New AST from a New Player

[Sloprano]

That's the part that gets me, like, the class is card based. Cards are, by nature, random and unpredictable, so having them tied to RNG I don't think is a problem. A way to force the card you want at a cost would've been a nice addition to AST, instead of outright removing what a lot of people loved about the class in the first place.

Hang on this is sounding very familiar. Six years of having Adlo have that secondary effect, wherein if you get a crit heal, the shield effect is double of that. And that dopamine release of seeing a big fat heal land, then spread at and seeing "Ultra finishing destroyer" attack hit for 0. It was completely random and rarely happend so you longed for those moments and quickly learned fishing for it was a good way to drain yourself dry of mp. It was one of the many little moments that made the it so fun to play. Stacking healing buffs to see how far it'd go. Being able to force crit was the spell I thought SCHs should always wish for, but never get since it'd remove that feeling of joy in the rare moments when everything clicks. Maybe it was the same with AST: Balance was the card you always wanted, but should never get all the time.

Cue Shadowbringers and we can now force a crit shield while also limiting it severly. Can't shake the feeling SE listened to the same guy saying he'd like Balance on every card all the time. I never play ast but I think I know a tiny bit on how it feels having the unpredicability removed.

What with WoW Classic hopefully being a runaway success, would love for someone to sneak in and swap out WoW Retail as the source of inspiration.

[ZeroFool]

Oh man, that sounds so satisfying. The majority of my playtime as a healer was spent on SCH, and I thought that clink when you hit a crit-adlo is wonderful.

I can imagine it slowly becoming less rewarding when you can just have it on a whim, just like any other skill in a rotation.

Must be the same for the ASTs hitting that AoE Balance to collectively go to town on the last stretch of a boss.

Too bad we as healers aren't allowed to take any risks anymore, that would just be 'sub-optimal'.

[Impurrrsive]

Devs so adamant about the changes on AST, makes me wonder if we are the minority in this issue. Every time they will say players don't want useless card.
Unfortunately we will not see AST restored, wonder why would they satisfied with such bland mechanics

[Hatstand]

Devs so adamant about the changes on AST, makes me wonder if we are the minority in this issue. Every time they will say players don't want useless card.
Unfortunately we will not see AST restored, wonder why would they satisfied with such bland mechanics

The devs lie about healer complaints. Whether it's through ignorance or malice I don't know, but they do. Take a look here at a dev misconstruing healer complaints about how long we've been without a healer by implying healers can't count (he says it's been only 4 years since the last healer, but the complaints are that it will have been 6 by the next expansion).

https://www.dualshockers.com/final-f...hadowbringers/

Forum commenting suggests that more people preferred the old AST. The number of parses on fflogs suggest that more people prefer the old AST. The incredibly small number of ASTs I've encountered in game suggest that more people prefer the old AST. I trust those indicators more than what the devs say people prefer.

[ZeroFool]

The devs lie about healer complaints. Whether it's through ignorance or malice I don't know, but they do. Take a look here at a dev misconstruing healer complaints about how long we've been without a healer by implying healers can't count (he says it's been only 4 years since the last healer, but the complaints are that it will have been 6 by the next expansion).

https://www.dualshockers.com/final-f...hadowbringers/

Forum commenting suggests that more people preferred the old AST. The number of parses on fflogs suggest that more people prefer the old AST. The incredibly small number of ASTs I've encountered in game suggest that more people prefer the old AST. I trust those indicators more than what the devs say people prefer.

This is wild. "If you remember the number of Roles, we have 3 Tanks, 3 Healers and 10 DPS. So naturally, we bolstered DPS because numbers." Their mind...

How did you all deal with years of this? lol

[Hatstand]

This is wild. "If you remember the number of Roles, we have 3 Tanks, 3 Healers and 10 DPS. So naturally, we bolstered DPS because numbers." Their mind...

How did you all deal with years of this? lol

Honestly, I don't anymore. I've quit ffxiv until such a time as they restore healers to a state where I enjoy playing them. However, I remember a time when SCH and AST gameplay was good enough that I'd list this game as one of my favourites, alongside the likes of Bloodborne and Mass Effect 2 (whereas now I honestly think even healing in WoW is better than healing in ffxiv, other problems with WoW aside). Back then, what the devs were saying was never a problem because what they were doing (designing fun healing jobs, adding one job to each role back in HW) was good. Now, the hope that I'll get that back is enough to keep me here campaigning for it.

