Thread: 5.0 AST is a failure

well... you all know that they will give the excuse "dont have time now for major reworks, wait till its too late for it, please look forward to it" or something... so the most viable changes would be numerical values and some other little extra things until they find "time" again to do it wrong, because they cant bother asking for their players input, even tho there are some amazing ideas in this thread.

They seem to be wanting ast to be focused more on healing with gcds and the extra bit with ogcds, so i am just going all in into it, make their dps average, but give them decent buffing capabilities.

-for small lazy changes, just bump all base cards damage % to 8% and 4%. for the minor arcana 10% or 0% (yes, you either play this right, or get nothing, this would at least make people think to use it instead of rushing to put it on someone since it would be a dps bonus anyway)

- Essential dinigty: just give it some charges, ideally 4, but 3 could be decent.

- Divination: like it was mentioned in this thread, just make it useable everytime the seals are ready, if in the end ast is still lacking, buff this to 10%

- Collective unconscious: this is terrible now, just revert to the way it was before. or at least, buff that healing potency.

- Celestial opposition: even worse D: why the hell the cd of this is so long? whm assize is so good and it is only 45s. increase the range of this to be like assize and buff the potencies all around, and of course the cd should be between 45 and 30s like whms and schs (having stun back would be nice).

- Earthly star: every placed support action from the healers do something extra now, but not asts... well it should... can be whatever, regen, dmg reduction, whatever, but just give it another thing for while it is cooking in the ground.

- Sleeve draw: y u do? just make it give stacks that grants X uses of draw with no time on it to use, or at least not a short time.

- Celestial intersection: its cool, but still could do with a small buff. (maybe if the whole kit is buffed this might not need a buff?)

- Horoscope: why is this a heal? ok, it can be a heal, but it has to do something else besides just healing, otherwise is just a copy of whms plenary. make it buff the heal of the aspected helios yes, but also buff the shield and regen effect they have. Restoring a bit of mp as well helps if the gcd healing is the goal.
Arent horoscopes usually used by people as some sort of basic guidance? tbh this ability should be renamed and then, for future expansions, use the horoscope and zodiac theme to create new actions, maybe upgrade the cards to the zodiac system.

- Neutral sect: first of all, this should have been called eclipse sect, would have been so much cooler. Second, some effects dont stack with other healers (shield), so, either make so they can stack on the same target, or double down on the sect they are.

I'm an AST player recently switched to WHM, because 5.0 absolutely destroyed the unique job I loved.

Simplifying the cards mechanic is absolutely the worst thing they can do to this class. It's as if they didn't consult any AST players whatsoever before changing it. The reason I loved playing AST was because I feel like I have full control on all my skills including the buffs I want to throw. Yes, some cards are only useful when used with Royal Road or Spread, but that's the point of it.

Spreading your Buff when you finally get that Spear or Balance was a fantastic feeling.

I'm leveling all three healers a the same time right now and AST is absolutely my least favourite. They broke the job so much I could cry for it.

Divination CD is way too long to be even remotely useful, Sleeve Draw is basically useless now that I even forgot it exist sometimes.

AST was fun to play, now it's just cancerous.

Originally Posted by nordiclania

I like the way you think! -applause- I agree that Divination should proc as soon as you have three seals, seeing as we still have 30 seconds cooldown for Draw and 180 seconds for Sleeve Draw.

As an Astro main for the past 1-2 years, in ShB, I first felt like I didn't do nearly enough healing like I used to. I almost switched to WHM, but then decided to stick it out. I don't dislike Astro, but in the new raid content Eden, I am now having a hard time giving my team mates that 15 second extra damage buff, be it through a single card or through Divination. I just don't feel like I have the time, cause I have to spam my heals to keep up, as well as juggle Horoscope and keeping a close eye on its timer.

I still think the job is fun, and I enjoy it (maybe because it is quite tricky to master now, even though it always was in a way) but if suggestions like these came to fruition, I think it would be an absolute blast.

That suggestion isn't even remotely within the realm of balance, AST would be 100% required, probably 2 ASTs considering how much of a damage boost 5% main stats would be. Would still be play balance, redraw if not balance. None of the divination effects compare to just throwing Balances out

Originally Posted by Silkerin

well... you all know that they will give the excuse "dont have time now for major reworks, wait till its too late for it, please look forward to it" or something... so the most viable changes would be numerical values and some other little extra things until they find "time" again to do it wrong, because they cant bother asking for their players input, even tho there are some amazing ideas in this thread.

They seem to be wanting ast to be focused more on healing with gcds and the extra bit with ogcds, so i am just going all in into it, make their dps average, but give them decent buffing capabilities.

-for small lazy changes, just bump all base cards damage % to 8% and 4%. for the minor arcana 10% or 0% (yes, you either play this right, or get nothing, this would at least make people think to use it instead of rushing to put it on someone since it would be a dps bonus anyway)

- Essential dinigty: just give it some charges, ideally 4, but 3 could be decent.

- Divination: like it was mentioned in this thread, just make it useable everytime the seals are ready, if in the end ast is still lacking, buff this to 10%

- Collective unconscious: this is terrible now, just revert to the way it was before. or at least, buff that healing potency.

