My AST card strategy.

[Mendalas]

About the AoE effect I noticed to Spread a card before getting the expanded effect is better else I waste in the end either my expanded on a Bole or something other not useful or just discard a ton cards before getting Arrow/Balance maybe Spear...

If you can't get a good spread card while you have the aoe effect ready and you draw another card that won't have a good use to be aoe'd, you can always right click off of the aoe effect and give it to a single person. Of course this is situational though and sometimes it might be better to just right click off the card and wait for another. Depends on the fight and how it's going.

[Werhusky]

If you can't get a good spread card while you have the aoe effect ready and you draw another card that won't have a good use to be aoe'd, you can always right click off of the aoe effect and give it to a single person. Of course this is situational though and sometimes it might be better to just right click off the card and wait for another. Depends on the fight and how it's going.

On Ps isnt as easy while in trouble of fight to click off buffs one way or the other also you lose a card no matter how you turn it.

[TatoRazzino]

Like I said, I'm not a DRG expert at all but I do like the idea of getting an Arrow on DRG a lot when I'm not eating through TP like candy. lol.

The DRG in my raid group has an orgasm in voice chat every time I hit him with an Arrow. The only fight that it's bad to throw that on a Dragoon is A2S; in all others they don't have any TP problems because of their traited invigorate.

[Ghishlain]

The DRG in my raid group has an orgasm in voice chat every time I hit him with an Arrow. The only fight that it's bad to throw that on a Dragoon is A2S; in all others they don't have any TP problems because of their traited invigorate.

So what happens when he gets an Enhanced Arrow? ~.^

[TatoRazzino]

So what happens when he gets an Enhanced Arrow? ~.^

We wipe because he dies from the overload =D

[Immut]

I'll tell you how i manage my cards.

For the initial pull, I try to get expanded arrow, balance, or spear. Spear is really good on the initial pull because you know everyone's using every cd they have.

Mid-battle, if I don't get balance or arrow, I shuffle immediately unless I see a use for whatever I drew. Usually there is one. If I do get balance or arrow, spread, unless we're approaching a dps check and I won't have time to RR.

Let's say I've shuffled and have no RR.
I get ewer or spire, immediately RR them.
If I get bole, I pair it with synastry and AB/AH/CU, time dilate, and start DPSing my damn self. Bole doesn't benefit from RRs, always use it raw if you get it.
If I get spear, I spread it because spear is awesome. I use it on myself more often than anything. Spear benefits GREATLY from any RR.
Now if I get balance or arrow, i spread them and wait for the next card to RR it
Two balances obviously you just use them individually, since enhanced is only 1.5x strength. For arrows I like to extend or enhance them because some classes (black mage) benefit more from speed than others. And also because putting an enhanced arrow on a dark knight using blood sword and watching them run out of TP amuses me.

I try not to have an RR before I have a spread card. Nobody wants to be stuck with expanded bole.

Handy trick: Use shuffle to keep the drawn card effect active until spread comes off CD if you can't use whatever you drew right away.

Now, the thing is, DPS are going to account for between 70 and 80% of the raid's total dps. This means that expanded cards aren't strictly worth four cards like you'd think. If one DPS is doing 15% of the raid damage (which would actually put them behind the tanks lol), and you put a balance on them, that increases the raid dps by 1.5% yeah? And expanded increases raid dps by 5%. So EXTENDED would be 3/5s of expanded. Enhanced balance is pretty sick on the initial pull or if one of your dps is far and away better than the rest, but that's about it. Avoid getting enhanced balance, if you get a bole just use the bole and drop some dots. Pretty sure AST can contribute 2% of a raid's dps for 30 seconds.

[416to305]

I used to try to make AoE's all the time as well but what I find works better is when I draw a card, check to see if that can benefit anyone immediately and use it. If not shuffle it if you want, or just royal road it ideally to make the next one more potent. AoE's are great but I find lots of times it can apply to the wrong person or what not and ends up on the tanks, healers and maybe 1 or 2 DPS vs just putting an enhanced balance on a BLM or something with Time Dialation I think would probably be better. I find sometimes you fall into the trap of spending several minutes or draws and just skipping them trying to get that perfect combo, when just using them as they come up is more beneficial.

[Archvile78]

On Ps isnt as easy while in trouble of fight to click off buffs one way or the other also you lose a card no matter how you turn it.

This should help you, someone i know linked me a thread from a few days ago and someone proposed a Discard macro, which is very useful for PS players like you and i. While i was used to click manually with the controller this proved to be extremely useful.

Macro title: "Discard"
/micon Draw
/statusoff "Bole Drawn"
/statusoff "Balance Drawn"
/statusoff "Ewer Drawn"
/statusoff "Spear Drawn"
/statusoff "Spire Drawn"
/statusoff "Arrow Drawn" <me>

It works flawlessly.

[RiisWolf]

I try every once in a while to get a combo, but half if not most of the time I deal the cards I've been dealt. Something is better than nothing.

I normally apply:
Spear: DRG>MNK>MCH>DRK>NIN. Goal: Benefit a large number of CDs within its time frame more than once. Otherwise, burn.
Balance: Any DPS>Tank>Tank who REALLY needs power.
Spire: Anyone under 60% TP (50% for DRG) who is NOT a magic person. Otherwise, burn or shuffle immediately.
Arrow: BLM>MNK=NIN> DRG> BRD> SMN>MCH>DRK>PLD>WAR Order based on who's doing better. Or myself if things go bad or if I want to fight.
Ewer: myself>DRK>PLD>Heals>Others Otherwise, burn or shuffle immediately.
Bole: Tanks or Burn. Never expand.

NIN: Ninjistu As far as I know is their only CD that is 20 seconds long. I can't use spear on them over someone else has more 20~30 second CDs. Speed, MORE SPEED.
MCH: Combo roulette will short change them on damage. Spear might make it better. Can't trust them with Arrow.
BRD: Arrow all the way. Can't trust them with Spear, their CDs might recharge instantly making it useless.
DRG: Spear+Spear= More jumping!
MNK: Speed on MORE Speed. I'll get them to Dragonball speed some day!
PLD: If no-one else, then for nostalgia's sake I will make them truly fast strikers again. I did play 1.0 Needs MP to AoE tanks, use stoneskin and clemency, if not in need move down the line.
WAR: Only one oGCD attack? Check. Never use spear on warrior.
DRK: Tons of oGCD attacks? Check. Oh I'm going to be nettled if they squared spear. As for Arrow, think of it like blood weapon, only that it's not. Needs MP to function, cannot use while Darkside is on, if not in need and/or impossible to apply, move down the line.
SMN: Sure they got lots of oGCDs but the problem is resources. It doesn't matter if spear is applied, when there is no Aethercharge, spear is done/useless. Never use Spear on.
BLM: It takes forever to cast. Ley lines fixes that. Arrow will help the same way. All CDs are 60 seconds or more, do not use spear, ever. EVER. NEVEREVEREVEREVEREVER. ever.

Expand: Never for spear or bole.
Extend: Anything
Enchane: ANYTHANG!

[Blood-Aki]

SMN: Sure they got lots of oGCDs but the problem is resources. It doesn't matter if spear is applied, when there is no Aethercharge, spear is done/useless. Never use Spear on.

What kind of smns do you play with, because i have had quite a few love when you give them spear, as they have other GCDs on short timers helping them, in fact the last good smn i raided with usually topped the DPS chart when i gave him most of the spears, and usually didn't when he had none. Spear is good for them, assuming they know what they are doing.

Otherwise spear is also good to even use on your self right before you use big Cds like aether, and syn, but again, it's more of a situational card then any other.