launch if you consider it through that lens, that 'it had one of it's MP restore abilities ripped from it'. It also explains why AST is constantly drowning in MP, it's got an additional MP restoration tool it was never meant to have (maybe)

One thing I don't get about Astrodyne though, is why does it need to give one status, with one effect, per seal? Rather than:

Harmony of Spirit: MP restore
Harmony of Body: Spellspeed buff
Harmony of Mind: 5% damage

Why is it not just...

1 seal = Harmony of Spirit: MP restore
2 seals = Harmony of Body: MP restore + Spellspeed buff
3 seals = Harmony of Mind: MP restore + spellspeed buff + 5% damage

Wow now instead of granting three separate buffs, it grants only one that compiles all previous buff effects along with it's own, thereby freeing up two buff slots and not hitting the buff cap in TOP quite as hard!

As for card effects, I'm fine with them being single target. AOE Balance was not cracked strong because of Balance alone, but because it was AOE. Keeping the effects single target makes them easier to balance, while still allowing for 'some' variety in the effects. I previously wrote this:



So they all 'increase damage' in some way, but some are role specific, with the Balance being the 'wildcard' and useable on any role. Though, that does come with a caveat: If you Balance your only caster, and the next card you draw is the Spire, you're forced to reroll it or overwrite. And yes, I thought ahead enough to remember how important 'keeping rotation aligned to 2min buffs' is now, so Arrow keeps it's Haste themed flavor, but in a non-rotation-destroying way, via AA speed buffs, which we know is possible thanks to MNK having Riddle of Wind as a CD. Which brings me to the reason everyone should want this implemented: a monk using ROW and having an Arrow thrown on them would be doing an autoattack every one second (maybe even faster), and I think that'd be hilarious to see

Stormblood ast did all this and people complain and just wanted balance balance balance

[ForsakenRoe]

Stormblood ast did all this and people complain and just wanted balance balance balance

Stormblood AST also allowed the card effects to be spread to the party, which is more the reason that 'Balance > all' became a thing. If the cards were single target only (as they are now) and the 'aoe party buff' is a static predictable thing (as with Divination) then it's a lot easier to tune the relative strength of things. Beyond that though, SB AST did not have Bole granting damage via reflecting damage, Ewer granting damage via a 'spell reverberation' effect to cause multistrikes, and while Arrow did increase dps (by increasing GCD speed), it would screw everyone's alignment now. Rather than make everything Balance because 'thats all people wanted', I would rather have made everything be a competitor in output to Balance. If Balance was such an issue that nothing can approach it's dominance, then nerf it to 'manageable' levels and rebalance other parts of the kit to compensate. The path they took to 'balance the card system' was both pathetic in terms of lore, in terms of gameplay ramifications, and the best part is, you've still got to wipe runs if you're going for a 100, because oops they made it so you can have bad luck with Minor Arcana, and get Lady of Crowns too much. Or just crit variance in general. Note that I put X% or X potency for every proposed effect. If it turns out that the effect of Arrow at 100% increased AA speed is not enough to match 10% increased damage from Balance, then buff the Arrow effect to 120%, or 150%, etc until it IS balanced. This is the job the devs are quite literally being paid for, and taking the easy way out with 'just make all the effects of the RNG class be the same, so it's easier to balance' is pretty sad

TLDR SB AST did not do 'all this'

[IceBlueNinja]

Stormblood AST also allowed the card effects to be spread to the party, which is more the reason that 'Balance > all' became a thing. If the cards were single target only (as they are now) and the 'aoe party buff' is a static predictable thing (as with Divination) then it's a lot easier to tune the relative strength of things. Beyond that though, SB AST did not have Bole granting damage via reflecting damage, Ewer granting damage via a 'spell reverberation' effect to cause multistrikes, and while Arrow did increase dps (by increasing GCD speed), it would screw everyone's alignment now. Rather than make everything Balance because 'thats all people wanted', I would rather have made everything be a competitor in output to Balance. If Balance was such an issue that nothing can approach it's dominance, then nerf it to 'manageable' levels and rebalance other parts of the kit to compensate. The path they took to 'balance the card system' was both pathetic in terms of lore, in terms of gameplay ramifications, and the best part is, you've still got to wipe runs if you're going for a 100, because oops they made it so you can have bad luck with Minor Arcana, and get Lady of Crowns too much. Or just crit variance in general. Note that I put X% or X potency for every proposed effect. If it turns out that the effect of Arrow at 100% increased AA speed is not enough to match 10% increased damage from Balance, then buff the Arrow effect to 120%, or 150%, etc until it IS balanced. This is the job the devs are quite literally being paid for, and taking the easy way out with 'just make all the effects of the RNG class be the same, so it's easier to balance' is pretty sad

TLDR SB AST did not do 'all this'

Yeah hopefully we get your ideas cause they are wonderful which was exactly my similar thoughts, and since ast is to be a party buffer may as well make cards naturally aoe again like pvp ast is atm.

[Banriikku]

ASt bufff ? Buff what ? ? You ok ? Need a hug?
AST is an absolute powerhouse in regards of healing... i would even say a nerf is in order in the healing department. The cards don't need a buff... they need a rework----- again, sigh. I thought SB cards are bad but then SHB and EW tought me SE can even F-up more... i know the old cards are not good but way better than this what we have now.

[Zeastria]

ASt bufff ? Buff what ? ? You ok ? Need a hug?
AST is an absolute powerhouse in regards of healing... i would even say a nerf is in order in the healing department. The cards don't need a buff... they need a rework----- again, sigh. I thought SB cards are bad but then SHB and EW tought me SE can even F-up more... i know the old cards are not good but way better than this what we have now.

I wouldnt nerf the healing, because a WHM can heal almost as much as AST..and their dmg is way higher..