Astrologian: Herald of Fate (a fan-made design)

[ForsakenRoe]

For my threads on the other healers, please see:
WHM: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...93#post6463293
SCH: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...96#post6463296
SGE: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...06#post6463306

The Astrologian. Able to divine the fate of their allies, and slightly bend that fate to create a better future, the Astrologian is recognizeable by their trusty Deck of Sixty, a set of cards thought to have 'Traces of the Gods' within.

With this design, I intended to make more use of the Deck of Sixty, by allowing for the Minor Arcana skill to draw any of the 6 Suits. For the sake of the player, the value of the card is ignored in terms of gameplay, only the suit is relevant. The value is only there for 'flavour', to allow the player to feel like they're drawing from a full deck of 60 cards. For example, when drawing 'The 6 of Cups', the player would only need to care about having drawn 'The Cups', as all of the cards in the suit of 'The Cups' have the same effect. Each of the Minor Arcana suits provides a similar, but weaker, effect to their Major Arcana counterpart. For example, the Spire grants a 10% bonus to Magic Damage. The Crowns, as the suit the Spire leads, also grant Magic Damage, but in a much smaller way. The Minor Arcana have also been balanced against one another, such that no one card should be 'the best' compared to its peers.

This Job is, more than any other, recognized and known by it's 'RNG'. It is a core aspect of Fortune Telling and Tarot, drawing random cards and utilizing them in the divination of someone's fate. As such, in almost direct contradiction to SE's Dawntrail design, which seeks to remove the randomness from the cards and make them wholly predictable, this design instead keeps the RNG, while still mitigating the 'bad RNG' with certain aspects, such as potency tuning and the readdition of Redraw and Royal Road.

THE ARCANA GAUGE

To begin, the Arcana Gauge would be different (again). It would look something like this:



It looks confusing at first, but the AST Gauges have always looked like impossible to understand at first glance. The first part to note is that the Seal Gauge is gone, because Astrodyne and the Seal systems have been removed.

There are two slots for Arcana, and those two slots have a slot behind each of them. These are the Major (left) and Minor (right) Arcana Gauge. When a card is drawn, it is displayed in it's appropriate slot. To the sides of these slots are numbers, 27 and 12. These are the timers for the next Major Arcana and Minor Arcana to be drawn, respectively. If you have a card drawn, and the timer fully ticks again, you will draw that second card into the 'behind' slot, referred to as the 'Spread'. Once you have an actively drawn card AND a Spread card, that Arcana type (Major or Minor)'s recharge timer will stop counting (similar to the Lily timer on WHM). In this example picture, the player has a card in the Spread for both Major and Minor Arcana, and so the timer would pause and disappear. The timers in this example are for the sake of illustration. As such, it's best to use those cards proactively to avoid overcapping the timer.

To the side of the drawn Cards (between the Card and the Draw Timer) is an icon showing which Role the card is most suited to. Here, we can see the drawn Bole is best leveraged by playing it on a Tank (indicated by the shield icon). The drawn Minor Arcana, the 5 of Crowns, however, shows us that it is best used on a Caster (hence the lightning bolt icon). Healers would be represented by a green cross, Melee by a red sword, and Ranged by a bow, or perhaps an arrow like in our character info's Classes/Jobs section.

Now, the main 'confusing' part of the design: The Minor Arcana. Why has the example player drawn a 5 of Crowns? Why do they have a 2 of Rings in their Spread? The number is for flavour, or 'lore' reasons, the important aspect of the card is the suit it belongs to, in this case, the Crowns and the Rings. To explain the lore a bit, the AST uses a deck of cards, known as the Deck of Sixty. Within that deck are 6 suits, and each suit of cards is made up of the 'leading card' (The Major Arcana we know, such as Balance/Spear etc), and then the 9 Minor Arcana cards, numbered from 1 to 6, then the Knave, the Lord, and the Lady, representing 7, 8 and 9 respectively. You can see the suits, and what they represent (be it classes in society, elements, etc) in the table below:



So with this in mind, I always found it quite bizarre that we use Lord of Crowns and Lady of Crowns as our Minor Arcana. In fact, it makes very little sense to me why Lord would be damage, but the Lady of the same suit is a heal, and the 'leading card' (Spire) is the same flat damage buff as the other 'leading cards', and before that, restored TP (Dawntrail edit: It now applies a barrier?). There doesn't seem to be consistency within each suit of 'what effect that suit has', doubly so now that (in SHB/EW) each Major Arcana has the same core effect (6% damage on correct target, 3% on incorrect).

