Petition: Revert AST card changes

[Arale]

I like the new system more, in implementation. Potency wise it needs a lot of buffs to justify how unforgiving and frustrating it is. I'd also say give each card part of it's old function back (besides spire, make that give something else and balance can give DH) in addition to the effects we have now. That way it wouldn't be just damage cards, you could play it like the old days to some extent. But they won't ever revert to the old system IMO. Too much of a balance nightmare.

[Dyvid]

The problem is/was the 1/2 the card where considered worthless and the mechanics encouraged fishing for buff.

To fix "useless" cards you need to either have cards buff a role (tank, healer, dps) or buff a job or rather the attributed that effect that jobs (STR, DEX, INT, MND, Tenacity).

To fix fishing, you make the AST just play the card that comes up by removing or adding longer cooldowns on things like redraw and undraw. Just play the cards no matter what comes up. You could change sleeve draw to pull the card you want every 180s and even add an ability that would either double or half the value of the card.

The only way AST can work as an RNG / Gambler job though is if you add raid utility to SCH and WHM. Where as those jobs would be a sure thing, AST would have stronger buffs because it's not always guaranteed.

[Sathona]

Prefer it this way.
Please dont revert it Yoshi P D:

[Avidria]

I mean I don't play AST much... but I dislike the card system less now than I did before. Was actually kind of enjoying playing it while I was leveling it, though it definitely felt weaker than white mage overall.

New system has some issues, but I personally think it's still better than the old one.

[Rai_Takara]

The new card changes are great. After maining AST for 4 years, having to play for balance (which is a real thing if you cared to optimize) was boring. Minor Arcana alleviated some of the issue but instead of throwing the card away, you just MA'd them away, to get something for it.

The current system is easier to balance and is more consistent at the same time, keeping the same RNG mechanics. If anything the new card system is harder to optimize and depth there is welcome over balance or bust.

[rachcouture]

None of the original cards were useless. While some were more situational and dependent on party composition, there were numerous cases where I made use of every single one. If someone was fishing for balance, that was a player problem; not a design one.

There is nothing superior about the new system, nor can it be salvaged. Damage-only is incredibly boring; it lacks actual strategical input. I spend more time looking for seals/Arcana conversion than I ever did trying to get a particular buff I wanted with the old cards. Single card deployment is exceedingly cumbersome, especially on controller. There's also the issue of how this change completely and utterly butchers both the storyline for AST and its core lore. The same goes for removal of the time stretching with Celestial Opposition and Time Dilation.

For those of you that actually prefer the new cards: I genuinely question if y'all ever played AST long enough to understand what made the old system better.

[Hash_Browns]

None of the original cards were useless. While some were more situational and dependent on party composition, there were numerous cases where I made use of every single one. If someone was fishing for balance, that was a player problem; not a design one.

None of the original cards were useless, in content such as the DF where people would make mistakes. They were useless in content where you were expecting high level play. Bole/Ewer/Spire should never have had to be played on your group. If they were required, mistakes that could have been prevented were happening.

There is nothing superior about the new system, nor can it be salvaged. Damage-only is incredibly boring; it lacks actual strategical input.

The strategical input is knowing when to use your cards, and on who - not drawing your cards. Lining up a card with something like trick attack, or using cards/divination during burst phases is the key.

I spend more time looking for seals/Arcana conversion than I ever did trying to get a particular buff I wanted with the old cards.

This makes me think 2 things are happening then:
1. With the old system you didn't care what cards you drew, as long as you got to use them

or

2. You aren't using your full kit.

It's easy to get full seals, and another set with your current kit, and be able to give Lady/Lord for the next minute and a half.

Single card deployment is exceedingly cumbersome, especially on controller.

Can't say anything about controllers, since I don't use one, but you can easily plug a mouse.keyboard into your PS4, if that is what you are using.

There's also the issue of how this change completely and utterly butchers both the storyline for AST and its core lore. The same goes for removal of the time stretching with Celestial Opposition and Time Dilation.

This isn't about the lore, it's about the gameplay.

For those of you that actually prefer the new cards: I genuinely question if y'all ever played AST long enough to understand what made the old system better.

Ah yes, No True Scotsman.

[ForteNightshade]

The strategical input is knowing when to use your cards, and on who - not drawing your cards. Lining up a card with something like trick attack, or using cards/divination during burst phases is the key.

Except... the supposed strategical play is no more an illusion than the old Card system. In fact, it's even worse. Pulling the second fastest E1S kill and fourteenth fastest on Titan. Let us look at how their Astro "strategized" at an optimal level.

Starting with E1S. Of the twelve Melee cards drawn eleven of them went to the Samurai; one on the Dragoon. Of the six Range cards drawn, four went on the Black Mage; two on the Dancer.

Now onto E4S. Of the sixteen Melee cards drawn, fifteen went to the Samurai; one on the Dragoon. Of the sixteen Range cards drawn, twelve went on the Black Mage with the remaining four the Bard.

Excluding one instance outside the opener in both parses, the Bard and Dancer only received additional card(s) because the Black Mage already had one. This suggests the new card system actually has very little thought process baked into. You will almost always target the highest damage dealer between the Melee or Range, and this should be either Black Mage, Monk or Samurai. The only exceptions are in the opener due to certain jobs having a slow build up (Dragoon, for example, bursts almost immediately whereas Samurai takes quite a while to "charge" up) and if the preferred target already has card. Now... I will acknowledge this is partly due to how horrendously balanced a lot of jobs are at the moment. But it still highlights the new card system has illusion of choice just like the old one did.

[Mikhaill]

None of the original cards were useless. While some were more situational and dependent on party composition, there were numerous cases where I made use of every single one. If someone was fishing for balance, that was a player problem; not a design one.

There is nothing superior about the new system, nor can it be salvaged. Damage-only is incredibly boring; it lacks actual strategical input. I spend more time looking for seals/Arcana conversion than I ever did trying to get a particular buff I wanted with the old cards. Single card deployment is exceedingly cumbersome, especially on controller. There's also the issue of how this change completely and utterly butchers both the storyline for AST and its core lore. The same goes for removal of the time stretching with Celestial Opposition and Time Dilation.

For those of you that actually prefer the new cards: I genuinely question if y'all ever played AST long enough to understand what made the old system better.

It's good for a raider standpoint, but outside that, nah.
Therefore the job is gutted into a Balance bot and is boring.
Don't really care for the Savage related crap I keep getting. I just wish the job was fun again.

[Shalan]

While it certainly works better and is much more predictable for raiding and such it sure is boring as hell to use now. Bored me to the point I don't feel like playing AST much nowadays.

At this point I don't get why we even have cards at all. Might as well cut the fat, remove all the abilities tied to them and just give us a straight up DPS boost ability with a card animation. Not like there's anything special to the cards or any decision making that we didn't have before. It's just busybody work now.