Quote Originally Posted by Seraphor View Post
IThe cards... aren't so bad.
Balance needed a slight nerf, let's be honest, and once you factor in the fact that Balance was a 1-in-6 before (or a 16.6% chance, 36.6% chance when factoring in redraw) with Arrow and Spear not being as effective, the potencies averaged out aren't that much lower. Given that you've basically gone from a 36.6% chance tops to a 100% chance, the nerf seems proportional. From 10% to 6%, on a half duration, is 30% of the averaged potency, and 40% on a Minor Arcana. It's almost perfect. Given that over the course of 3mins you'll use 3 of the base cards (30%) and between as many as 6 Minor Arcana with Sleeve draw (40%) it's basically the same 36.6%.
You are severely underestimating how strong Spear could be. Even Arrow wasn't all that bad, especially on jobs like BLM, MNK or SAM. Furthermore, the potency differences do not average out whatsoever. fifteen seconds at 6% on a single target is laughably weak. Using basic napkin math, I can pull roughly 13k on a target dummy playing Dragoon—which amounts to 780 additional rDPS. Compare that to AoE Balance on just the four DPS bursting for... lets say 12k each (lowball estimate). That amounts to 4,800 rDPS since it lasts for thirty seconds in lieu of fifteen. That is a staggering difference, and highlights why the cards now feel incredibly weak. They are weak.

Did Balance need a nerf? Yes. Hell, I strongly advocated it becoming Direct Hit and they figuring out something else for Spire because flat damage tends to be an issue balance wise. Instead, they made every card a crappy version of Balance—one that cannot come close to how much pDPS White Mage throws out. You may prefer the lack of RNG, however Astro is undeniably far weaker than it was in Stormblood.