- Celestial opposition: even worse D: why the hell the cd of this is so long? whm assize is so good and it is only 45s. increase the range of this to be like assize and buff the potencies all around, and of course the cd should be between 45 and 30s like whms and schs (having stun back would be nice).

- Earthly star: every placed support action from the healers do something extra now, but not asts... well it should... can be whatever, regen, dmg reduction, whatever, but just give it another thing for while it is cooking in the ground.

- Sleeve draw: y u do? just make it give stacks that grants X uses of draw with no time on it to use, or at least not a short time.

- Celestial intersection: its cool, but still could do with a small buff. (maybe if the whole kit is buffed this might not need a buff?)

- Horoscope: why is this a heal? ok, it can be a heal, but it has to do something else besides just healing, otherwise is just a copy of whms plenary. make it buff the heal of the aspected helios yes, but also buff the shield and regen effect they have. Restoring a bit of mp as well helps if the gcd healing is the goal.
Arent horoscopes usually used by people as some sort of basic guidance? tbh this ability should be renamed and then, for future expansions, use the horoscope and zodiac theme to create new actions, maybe upgrade the cards to the zodiac system.

- Neutral sect: first of all, this should have been called eclipse sect, would have been so much cooler. Second, some effects dont stack with other healers (shield), so, either make so they can stack on the same target, or double down on the sect they are.

ED having 3 charges would be really pushing it, 4 would be way too much, Earthly Star isn't a defensive spell like Asylum or Sacred Soil, it shouldn't have a secondary effect, they just need to bring CU up to par.

I mained AST from HW until now.

I now main Dancer :/

Some people might enjoy the new AST, but so far it doesn't seem like many do...their representation is extremely low. I rarely see them in dungeons or end game content atm...mostly just WHM everywhere with some SCH sprinkled in here and there.

The job is borked imo, and no longer fun to play and lagging way behind WHM. AST rDPS + pDPS contribution doesn't seem like it even gets close to how much personal DPS a WHM brings, along with WHM's stronger heals it seems like it just leaves AST as too weak to bother with.

I know WHM had it bad for awhile too so I am glad WHM is in a good place (I mained WHM in 2.0 and it probably will be sort of fun to play it again especially since it is so powerful right now), but ...the goal should be ALL healers in a good place, fun to play, and a decent level of balance...this isn't it.


I notice some people also like to reply with stuff like "oh yeah like fishing for balance was so fun", whenever people complain about new AST....

Uh....all you do now is keep fishing till you get one of each seal...same thing....

I finally decided to login with my alt and play (lv 55 ish) AST a bit so here's my two cents:

I love that cards no longer have a timer, once it's drawn it stays there, and I also like Draw and Play are separate buttons so given the proper timing I can buff 2 people at once.

That said...I don't like Divination at all. The cooldown is too long, the range is trash, and the duration is a joke. I could also add that the effect is underwhelming, but I know it's meant to stack with the other buffs at end level so I'm not opening that can of worms.
The slot machine mini game may seem an interesting addition to complexity on paper but in practice it's....bad. I get 3 seals way faster than Divination is done recharging, so basically for ~2 minutes I'm converting every single card into a Lord/Lady not to lose the seals. Sure, those cards are better anyways but it feels clunky to say the least.
The melee/ranged split isn't fun if DF decides most/all DPS are melee/ranged, so yay for giving 'incomplete' buffs!
I could also add that it's lame that now literally all cards are Balance, but that dead chocobo has been beaten to dust already, so all I'll say is if they change AST because people were only fishing for Balance, I say NOW I feel like I'm fishing [for seals].

For those people that like the new AST, good for you, but it's not enjoyable for me anymore, so I'm dumping the soul stone on my retainer until further notice.

Originally Posted by BahamutxD

They could remove "Play" and let Draw recharge once while holding the current card indefinitely. Same result, more hotbar space, less button presses.

Point taken, specially since Sleeve Draw is essentially that (giving Draw "charges" by resetting the cd). My guess is they couldn't change the actual ability, so they just created 2 new ones to synergize with it /shrug

Originally Posted by Miste

I notice some people also like to reply with stuff like "oh yeah like fishing for balance was so fun", whenever people complain about new AST....

Uh....all you do now is keep fishing till you get one of each seal...same thing....

To add another thing here, whatever card you drew you always had multiple options for every card (Let it be for Royal Road, Hold or Minoring). Surely you could have ended up with no Balance, but at least all other options never really screwed you. With the system we have now you first of all need at least a range and melee in your group. Got full caster group? Well screwed already. Then fishing for the last seal and redrawing 3 times into melee cards, here we are screwed again. It boggles my mind on many levels how these changes can be justified and approved. This is absolutely not fun. Ive done quite a bit extremes and dungeons (as pld) and i rarely see any AST, meanwhile WHMS are all over the shop. Guess why...

Currently, I’m still playing AST, though I’m going to be levelling DNC on the sidelines. I honestly thought I was bad... I’ve finally adjusted to big pulls but sometimes I barely have opportunities to DPS. I’m healing like my life depends on it. It is a difference to how it was before. I do miss the old card system for its diversity... and I do find the current card system clunky. I’m not technical... I suppose I am casual, but I wish to start doing extremes etc now. I do hope they sort this out. I love AST and I’m not really interested in other healers - but I’m tempted to switch nonetheless. :c