Quote Originally Posted by loreleidiangelo View Post
Ignoring Time Dilation/Celestial Opposition extension buffs because I'm too tired to do the math effectively, 100% Balance uptime would only be 5% DPS increase on a single target. It's not THAT powerful, and I really wish people would quit pretending like it's godlike. On a player doing 1000 DPS, that's only a 50 DPS increase. GOOD, but no more than what a WHM/SCH could contribute extra, AND they have more powerful healing to boot.

Mind you, I'm opposed to 100% buff control as well, since like you, I feel like it goes against the playstyle and theme of the job, but let's not pretend like the current AST card buffs are so ZOMGS POWERFUL that they need to be unreliable in virtually every way.
I agree. The card effects are all really lackluster except the spear which can be scary with the right synergy. Unfortunately, RNG prevents us from even taking advantage of that. The cards just don't a worthwhile enough effect to matter much. 10% damage increase, 10% damage decrease, 20% attack speed increase. Even if you spread and royal road to wait for that "golden opportunity", it's just not enough to make up for the AST's overall lower healing and attack potency since WHM and SCH got a plethora of new pretty toys to play with that lets them continue DPS while healing.

All I can say is that Square Enix certainly has their hands full with this class. I love that they're trying to break the usual mold with some genuinely new concepts; however, how do you make something like this that relies on the luck of the draw viable in end-game content?