To that end, I sought to create a design for the cards that utilized the Arcana to their fullest. If we would have Minor Arcana as part of our kit, I would allow the player to use the full Deck of Sixty. Learning the card interactions would be made intuitive, via hints on the Gauge (eg a small icon next to each card, showing the 'best target' for it. We have this now with current cards (Blue border = Melee card, Purple border = Ranged card)). To keep the player from being overwhelmed by having 54 cards suddenly dropped on them upon reaching the level to learn Minor Arcana as an action, the 'face value' of the card is irrelevant to the gameplay, and only remains to add to the 'lore' and 'flavour' of the Job. However, should the displaying of these 'face values' prove to be confusing to players, removing them entirely and referring to the card only by its Suit (in this case, just displaying 'Crowns' and 'Rings' to the player) is completely fine by me too.

ASTROLOGIAN ACTIONS

Level 1: Malefic, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 150.

Level 2: Benefic, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 500 MP, Spell
Restores target's HP.
Cure Potency: 450

Level 8: Lightspeed, 60s, Ability
Reduces Cast Time of Spells by 2.5s
Duration: 15s

Level 10: Helios, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 800 MP, Spell
Restores own HP and the HP of all nearby party members.
Cure potency: 300
NOTE: Radius increased to 20y

Level 12: Ascend, 8s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 2400 MP, Spell
Resurrects target to a weakened state.

Level 15: Essential Dignity, 40s, Ability
Restores target's HP, increasing in potency depending on target's current HP.
Cure Potency: 400
Cure Potency (60% HP or less): 700
Cure Potency (30% HP or less): 900

Level 26: Benefic 2, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 500 MP, Spell
Restores target's HP.
Cure Potency: 700
NOTE: Benefic 1 upgrades into Benefic 2 via a Trait, saving hotbar space.

Level 30: Aspected Benefic, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 250 MP, Spell
Restores target's HP, and grants healing over time effect to target.
Cure Potency: 200
Healing over time Effect Potency: 200
Duration: 15s

JOB QUEST
Level 30: Play Major Arcana, Ability
Plays the currently held Major Arcana card.
NOTE: Please see 'Card system details' section for details on Major Arcana effects and how they work

Level 34: Aspected Helios, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 800 MP, Spell
Restores own HP and the HP of all nearby party members.
Cure potency: 300
Additional Effect: Healing Over Time
HOT Potency: 100
HOT Duration: 12s
NOTE: Helios upgrades into Aspected Helios. Heals for the same 700p as Endwalker, but one tick is frontloaded
to make the base potency equal to Aspected Helios' potency.

JOB QUEST
Level 35: Gravity, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 400 MP, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 120 to target and all enemies near it.

JOB QUEST
Level 40: Redraw, 15s, Ability
Returns currently drawn Arcana to their respective decks, and draws anew.
You cannot redraw an arcanum of the same Royal Road pairing as the one being returned.
Maximum Charges: 2
NOTE: The pairs are the same as the Seal pairings we have in Endwalker. Balance/Bole, Arrow/Ewer, Spear/Spire.
The same pairings apply to the suits for the Minor Arcana, Staves/Rings, Knives/Cups, Irons/Crowns.

Level 42: Aspected Selena, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1000 MP, Spell
Restores HP to self and all nearby allies.
Additionally, applies a barrier to self and nearby allies.
Cure Potency: 300
Barrier Potency: 200
Duration: 30s
NOTE: A simple Barrier alternative to Aspected Helios. Weaker than the Sage or Scholar equivalent, this
is just to fill a gap so that AST has access to some kind of partywide shield, as I think all four healers
should have an AOE shield (it opens more encounter design-space, eg Barrier-Check mechanics like A11S Photon)

JOB QUEST
Level 45: Sleight Of Hand, 30s, Ability
Places the currently drawn Major and Minor Arcana into their respective Spreads.
Additionally, if a Major or Minor Arcana is already in their respective Spread, the Spread Arcana is brought back to the Hand, ready to Play.

JOB QUEST
Level 50: Synastry, 60s, Ability
Creates a bond with a party member. Each time you use a single-target action, the same action is applied to
the bonded ally, at 50% effectiveness.
Does not transfer the effect of played Arcana.
Duration: 10s
NOTE: This is reworked to include OGCD effects, and 'additional effects' such as the Regen from Aspected
Benefic, the healing of Essential Dignity, the mitigation and heal of Exaltation, or even the debuff removal
of Esuna! It does NOT include cards!

JOB QUEST
Level 50: Play Minor Arcana, Instant, 2.5s Recast, Spell
Plays the currently drawn Minor Arcana card.
NOTE: Please see 'Card system details' section for details on Major Arcana effects and how they work.
Yes it is a GCD, it's explained in the details

JOB QUEST
Level 54: Malefic 2, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200MP, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 170.

