Thread: Astrologian 5.0 Discussion

Talk about fishing. I did NOT fish for balance. With this dumbed down AST, you do end up fishing for the stupid seal because it seems to be the only strategy you have. The lack of the time-mage component and the class itself now feels sludgy and sad. I get that no class is perfect but AST was fun and challenging. Now, it just feels delayed by the card draws, with no strategy, and like I am limiting the group wasting my time with cards.

I was fully sceptical about healers being ruined in this expansion. I said I had some doubts on the systems to replace the old current ones.. but that it could certainly be fun and that I'd have to try it out before making any verdict.
Now... I just got out of my first dungeon as Astrologian, and it truly makes me sad to the point I might just quit healing.

It's like the class was made by 2 designers clashing with ideas.

We have the draw/play which works as intended.
The attack buff only is sad.
Aand with no mana buff in there and the MP gauge being rather poorly balanced we get Mana shot in no time.

Now even considering all of this, and trying to take it as is. It just doesn't work, it's clear that with not having to formulate card combo's you can just keep casting these attack buffs nice and quickly. And then there's the sleeve draw which is clearly designed to make things nice and fast. So I was like "Okay, this could be fun."

But when you realize that... after "Divination," you have to wait 3 minutes for the next. So any "luck" in your rng doesn't equate to getting a better play.
Added to that, once you've cast 3 buffs you have to be careful to keep casting the ones from the same symbol or you'll ruin your next party buff, slowing things to a crawl! Making Sleeve Draw practically useless, because you'd imagine a skill like that is designed to get you back in the action.

You know... with all of this said, I feel the only way this new system could work and keeping Astrologian users happy for keeping a keen eye on their cards is by taking Divination to the global cooldown so that hard work gets paid off with more party buffs and we can continue to cycle through.

But the lack of variation of buffs just kills my spirit... would it have hurt to put in some variation? If that Spire/TP Up gave you that much trouble to come up with something original, couldn't you have just turned it into Direct Hit? Or give us something in return for taking away our mp restoration buff?

I've been an Astrologian for a long time, but I might just drop Astrologian all together from these changes because it truly is a sad state from what once was a really fun class to play.

Originally Posted by Elamys

I was nervous about the card changes too. In fact thinking about it made me miserable! And while I get that being only a damage up bot is kind of boring (I would like to see that changed somehow) the seal system feels more engaging and could be truly spectacular with some tweaks.

The current speed at which cards play is a vastly superior system to the previous one. I've used Minor Arcana more so far this expansion than I ever did in Stormblood, the kit altogether, works much more smoothly.

But I'm in the same boat, I miss my old buff types, I'd like them back even if it meant removing Balances +% Damage effect.

Very disappointed with AST changes. They worked really hard to get it right during Heavensward and completely shattered class depth that in Shadowbringers. I spend my time having all 3 seals and sitting there with nothing to do with them for at least 2 minutes in between Divination's CD. What was unique is now flat. Before any of my cards would work on anyone. Some were better suited for certain classes and knowing which class preferred which card was part of the "card game" All they needed to do was change spire because of the resource modification. instead they broke the wheel so to speak. The seal system would be a great addition to the class if it was left as it was but right now AST is so slow and boring to play.

Make my RNG card game fun again.

Gotta say that I don't like the new card system. Feels very unrewarding in general and a chore to do.

C.O. is so weak that I have a hard time seeing what effect it even has. Why does it have a 2 minute CD? Earthly star out classes it in everything that with just a minute CD. If anything it should have been closer to whm assize. you wouldn't even need to throw in the mp restore just up it's power to with a similar CD if the stun and buff time isn't coming back.

Give me back my 4.0 AST.

I don't want this. I just dont.

Astro cardplay is like opening 6 fortune cookies any having each one say...
"Stay positive, the only way to go from rock bottom is up".

WHM was the reactive regen healer. Progression king.
SCH was the proactive shield healer.
DPS God.

Astro was the perfect mix of both that excelled at neither but the RnG cards were so powerful and fun that it compensated.

Now 2/3 have an identity crisis while at the same time all 4 tanks are in a good spot.

The biggest reason I decided to play tank/healer in the first place was mainly bc I wanted fast queue times.

Right now tank queues are 15-30mins. Lots of unhappy healers and tanks right now.The Duty Trust feature is buying them time to fix the changes that nobody asked for. Lets hope they do it quickly.