[ForteNightshade]

Devs so adamant about the changes on AST, makes me wonder if we are the minority in this issue. Every time they will say players don't want useless card.
Unfortunately we will not see AST restored, wonder why would they satisfied with such bland mechanics

While I certainly cannot say one way or another. The devs do react faster towards complaints from the more casual side of the playerbase even if it's a minority complaining. They can also be rather stubborn with their vision somtimes. Look no further than Monk. They were told endlessly how much people disliked the slow on Riddle of Fire. They didn't listen—only to panic when Monk was barely clinging to life.

Not for healers, anyway.

https://nordic.ign.com/final-fantasy...or-inspiration

"Some people have shown their dislike of some classes, like the Ninja and Astroligian, are you looking into fixing that, and how?

"We talked about this a bit in the last letter from the producers. In the latest patch we changed some stuff for the Astroligian and we noticed that we restored the balance a bit. Still we see some feedback from players that want the same effects for the cards as we had before, but the dev team doesn’t have the intention to bring the old system back. We can’t make everyone happy. If we change back the system, a different part of the community will get mad. Some people loved the old system, and some people love the new system. You can’t please everyone.

"In regards to Ninja. We get a lot of feedback from the community that the class feels clunky now since spells don't line up nicely with Global Cooldowns, and the DPS-spec isn’t as strong as other classes, so we get the frustration. It is a challenge for the development team, but we are aware of the situation. For the next patch we will make some changes for the solo DPS Ninja, like number values. Since the job got released we have actually not changed it, so for patch 5.1 we are planning a big class overhaul. It will feel like the Ninja will be born into a new class. So for people that are waiting for changes, big changes and smaller ones like number values are coming!"

Emphasis mine

I do find that amusing given one look at Savage uploads tells you just how many people like the new system. It's so popular Astro has 90% less representation on Titan than White Mage or Scholar. Maybe it's more popular in dungeons but considering White Mage is a damn near god in dungeons. I highly doubt it.

I sometimes wonder if they're trying to save face. They had to backpedal on Monk and Ninja. It really doesn't look good if they throw Astro into that pile, especially since they already had to buff it once. (They still need to again.)

[vtndll]

Devs so adamant about the changes on AST, makes me wonder if we are the minority in this issue. Every time they will say players don't want useless card.
Unfortunately we will not see AST restored, wonder why would they satisfied with such bland mechanics

I might be reading too much into the devs choice, but I'm starting to think it's less about the people who likes the old card vs the people who like the new cards.

I think it might be the people who likes the old cards vs the people who want a new healer. I'm starting to believe, like others here, that the changes made to astro is to make room for time mage. I think if you compare those two groups I can see why they wouldn't revert the changes.

The thing about it is I can't see this current version of ast. making it into the next expansion. It's going to need adjustments at least, if not a complete rework. But at that point isn’t reworking ast. essentially making a "new healer" that they wouldn't have had to do if they left the old card system in?

And if they are going to not add a new healer because they need to "balance" healers again, then what was the point of gutting astro. this way?

Idk, sometimes I feel like I need esoteric knowledge to make out heads or tails of what square is doing. Unfortunately all the card I have say balance.

[Impurrrsive]

I think it might be the people who likes the old cards vs the people who want a new healer. I'm starting to believe, like others here, that the changes made to astro is to make room for time mage. I think if you compare those two groups I can see why they wouldn't revert the changes.

Idk, sometimes I feel like I need esoteric knowledge to make out heads or tails of what square is doing. Unfortunately all the card I have say balance.

If it's true, they chop off AST limbs just to make another healer i would really disappointed.
If u chop off a starfish arm u will produce the exact same starfish, omg...

[Nhala_Levee]

But cause of this, ast becomed unplayable in any other content of the game. In some msq on lvl 70 i cant even complete with it cause simply dont have the dmg to finish it and dont have the utilitys to defend yourself. So yes, i trust you it is very good in raids cause "MROWL NUKE DMG BUFFER" but please peoples... raid is very very little part of Final Fantasy.
Back to the dungeoning theme: there is players who just started ast and dont have lvl 80 instantly with the endgame gear. Yes, other in the group dont have too. And you must be able to heal out the tank AND the others what is in many situation is nearly impossible. And if the players for example not that professionals as me, made mistakes or just new for that dungeon. And its cause ast was nerfed to ground comletly.
Even the developer accept or not, this is the fact.