JOB QUEST
Level 56: Celestial Opposition, 60s, Ability
Restores HP to self and nearby allies, and restores HP over time.
Cure Potency: 200
Regen Potency: 100
Duration: 15s
NOTE: Celestial Opposition used to make sense being at level 60, as it was a 'time stop' of sorts, and the
quest NPC you fight in that quest uses a 'time stop' move. Now that Celestial Opposition is 'an OGCD Aspected
Helios cast', it can be freely moved elsewhere in the levelling progression.

JOB QUEST
Level 58: Collective Unconscious, 60s, Ability
Creates and channels a celestial ring around the caster.
Duration: 18s
Applies Wheel of Fortune to all allies within the ring.
Wheel of Fortune Effect: Restores HP over time
Wheel of Fortune Potency: 100
Wheel of Fortune Duration: 15s
Additional effect: Applies Collective Unconscious to all allies within 30y, reducing damage taken by 10%.
Duration: 5s
Effect Durations on allies and self are refreshed continuously while they remain within.
Movement, facing another direction, or using another action, will cancel the channel.

JOB QUEST
Level 60: Divination, 120s, Ability
Increases the damage dealt by self and nearby allies by 6%.
Duration: 20s

JOB QUEST
Level 62: Earthly Star, 60s, Ability
Places an Earthly Star at the designated location. Upon a second activation of the skill, the star detonates,
dealing damage to all enemies within, and healing all allies within.
Duration: 20s
Damage Potency: 250
Healing Potency: 540
Additional Effect: Upon placing the Earthly Star, once per second, a stack of Dominance is gained, up to
a maximum of 10. Upon reaching 10 stacks, Dominance becomes Giant Dominance, and the Star visually expands.
Detonating the star consumes all stacks of Dominance, boosting the damage and healing done.
Damage Potency per stack: 5
Healing Potency per stack: 20

NOTE: this is to alleviate the 'punishment' of pressing Detonate at 8-9s, and losing out on the bonus potency
(especially the healing). You will still want to time it to detonate at 10 stacks for max damage.

Level 64: Malefic 3, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 190.

JOB QUEST
Level 70: Royal Road, 1s, Ability
Sacrifices the drawn Minor Arcana card, to empower the next played Major Arcana card. See each Minor Arcana for which empowerment they provide.
'Empower' effect: Increases the potency of the Major Arcana effect by 50%
'Extend' effect: Increases the duration (or number of stacks) of the Major Arcana effect by 100%
'Echo' Effect: Repeats the 'Echo' Major Arcana's effect at 50% effectiveness, upon playing your next Major Arcana upon a different ally.

Level 72: Malefic 4, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 230.

Level 74: Celestial Intersection, 30s, Ability
Restores target's HP, and applies a Barrier to them.
Cure Potency: 200
Barrier Potency: 400
Barrier Duration: 30s

Level 76: Horoscope, 60s, Ability
Applies Horoscope to self and all nearby allies. Can be empowered into Empowered Horoscope, by healing affected party members with Aspected Helios or Aspected Selena.
Upon expiration, or reactivation of this action, heals for an amount dependent on Horoscope effect.
Horoscope Potency: 200
Empowered Horoscope Additional Effect: Restores HP over time
Regen Potency: 50
Duration: 12s
NOTE: Empowerment still heals for the same 400p, but half is as a heal over time, creating opportunity to
avoid overheal. Horoscope Helios renamed, due to the addition of Aspected Selena.

Level 80: Neutral Sect, 120s, Ability
Increases healing magic potency by 20%.
Additionally, when casting Aspected Benefic, an additional Barrier effect equal to 250% of the HP restored
is applied. When casting Aspected Helios, the Barrier effect of Aspected Selena is also applied.
Aspected Selena becomes Aspected Helios while under the effect of Neutral Sect.
Duration: 20s

Level 82: Fall Malefic, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 200 MP, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 250.

Level 82: Gravity 2, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 400 MP, Spell
Deals Unaspected damage with a potency of 130 to target and all enemies near it.

Level 86: Exaltation, 60s, Ability
Reduces damage taken by self or an ally by 10%.
Duration: 8s
Additional Effect: Restores HP upon expiration
Cure Potency: 500

Level 90: Macrocosmos, Instant, 180s Recast, Cost: 600 MP, Spell
Applies Macrocosmos to self and nearby allies. Deals damage with a potency of 250 to all nearby enemies.
Action changes to Microcosmos upon execution.
Macrocosmos Effect: For the duration of the effect, 50% of damage taken is compiled. Upon expiration or
execution of Microcosmos, HP is restored equal to the compiled damage, plus an additional heal of 200
potency.
This action does not share a cooldown with other actions.
Recast of this action is not affected by gear attributes or status effects.

