Thread: Astrologian 5.0 Discussion

Originally Posted by KanameYuuki

Only potency buffs as expected, I wish they would give up with the new card system, at the very least AST should be less miserable when healing, and Sleeve Draw won't feel clumsy anymore.

Unfortunately, we are likely going to be stuck with the current card system for a very, very long time. Reverting back to the old system wouldn't have happened this early into the expansion, and if I'm being honest, I don't expect such a change to occur in patch 5.1 either, if at all.

One thing to note about Shadowbringers is that SE has taken measures to reduce pre-pull setup. This is why Scholar can't use Aetherflow outside of combat and why Summoner rely on Energy Drain now. Though not a bad design philosophy, it conflicted with certain preexisting job mechanics. Astrologian was most affected by this. Royal Road, Spread, and the old Minor Arcana that could hold a card separate from Draw were all mechanics that could be setup before a fight starts. I'm almost surprised that we're still allowed to draw cards outside of combat. This may even explain why the cards themselves have been changed. Some groups may opt to wait until Balance is drawn before beginning a fight which could take time to fetch depending on luck. Now, it hardly matters what card you start with, aside from a preference for a melee or ranged card.

I certainly won't say that SE was in the right to make remove these elements from Astrologian, but I do think their desire to reduce pre-pull preparation was a big reason why Astrologian received such a drastic change to the card system. Reverting to the old system would mean going back on their objective for Shadowbringers. And SE can be stubborn, particularly when it comes to healers.

The least they could do is bring back unique effects for each card. That's priority number one in my book. It's something they might be able to manage before the release of the next expansion, I hope.

I’ve been playing AST since I started 2 years ago. Here’s my humble feedback of 5.05 after a day with only dungeons. I’m a mediocre player at best & I’m one of those who didn’t mind the new card system.

- Overall more comfortable AoE healing. AST’s healing on the whole has improved, me feels.
- Speedier Gravity is always nice.
- Celestial Opposition is useful now! With the reduced cool down, I’m using it a lot more. I kinda also use it after Collective Unconscious to make up for it’s nerf.
- Sleeve Draw is much speedier now. I’m still getting used to it. But I imagine it’ll pretty decent once I do.
- MP is still an issue. I’ve only ran dungeons & I’m already constantly using Lucid Dreaming. I’d imagine it’ll be spicier in raids.
- Divination with shorter cool down is good. But it still feels “meh”.
- Card buffs on itself stayed somewhat the same. I’m not too sure if card buffs are comparable to WHM’s personal DPS. Or SCH, even more so now that they’ve gotten back energy drain. I’m guessing raids will still prefer WHM/SCH combo.

Since 5.05 revived AST as a proper healer. I got it to lvl 80 and play test for awhile.

Healing wise, AST don't feel weak anymore, so that's a good thing, but there are still some areas need balancing.

Single card buff that lasts for 15s is still a waste of my time. Outside of seals fishing for divination, my malefic IV matters more than single card buff on the right person. Once I no longer care to fish for all 3 types of seals, the require effort for activating divination with just 2 types feels both smoother and actual usage becomes quite frequent.

Noct sect is just as inferior as it were in SB. Shield value staying the same as SB is too weak for my taste. Neutral sect can basically cover the situation where you feel shield is needed. Diurnal Celestial Intersection's shield is almost always available to cover tank buster which eliminates the benefit of Noct AB. Ironically, Noct CI's 15s regen aren't really enough to heal for anything with it's 30s cd. Noct sect has been removed from my bar for now. If two diurnal AST can take turn to neutral sect, noct sect really doesn't matter that much. Noct sect needs a greater rework.

Originally Posted by Miziliti

Since 5.05 revived AST as a proper healer. I got it to lvl 80 and play test for awhile.

Healing wise, AST don't feel weak anymore, so that's a good thing, but there are still some areas need balancing.

Single card buff that lasts for 15s is still a waste of my time. Outside of seals fishing for divination, my malefic IV matters more than single card buff on the right person. Once I no longer care to fish for all 3 types of seals, the require effort for activating divination with just 2 types feels both smoother and actual usage becomes quite frequent.

Noct sect is just as inferior as it were in SB. Shield value staying the same as SB is too weak for my taste. Neutral sect can basically cover the situation where you feel shield is needed. Diurnal Celestial Intersection's shield is almost always available to cover tank buster which eliminates the benefit of Noct AB. Ironically, Noct CI's 15s regen aren't really enough to heal for anything with it's 30s cd. Noct sect has been removed from my bar for now. If two diurnal AST can take turn to neutral sect, noct sect really doesn't matter that much. Noct sect needs a greater rework.

Especially as CI's Diurnal shield is almost as strong as Noct A. Benefic.

But AST's regens don't stack like AST+WHM do, so with two ASTs is still best to alternate sects. Someone has to draw the short straw.

Well, that leads me. To the next question then: now that 5.05 has rolled out, what's the next release schedule plan?

Or in other words, given the strong consensus that people just want the old card system back, is there ANY hope to get some hard changes to AST before the next expansion?

Anyone that's still holding on to hope that the old card system is coming back... I don't know what to tell you at this point.

It is truly hilarious to me that in a game where 95% of the population is DPS obsessed, we have people crying over the fact that all of the cards are now damage up cards.

Originally Posted by NorthernLadMSP

It is truly hilarious to me that in a game where 95% of the population is DPS obsessed, we have people crying over the fact that all of the cards are now damage up cards.

Sometimes things other than 'damage up' can actually provide better optimization...even for doing damage.

For example, if a BRD gets extra procs from crits on their songs....crit might be more damage than damage up.

For example, if a boss does a heavy aoe attack and Bole-Spread might keep people alive....living dps do more damage than damage up.

For example, if you have the best player ever who keeps running into stupid and dying...Ewer to pick them back up might be more damage than damage up (might in this case b/c they also might just be a waste of MP).

For example, if you also have a dancer in your party and the arrow can allow one more attack to be squeezed in under technical finish...that might be more damage than 'damage up.'

I mean, that shouldn't be super-surprising when you already elsewhere in this forum have conversations about how in a WHM/SCH pairing it could potentially be a rDPS gain to have the SCH not DPS as much...because that allows the WHM (who has higher pDPS capabilities) to DPS more.

Further, all of these provide some versatility and some interesting gameplay alternatives.

My biggest problem with the new card buff is how badly adjusted it is. I almost forgot the info of old cards and had to google for a bit. Thank god the old info are still available.
http://www.ffxivinfo.com/job/astrologian.php

Take a look at the balance, bole, arrow, and spear. These main buff cards no matter their effect, they all have base duration of 30s. When using card on a single person, I could also use time dilation to add 15s.

The new cards even thought they are all damage buff, they lasts only a pathetic 15s with no way to extend. I said new cards are a waste of time is because so far when I played DPS with AST in party, the 15s buff feels like nothing at all. Imagine someone lift you high up and immediately drops you to the ground. That's how I felt as DPS given buff by AST now. It is not long enough to feel the impact. It's a rather depressing feel than good feel.

Divination though it is now more frequent with shorter cd, it's still a pathetic 15s buff that comes and goes like a blowing wind.

If new cards have the same 30s duration, I would be more indifferent towards the whole new vs. old thing.

Not gonna lie, I never liked handing out cards one by one. Outside of 4 man dungeon, it's aoe royal road or GTFO.