The AST's cards weak

[WolfKid]

After reading different posts, looks like i cast judgement too fast on the cards, for now i'll make the best of it. As i said before, they ARE nice, i guess i was underestimating Royal Road.

[TatoRazzino]

Is..... Is AST really that powerful?! I never noticed. I was fine with the healing as it is now, i just didnt like the system on the cards and stuff. Did AST really get that powerful, cause i never felt that. I always feel inferior to either a WHM or SCH

AST is a harder job to master because it requires you to do two roles at the same time: buffing and healing; if you add personal DPS to that list, it becomes hard to juggle all the roles (but also very fun!). Like Neko said, you need to know your cards very well and also know how each job works in the game to use the cards effectively. Ideally, you should know who play with you very well so you can know when to use cards on them and when not to. Everything is contextual, so teaching someone how to use the system effectively is very hard. Read the AST threads in here; in the middle of all the crying and bashing, there are some pretty valuable tips

[Nekotee]

Read the AST threads in here; in the middle of all the crying and bashing, there are some pretty valuable tips

Golden... And 100% true XD
But you have to dig deep in the whining, theorycraft and the yelling...

And I do second the statement about your fellow fighter...
Know them well and adapt !
My static's Monk had build his stuff with the right among of skillspeed in order to DPS without too much TP problem
And each time I give him the arrow, he swore on the twelve that'he'will spank mynass red... ._. Because it break all his cycle XD
So yeah... No arrow for him...
In the other hand my BLM would french kiss me for each arrow i give him.
(But it force him to think about about his mana regeneration... So he complain but love it)

[AzureFlare]

The healing is not 1 on 1 equal but given how much people generally overheal, AST can hold its own just fine. Got to be a little creative with your buttons is all.

[416to305]

When I first started as AST I thought the same about the cards, there was no benefit that's obvious etc. I don't know when that changed but you just know you're making a difference. I get so many comments especially from BLM's after saying they are now addicted to enhanced Balance etc. I also echo what the other poster said, phase 1 also around 58% just did it earlier and had expanded Balance up.

[416to305]

Spear is actually really good if you have it come up and can use it. If you have enhanced royal road and use it, you can usually pop a collective unconscious, LA (whatever it is the pink spell that restores your MP :P), lightspeed, swiftcast etc, and have them all come off cool down much faster. You definitely see that one working for sure. Ewer of course as well. Spire I almost never use other than to royal road it as no one ever seems to be so low on TP that it isn't worth royal roading it. Ewer I used to always royal road it but it's handy to spread it sometimes just in case you die or need that boost. Bole is also handy to spread, good for if someone wipes and you rez them or tank is taking damage, especially if you can get an expanded royal road. Can pop that before a big AoE.