Level 92: Oracle, Ability
Calls upon the power of the Twelve, dealing elemental damage to target and all enemies nearby it, Twelve-fold.
The element of each strike corresponds to the deity who's power is channelled.
Potency: 70
Can only be executed while Divining.

NOTE: Many smaller hits means less damage swing due to Crits/DHits (since each strike would have a chance to Crit/DHit).
Each of the strikes is tied to a member of the Twelve, resulting in 2 hits of each of the 6 elements.
The VFX of the action could be made to change based on your Patron Deity, eg someone who picked Rhalgr might have a Purple-tinted Oracle animation, whereas someone aligned to Oschon could have a Green-tinted one

Level 96: Helios Conjunction, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 800 MP, Spell
Restores own HP and the HP of all nearby party members.
Cure potency: 425
Additional Effect: Regen
Regen Potency: 175
Regen Duration: 12s

Level 96: Selena Conjunction, 1.5s Cast, 2.5s Recast, Cost: 1000 MP, Spell
Restores HP to self and all nearby allies.
Additionally, applies a barrier to self and nearby allies.
Cure Potency: 300
Barrier Potency: 250
Duration: 30s

Level 100: Sun Sign, Ability
Reduces damage taken by self and nearby party members by 10%.
Duration: 15s
Can only be executed while Suntouched.

CARD EFFECTS

Playing a Major Arcana is an Ability (OGCD). Playing Minor Arcana is considered an instant Spell (GCD). Redraw and Royal Road are Abilities (OGCD).

The Major Arcana Gauge draws a new Arcanum every 30s. If an Arcanum is held and the timer reaches 0 again, a second Arcanum (which cannot be the same as the held Arcanum) is drawn. This second Arcanum is placed in the Spread, and moves forward to the Draw slot once the currently held Arcanum is played or discarded. If the Draw and Spread slots are both filled, the timer is paused.

The same applies to the Minor Arcana Gauge, but the timer draws a new Minor Arcanum every 15s.

MAJOR ARCANA EFFECTS

Balance: 10% damage, 15s

Bole: 20% damage mitigation, 15s. Additionally, grants 3 stacks of Bole's Bulwark, causing the enemy that strikes the bearer of this buff to take 10% of that ally's Max HP as damage and consuming one stack.

Arrow: Grants 12 stacks of 'Arrow's Assault' (16 if the target is Ranged), increasing Autoattack rate by 400%. One stack is consumed for each Autoattack dealt under it's effect, and upon consuming all stacks, the Autoattack rate returns to normal.
Additionally, if the target of this card is the AST, grants 4 stacks of Arrow's Assault, speeding up the recast time of the AST to 1.0s for the next 4 GCD attacks, and making cast times of those spells instant.

Ewer: Grants 1000mp over 15s. Additionally, if the target is a Healer, grants 4 stacks of Ewer Overflowing, causing the next 4 casts of Glare/Broil/Malefic/Dosis dealt by said healer to strike a second time for 100% of the spell's potency. This second strike cannot be Critical, or a Direct Hit.

Spear: 10% Physical damage, 15s. Additionally, if the target of this card is the AST, all magic damage dealt by the AST is instead considered physical for the duration, allowing them to benefit from this card's effect

Spire: 10% Magic damage, 15s

Note: Additional effects have been added to the effects of the cards, to allow for the AST to make use of all of the cards in solo play. Using the card on the 'correct' target will always net more damage than playing it on the AST.

MINOR ARCANA EFFECTS

The Staves: Increases the next 5 attacks dealt by the target ally by 60p. When used with Royal Road, grants 'Empower' to the next Major Arcana played.

The Rings: Deals 100p in counterattack damage each time the target ally is struck, up to 3 times. When used with Royal Road, grants 'Empower' to the next Major Arcana played.

The Knives: Causes the next 5 Autoattacks to deal a second strike for 60p. When used with Royal Road, grants 'Extend' to the next Major Arcana played.

The Cups: Causes the target's next 3 Glare/Broil/Malefic/Dosis casts to cost half MP, and to strike a second time for 100p. Additional effects are not applied twice. When used with Royal Road, grants 'Extend' to the next Major Arcana played.

The Crowns: Increases the next 5 instances of Magic damage dealt by 60p. When used with Royal Road, grants 'Echo' to the next Major Arcana played.

The Irons: Increases the next 5 instances of Physical damage dealt by 60p. Additionally, if the target of this card is the AST, the next 5 instances of magic damage are instead considered physical, allowing them to benefit from this card's effect. When used with Royal Road, grants 'Echo' to the next Major Arcana played.

TRAITS

Level 20: Maim and Mend
Increases base action damage and HP restoration by 10%

Level 26: Benefic Mastery
Upgrades Benefic to Benefic 2.

