What do you want in your AST?

[MintnHoney]

That's the point of ast's cards, to enhance their group

I cut out the part of that sentence that wasn't necessary, and is the part of this thought that shows why we'll never see eye to eye on this matter.

[Hatstand]

I know this is going to be difficult for you, specifically, to understand, but any mechanic in any game that provides beneficial effects to other jobs is a mechanic that's built with other jobs in mind. Your aoe balance? Benefitted the groups dps. That precious bole everyone here seems to worship. Benefitted those supposedly squishy tanks.

Again I will repeat this. If it's a beneficial effect, its built for other jobs. That's the point of ast's cards, to enhance their group over themselves.

I think the point that was MintnHoney was trying make is that a job should be built with the player of that job in mind, not the other players. A dps class does damage for everyone's benefit: no one else is going to be able to complete the content unless they're pulling their weight. That doesn't mean that dps class jobs get designed with a mindset of "how can we design this class so that healers and tanks can complete content by having this dps in their group?" If that was the idea (taken to the extreme), then each dps class would have a single button so that they couldn't stuff it up. Sure, the dps has to be able to perform their function, but the design goal is (and should be) "how can we make this class deal damage in a way that's fun to do?".

Conversely, current AST buffs feel like they were designed primarily based on how it feels to be affected by them, without much consideration as to how they feel to play. Everyone liked getting balance, but ASTs had fun juggling more cards than that. Of course, how cards feel to the rest of the party should be a consideration, but it shouldn't be the first consideration.

[ParadoxHealer]

Versatility was what I loved about AST. The ability to change stances, the variety of buffs, the challenge of adjusting to randomness of the cards. The time mage affects to extend buffs, etc. The attitude that all that was helpful about AST was the balance is frustrating. I have leveled all three healers on my ALT, and I am bored. They all feel very similar now. AST hurts the most. AST has lost all its versatility. Now, more then ever everyone stays in Diurnal, the cards do not matter and feel like a time drain of pushing buttons, the time mage is gone, and the strategy is gone. I am not touching AST on my main because it is so flat. I want to play a healer who feels less like a cheap copy of WHM. I also want strategy back for all healers, but most of all AST. I really feel that as discussed above AST was adjusted not for the people who played it but for what people wanted from it. Just imagine if all classes were like that, if we took the challenge from them and streamlined them to what other people wanted from them...we would end up with minimal challenge, little strategy, and no fun.

[lunar_seraphim]

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person that likes the new card system. My complaint about Astrologian is that it feels clunky and less intuitive to play than the other healers. What I love about White Mage this expansion is it finally feels like there is some fluidity to their kit. Abilities you learn enhance others as you progress. Plenary Indulgence and Afflatus Rapture is a very satisfying combo. Horoscope and Aspected Helios just don't feel as good in comparison.

My other issue with Astrologian is the removal of their time magic. Using Time Dilation and Celestial Opposition to extend the duration of our cards was among my favorite mechanics with Astrologian. I know lengthening the duration of abilities like Lightspeed and Lucid Dreaming are no longer necessary, but it just felt better having the choice to do it. And aesthetically and thematically I just enjoyed playing a healer who can manipulate time and space. We lost a big component to our job identity this expansion, which for me, is the biggest issue.

[Mansion]

What I miss the most is Time Dilatation and the old Celestial Opposition too actually. I think I can work around with the new cards system, I can heal enough and I don't mind AST being a bit more complex than WHM... But I really liked the idea of extending buffs.

I also liked Royal Road. Could we rework it into : Balance / Spear / Arrow -> Next card duration +50% and Bole / Spire / Ewer -> Next card effect +50% ? And keep the AoE to Divination.
Now that would clash with the current Minor Arcana... But that would make the time between the Divination Setup and the actual Divination less boring than Minor Arcana everything.

[einschwartz]

What makes or made you love AST?

I first fell in love with AST because the skills are aesthetically gorgeous to look at.

I then loved healing as AST for the different things I could do with the cards. The decision making whether do I want to hold/use/royal road cards. Throwing out enhanced buff then extending with time dilation. Stun with CO and extend my buffs again. Pray for a bole when I see the party is struggling. Jokingly curse at the Heart of Cards when I don't get balance. Sure RNG can be bad at times but I still have the choice to make do what I have.

The system was engaging. I felt how powerful my buffs were even when they're not for me. All the multitasking I had to do felt satisfying.

[Brandedblade]

I cut out the part of that sentence that wasn't necessary.

I can do it too. But for once I agree with you.

[Noctisnine]

For starters I would love if celestial opposition had the stun it used to have, then I would like a potency buff to essential dignity, it's the only single heal ogcd astro has and it feels weak honestly compared to what other healers have. Now the card system... having to spam it every 30 seconds for 15 s buffs and then spamming redraw as well just doesn't feel right, I would love the old card system back but I am sure they won't revert so instead... they could increase the cooldown of play to 1m giving us some breathing room to do dps and heal without having to worry about cards.

[Arale]

At this point, I just want the class to be stronger, have a secondary mana skill, and some of it's frantic gameplay fixed. I've more or less accepted the new card system, the values just need to be a bit higher so that I can feel the same impact I had back in previous expansions. Same goes for Divination. I'm very pleased with the healing kit, especially Neutral Sect.

[tesni_g]

I know this is going to be difficult for you, specifically, to understand, but the mechanic wasn't previously designed specifically utilizing the voice of players of other jobs.
As it is right now, the cards are for the others to have, but not for the AST to play with. And that's wrong.

Wow that's a really great way to say that! The cards are currently designed for other players to have and enjoy, not to be interpreted/manipulated by the card giver. That's a huge and fundamental change from how it was.

But the other aspect of this is that AST changes were initiated for other classes. They even said so--we're breaking synergy so that DNC can be the synergist. The new card system absolutely was given to us because of DNC's arrival.

The cards are really not ours. We draw a card, give it to a DPS. That's not reading fate, that's buff botting with extra steps.