DPSing as AST

[Miste]

I mean, on a more serious note, the issue with the cards is there are legitimately bad cards that are only fodder for Royal Road.

Hm... I am assuming you mean every single card except Balance, Spear, and Arrow?

Do you have AST at 70 and have done a lot of content on it (or at least level 60 and played it often during HW)? Like in casual and savage content? Because I am sensing a lack of knowledge on the job with this entire statement you've made about always RRing the same cards....it isn't true especially comparing 4 man and 8 man/24 man content, and you've also forgotten about Minor Arcana?

For one Royal Road is a necessary part of playing AST, so some cards being used for RR doesn't mean the card was inherently useless nor does it mean it is never useful; it all depends on the situation.

For instance in 8 man content yeah you strive to AoE DPS boosting cards this is true, but in savage for example Ewer cards are not only RR fodder. For progression (or for even mishaps even on farm status) where MP might be depleting fast due to inexperience or for fixing mistakes that drained MP (like multiple raises) and also if you get one where a healer has low MP from adding additional DPS it can really help. In my O3S progression as AST for example Ewer cards have saved me on some occasions because our group was trying to push enough DPS to beat enrage and I was pulling all the stops using everything I could to heal hard and fast and DPS like mad.

It also is good to note this works for 24 man raids as well. I've had times in the early days of Mhachi and Dun Scaith where as a AST healer I was running out of MP from trying to heal the alliance's mistakes or raise a ton of people from either my group or other groups as well. Sometimes Ewer really saved me and I was able to pick up the group all on my own.

Honestly in some of my progression on O3S and O4S I have gotten Ewer cards where I seriously had to think quick and decide whether I needed (or my cohealer needed) the MP or if I can risk it and just RR it because our MP pools were quite low at points. As you get more gear and learn the fights everything gets so much easier, but these first few months....yeah sometimes a bit hard on the MP.

Spire by itself is mostly useless in 8 man content (but still 8 man you want to RR AoE so it is still a desired card even if the actual buff it gives isn't), but in dungeons where jobs use high TP cost AoE damage to kill large packs Spire is good to use on them because in 4 man content RR AoE is not beneficial like it is in 8 man and TP gets drained fast even with DPS job buffs like Tactician or Goad. Ewer is also good for keeping your own MP up (can also use on a BRD for longer Foe's or on PLD's to help their DPS/Flash) for your healer DPS since RRing it, is again, not beneficial for 4 man.

Bole is highly situational and generally if you happen to get one in 4 man content you usually do RR it. It is the only card that kind of falls under your assessment. It isn't a bad card though if healers get a tank who doesn't want to use cooldowns or is undergeared it is as strong as Rampart! It is a very underrated card tbh and it can help you DPS when you get a squishy tank since it gives a great buff. It is just most content is too easy to heal so most skilled AST do not need it and it would be better used by RRing it, but again like spire even though you RR it doesn't mean it was useless because now the next DPS card you pull gets the 150% power added on to it so in the end the Bole + whatever DPS card you pulled was very beneficial.

Bole in 8 man is highly situational as well but not entirely useless. With the new Sleeve Draw mechanic sometimes you end up having a choice on what to AoE if you have AoE + 2 random cards. Now I've been in situations where I Sleeve Draw and I get Bole in the Spread and then Ewer or Spire in the Drawn card slot. I basically have a choice here....Either AoE the Ewer/Spire (and lose the extra AoE RR) or AoE the Bole and honestly AoEing Ewer is kind of wasteful and if me or my cohealer desperately needed MP I would simply remove the AoE from my RR then use it; and then AoEing Spire is just...no. So likely I will choose Bole for incoming raid damage and then RR the Spire/Ewer that was left and then I have AoE setup again for next Draw. AoE Bole has helped reduce damage so that I didn't have to AoE heal as much then I can go back to DPSing. Not a great card to end up AoEing, but it wasn't completely useless either.

Also to note, like you can do with Ewer if one of the healers is very low on MP, if a tank buster is coming you can even remove the AoE RR, use the singe target bole on the tank, then RR the waiting Spire/Ewer and wait for the next draw.

So yeah I disagree that some cards are only RR fodder as each of them have their uses. DPS cards are more desirable most of the time true, but others definitely have their place. I've even had myself cursing that I cannot draw an Ewer sometimes when I really really needed the MP or my boyfriend did (he's my cohealer in savage). The only point you might have is Bole....things in this game just don't do enough damage and healing spells are just so strong that it doesn't really get much use for a skilled AST, but like I said it has its uses for some situations and for some players.

I mean RR being so integral to how AST works even if you changed some of the cards how you say to be DPS oriented...people are still going to need to RR them. Change Spire to Direct Hit? If I have a balance or sleeve draw waiting then I will still RR it. Change Ewer? Same thing...you are still going to have to RR one of them to get AoEs for the 8+ man content. So really it wouldn't change much in the end except make it so you have way too many DPS cards and not enough other support cards for other situations.