Level 30: Helios Mastery
Upgrades Helios to Aspected Helios.

Level 36: Enchanced Benefic
Grants a 20% chance that after casting Benefic 2 or Malefic 2, your next Benefic 2 will be a guaranteed Critical Heal.
Duration: 10s

Level 40: Maim and Mend 2
Increases base action damage and HP restoration by 30%

Level 54: Malefic Mastery
Upgrades Malefic to Malefic 2.

Level 64: Malefic Mastery 2
Upgrades Malefic 2 to Malefic 3.

Level 68: Fates Entwined
Allows the accumulation of charges for Synastry.
Maximum Charges: 2

Level 68: Faster than Light
Allows the accumulation of charges for Lightspeed.
Maximum Charges: 2

Level 72: Malefic Mastery 3
Upgrades Malefic 3 to Malefic 4.

Level 78: Enhanced Essential Dignity
Allows the accumulation of charges for Essential Dignity.
Maximum Charges: 2

Level 82: Malefic Mastery 4
Upgrades Malefic 4 to Fall Malefic.

Level 82: Gravity Mastery
Upgrades Gravity to Gravity 2.

Level 85: Healing Mastery
Increases the healing potency of Benefic II to 800, Aspected Benefic to 250, Aspected Benefic's Regen effect to 250,
Aspected Helios to 250, and Aspected Helios's Regen effect to 150.

Level 88: Enhanced Celestial Intersection
Allows for the accumulation of charges of Celestial Intersection.
Maximum Charges: 2

Levle 92: Fates Foretold
Grants Divining upon executing Divination.
Duration: 30s

Level 94: Malefic Mastery 5
Increases the potency of Fall Malefic to 270, and Macrocosmos to 270.

Level 96: Conjunction
Upgrades Aspected Helios to Helios Conjunction, and Aspected Selena to Selena Conjunction.
Additionally, while under the effect of Neutral Sect, casting Helios Conjunction applies the barrier effect from Selena Conjunction.

Level 98: Enhanced Essential Dignity 2
Allows a third charge of Essential Dignity.

Level 100: Suntouched Soul
Grants Suntouched upon executing Neutral Sect.
Duration: 30s

SIDE NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR

The main driving force behind this design, was that I wanted to make the card effects be unique again, like Stormblood/Heavensward, but the issue of 'people will just try to Redraw to get the best damage card' popped up. But I've long been an advocate of the statement 'AOE Balance was not strong because of Balance, it was strong because it was AOE'. If we had seen Stormblood's AOE Balance, and nerfed The Balance to curb its stranglehold on the meta, people would have just shifted to fishing for the next best card (in this case, the Spear). If, however, the effectiveness of the AOE was reduced (eg it transferred only 25% of the card effect instead of 50%), then there would be a much bigger shift in the 'meta gameplay', and Extend or Enhance might come to the forefront as being better options (depending on party composition). Regardless, I hold the stance that, to keep cards easier to balance, we keep them as single target buffs.

We can simply look at Stormblood and Shadowbringers cards, and see the pros and cons of each, to create a good solution.
Stormblood was good because the cards were unique, but bad because everyone 'fished' for the Balance because it was the highest damage.
Shadowbringers was good because the cards all gave damage, but bad because they had to lose their unique flavour to do so.
So, if we take the good sides of both of these, we get 'make all cards give damage, but give them unique effects'. So, why not make the damage itself be unique to each card?

That's the intention behind this design. By making each card deal its damage (which is tuned to be roughly inline with each other, so that no one card is 'the best'), we can not only bring variety, flavour, and 'reacting to what fate dealt us' back, we can also bring back the Stormblood gameplay element of 'playing cards on someone that is not a DPS'. As an example from EW, Bole was a Ranged card (for some reason), we played it on a Ranged DPS, and the same was true of the Spire and the Ewer. Three cards, and their effects were all effectively 'use this on a Caster for the most damage'. But with this rework, Bole would cause a counterattack each time the Bole'd player is struck, dealing damage back to the attacking enemy based on the card target's Max HP. As such, Tanks, with their naturally higher HP pool, would be a better target for it than a DPS. By making the effects thematic like this, all five roles (Tank, Healer, Melee, Ranged, Caster) get a card that is 'best for that role', with Balance remaining an all-round boost, a sort of 'wildcard' that can be used on anyone (ideally a DPS).

