Quote Originally Posted by xDaemianx View Post
Couldn't be further from the truth. Are you talking about ASTs who came as such job because the party told them they wanted Balance? Are you talking about non-regular ASTs who just thought ASTs are only benefitial because they could spread Balance? I main AST since it came out and I can tell you, a true (TRUE) AST could do with whatever card they drew. Either for the benefit of the next card or even turn that TP upside down. Seriously, stop making temporary or "one-night stand" ASTs be the spokespeaker here just because that's what they used to do. In all fairness, even a spread SPEAR or ARROW could add up to a heavy percentage of damage (not as much as Balance, probably) if used apropriately. It's basically more damage in terms of SkSp/SpSp or in Crits.
I mean, pretty much. I'm not even an AST main, and all the cards had a place.

Everybody knows about the Balance card, which was nice, sure.

However, the Spear was almost as good all the time, and even better in certain situations (BRD got extra procs, SCH got more shield procs in full party content, etc.).

The cast-speed one (I forget the name offhand, sorry) was basically a single-target Bloodlust (for anybody who played WoW), and the spread version was basically a bloodlust every minute or so on demand.

The Bole, while certainly less valuable in a competent group...was FANTASTIC for those tanks that didn't know how to use cooldowns (like 75% of them in leveling roulette).

Ewer was fantastic if you ran into mana problems (like lots of people dying to stupid).

They ALL had a place...and again, this is coming from someone who isn't even an AST main, and never has been.