The return of Royal Road (at level 70, for players to have a chance to fully internalise the Minor/Major effects) allows for more of that 'Stormblood feel' to return to the Job. The three effects, Empower, Extend and Echo, all improve the power of the Major Arcana cards, but also come at the cost of sacrificing a 300p Minor Arcana (which you'd then replace with a 270p Malefic, for a total 'cost' of 30p). This presents a meaningful choice to the AST player, yet is a much lower 'price' than Stormblood's 'sacrifice a Major Arcana' design. Additionally, where Stormblood's iteration had 'Expand' as Royal Road effect, causing the next Major Arcana effect to be AOE at 50% efficiency, I did not include this effect. I believe that it was not Balance's effect (10% increased damage), but Expand's effect on the Balance (turning it into 5% damage for everyone in the party), that caused Stormblood AST to be so powerful, and to have such large damage variance because of RNG. As such, a more moderate 'the card repeats itself, the next time you play a card' would keep the card effects' power in check, and add additional optimization to the Job. For example, maybe the player would want to play an Echo Bole on a tank with the Major Arcana 30s before the Divination window, such that the next cards they play (likely on the DPS) would cause the Echo effect to trigger within the duration of Divination, adding a pseudo-'third Major Arcana' into the Divination window.

The Minor Arcana are intended to break up how often we press Malefic. Their effect can be summed up as being 'a baby version of the leading card of that suit'. For example, where the Spire is 10% increased Magic Damage, the Crowns suit that the Spire leads, also increases Magic Damage, albeit by a much smaller amount. The Minor Arcana are all tuned to deal 300p (compared to Fall Malefic's 270). Learning the Minor Arcana effects listed here sounds daunting at first, but, there's only 6 effects to learn, and they are the same effects as the Major Arcana (just smaller). With each card having a 'best target' for its effect, I believe that learning the effects and who they're best to place on would be intuitive. Additionally, just as the current Endwalker Arcana Gauge has 'hints' as to what to do with the currently drawn card (blue outline = melee, purple outline = ranged), a similar 'hint' could be used to guide the player as to which role the card is suited to (eg if a Bole/Rings card is drawn, a shield icon could be displayed next to it, indicating 'this card is best suited to use on a tank', etc)

There should also ideally be a way for us to return Esuna to Exalted Detriment's animation, and/or to return Lucid Dreaming to 'Luminiferous Aether'.

Thank you for reading. If there are any typos, please mention them.

To Square Enix, should someone from SE see this post: I give full permission for parts or all of this design to be taken and used for 8.0 or beyond, I do not ask for any credit.

[ASkellington]

I'm just gonna address my major complaints with this:

The Major Arcana Gauge draws a new Arcanum every 30s.

No. I do not want automation in Draw for either the Major or Minor Arcana. If a card is to be drawn I the player would like to Draw it not the system. PvP has shown that Draw/Play can be one button. Let it be 1 button each for both and be done with it.

Note: this assumes that the FFXIV engine is capable of doing potency values that are not a multiple of 5. A Knave is 7, a Lord is 8, a Lady is 9.

I'm just gonna snip the rest if that's ok because I think I can get the point across - even if the engine is capable of doing potency values, we do not need a deck of 60 in game play. Just make it so that you draw the Minor Suits and scrap the potency idea.

The Minor Arcana are intended to break up how often we press Malefic.

I'm going to argue it doesn't. It may come up every 15s but that's only 4 GCD casts to break up the monotony every minute. Its not enough. And when placed on the AST themselves in solo play we're still spamming Malefic. And you got rid of Combust on top of that. I don't see why you refuse to even give AST another attack ON TOP of the GCD Minor Arcana. Either keep Combust and reduce its time from 30s, or add in another attack. If all the other healers can get one, so can AST.

But I believe that it can be turned into something fun, and I think that replacing managing Combust, the DOT (which has no interplay with our kit and is just a standalone button to press) with managing Astrodyne as a selfbuff akin to Huton or Darkside, would make the Astrodyne skill feel more impactful, and more fun.

Astrodyne is pretty much the same here as it is in EW with only 2 differences: Movement Speed over Damage, and it last 60s. Allowing me to have it up 100% of the time does not make the effects any lack luster. I also don't want a permanent MP buff. Just remove it and the seals system entirely.

• I like the update to Synastry its 100% needed if its to remain.
• I don't see the point in A. Selena. I understand why you added it there, but it seems to be a bloat of healing we don't really need especially since Neutral Sect is still here.
• Neutral Sect should be changed to include Celestial Intersection, Celestial Opposition and Collective Unconciousness so we can have Noct's effect on them again if we're keeping it. I'd also like to see it interact with Exaltation and perhaps Macrocosmos if possible, but I don't see how either could work. I would rather delete the ability and reintroduce Nocturnal Sect.
• The change to ES for the damage side is nice. The heal potency stack I'm iffy about, but on the other hand I think it would be fine so an AST doesn't have to wait a full 10s vs a full 10 stacks to get that extra healing. So a great AST would already have timed it, but a lesser skilled one isn't punished. I think over all its a good change.

[ForsakenRoe]

I'm jus

TY for reading

Draw automation: I was concerned about button bloat. Draw turning into Play works when we draw only one card, but the system means allowing the player to hold one in Spread too. In the past, this was done with the buttons Draw/Play, Redraw, Spread, Draw/Play Minor. We'd have to add another button to that for Spread Minor, and the hotbar is already packed thanks to the several different '60s AOE heal' moves SE has thrown on us. Plus I needed room for Aspected Selena. A.Selena is pretty much just 'Aspected Helios, but Nocturnal version'. I don't vibe with 'Nocturnal' + 'Helios' in the same name, since Helios refers to the sun. The addition of A.Selena to the base kit is to allow for all four healers to have access to a party-wide barrier, allowing for the devs to add more 'barrier check' mechanics, even in 4man content, where currently we cannot have them, as there's no guarantee that the DF will give the party composition a barrier healer. Ideally, 'barrier check' mechanics would become an oft-used mechanic choice, with an indicator and everything (where interruptible casts flash red, perhaps these could flash green). I think it's a slept-on design element that could be used as part of 'how to challenge the healer'. Though, with the overly abundant amount of barriers on other Jobs (WAR, PLD, DNC, etc), maybe it wouldn't even make a difference.

A non-Malefic GCD every 15s does not sound like it'd be enough, you're right, but I was writing not just with veteran ASTs in mind, but also learning ASTs who have just picked the job up. And for them, those 15s intervals might feel like they're passing far too fast, because they're still learning what each card does. Narrowing the Minor Arcana down to just the Suit might indeed be a better idea. Would mean not needing Sleeve Draw to be readded, at least. Maybe Stella could be readded in its place as a 10s CD GCD, or something

Astrodyne in this case would reduce your base GCD to 2.0s, I'm not sure I'd necessarily agree with its effect being 'lackluster' (it's definitely an improvement over the current form). But as I wrote in the post, it could also just be removed, and the player plays the cards for the effects they have, without worrying about any external BS to play into. In a sense, I suppose that's more akin to HW/SB cards, we just played the Balance because 'its the Balance'. Though, one thing to note which I just thought: If the GCD is 20% faster, that'd just mean 20% more Malefics. Hmm, maybe the Stella idea has more merit after all... Either way, I don't think Combust really fits the job. If there were Time Mage elements, being able to extend your Combust and such, I'd say keep it, but as it is it's incredibly bland, and the potency/duration ratio means it doesn't even feel satisfying to use. No impact. If I weren't constrained by the lack of hotbar space, I'd also consider adding an 'Exaltation but for damage' spell, one where you press it, but it deals it's damage after a duration (eg a Comet landing), that could be interesting

For the stuff that seems to be 'agreeable' outside the dropdown:

Synastry transferring OGCDs seems like a no brainer. Not sure why SE hasn't done it yet
A.Selena addressed above
The issue with adding OGCDs to Neutral Sect, is the same kind of thing as using Whispering Dawn inside of Rouse on SB SCH. It's cool that Rouse buffed W.Dawn, sure, but then you have the problem of 'W.Dawn outside of Rouse kinda sucks'. I think it's better to have the OGCDs be disconnected from Neutral Sect, as it currently is, so we don't feel like we're forced to use one 'wastefully' to make the best use of the other. As mentioned at the top, I'd also like to bring back Nocturnal Sect, and have ideas about how to do so. It'd probably be way overpowered if it were done how I'd do it, though.

[ASkellington]

Draw automation: I was concerned about button bloat. Draw turning into Play works when we draw only one card, but the system means allowing the player to hold one in Spread too. In the past, this was done with the buttons Draw/Play, Redraw, Spread, Draw/Play Minor. We'd have to add another button to that for Spread Minor, and the hotbar is already packed thanks to the several different '60s AOE heal' moves SE has thrown on us. Plus I needed room for Aspected Selena. A.Selena is pretty much just 'Aspected Helios, but Nocturnal version'. I don't vibe with 'Nocturnal' + 'Helios' in the same name, since Helios refers to the sun. The addition of A.Selena to the base kit is to allow for all four healers to have access to a party-wide barrier, allowing for the devs to add more 'barrier check' mechanics, even in 4man content, where currently we cannot have them, as there's no guarantee that the DF will give the party composition a barrier healer. Ideally, 'barrier check' mechanics would become an oft-used mechanic choice, with an indicator and everything (where interruptible casts flash red, perhaps these could flash green). I think it's a slept-on design element that could be used as part of 'how to challenge the healer'. Though, with the overly abundant amount of barriers on other Jobs (WAR, PLD, DNC, etc), maybe it wouldn't even make a difference.

I don't think is a good enough reason to warrant Automation. Draw would pretty much be the same and would switch to Play when you've drawn a card. Minor Arcana would be the same as it is now just GCD. So you aren't adding in buttons there. And you addressed Sleeve Draw down below.

I stand by the A. Selena isn't necessary. SE isn't going to go back into 4 man content to add in barrier checks that AST/WHM would need to deal with, any new ones they want to add can be addressed with Neutral Sect if it is kept at it will likely happen post-90 content, and in 8 man content specifically Savage chances are there will be a SCH/SGE. And even if there wasn't, I don't think SE is going to design mechanics made to screw over double AST/WHM or WHM/AST comps where they are completely unviable. Would it be harder for them to complete it (like it is now)? Yes. And that's fine so long as SCH/SGE don't completely dominate the scene (like they are now). So that would be a free button as well. And Astrodyne doesn't need to exist either. So I fail to see the issue.

A non-Malefic GCD every 15s does not sound like it'd be enough, you're right, but I was writing not just with veteran ASTs in mind, but also learning ASTs who have just picked the job up. And for them, those 15s intervals might feel like they're passing far too fast, because they're still learning what each card does. Narrowing the Minor Arcana down to just the Suit might indeed be a better idea. Would mean not needing Sleeve Draw to be readded, at least. Maybe Stella could be readded in its place as a 10s CD GCD, or something

As you mentioned fixed by making Minor into just the Suits instead. May as well add in an extra attack.

Astrodyne in this case would reduce your base GCD to 2.0s, I'm not sure I'd necessarily agree with its effect being 'lackluster' (it's definitely an improvement over the current form).

I extremely disagree that its an improvement. Its practically the same as we have now just 60s. The haste being added really means nothing to me. We don't need a permanent MP refresh and I could care less about the movement speed. Unless you're going to change the effects of Astrodyne remove it. It was a stupid skill from the start.

Though, one thing to note which I just thought: If the GCD is 20% faster, that'd just mean 20% more Malefics. Hmm, maybe the Stella idea has more merit after all... Either way, I don't think Combust really fits the job. If there were Time Mage elements, being able to extend your Combust and such, I'd say keep it, but as it is it's incredibly bland, and the potency/duration ratio means it doesn't even feel satisfying to use. No impact. If I weren't constrained by the lack of hotbar space, I'd also consider adding an 'Exaltation but for damage' spell, one where you press it, but it deals it's damage after a duration (eg a Comet landing), that could be interesting

"If there were Time Mage elements"? We HAD Time Dilation. Why not just bring it back into the design? You made space Astrodyne after all an ability that a lot of people apparently hated and A. Selena. It could even play into the cards. I also "freed up" your button bloat problem, but honestly if this was the only reason as to why you didn't want to add in another attack or DoTs/Compiles to AST for damage, this is an extremely short sighted issue. You don't HAVE to keep every skill we currently have in a rework. You're more than free to remove or add things as you see fit.

The issue with adding OGCDs to Neutral Sect, is the same kind of thing as using Whispering Dawn inside of Rouse on SB SCH. It's cool that Rouse buffed W.Dawn, sure, but then you have the problem of 'W.Dawn outside of Rouse kinda sucks'. I think it's better to have the OGCDs be disconnected from Neutral Sect, as it currently is, so we don't feel like we're forced to use one 'wastefully' to make the best use of the other.

And I feel Neutral Sect is a waste of space if its only going to work on GCDs I'm not going to use outside of it so... I'd rather remove it.

[ForsakenRoe]

Sorry for bump in these tumultuous times

Having posted this design sheet over a month ago, I thought I'd never update it. However, something kept eating at me, and its name was Astrodyne. So, an update has occurred, after much consideration. Astrodyne was removed, Sleeve Draw was removed, the concept of Face Values for Minor Arcana was removed, and in their place, Royal Road returns. However, the 'AOE' effect, Expand, has been reworked into 'Echo', causing a played card's effect to trigger a second time at 50% effectiveness, when the AST plays another Major Arcana. By playing your cards right (ha), a particularly optimization-minded player could use this effect to 'smuggle' this 'half-Card' from outside of raidbuffs, into raidbuffs. Learning Major Arcana effects from 30-50, whereupon the player would be given Minor Arcana to learn, I elected to put Royal Road at level 70 to give the player sufficient time to internalise the previous systems, before loading them with the next. Alternatively, Divination could be put at level 70 and Royal Road at 60.

Additionally, as per previous conversations above, the Face Value of the Minor Arcana no longer has any impact on the potency of the cards. It remains for the sake of 'flavour', or 'lore', so that it feels like we are drawing from a deck of 60 cards, but the only part the player needs to use in gameplay is the Suit of the Minor Arcana.

That's all, enjoy