Quote Originally Posted by Haxaan View Post
One of the most fun parts about the "less optimal" playstyle of 4.X AST was the fact that it was a gamble. In the world of XIV 95% of all content is scripted, with there being a set path to go, a set group of monsters, a set pattern of attacks from bosses and mechanics. Yes RNG Bole or Ewer were not optimal, but you played the hands you were dealt and when you got the right card for any given situation it felt so god damn rewarding. When you got a bust it felt bad, but so does losing a hand of poker. The highs were high and the lows were low, but it was engaging and fun and never the same thing twice. The randomness gave it charm and the variety gave it flavor.

It feels like I had cable with all the international channels, some were great, some were trash, but it was interesting to see what they all had to show me. Now all I have is local news stations that all tell different versions of the same story all day long. It's predictable and safe and boring.

There seems to be a divide in the AST fan base. Those who value numbers and optimization above all else and don't care about gameplay or enjoyment, and those who enjoy playing the job because it is fun and interesting and offers something different from the other cookie cutter jobs that are straight forward and don't think outside the box.
This was precisely what I loved about AST.

Healing in most other MMOs is reactive. Bosses dish out a lot of damage, target random players, and so incoming damage has to be triaged, healers have to use mana efficiently, and react to players taking damage unexpectedly.

But because FF14's boss fights are so tightly scripted, once they are solved, the only things a healer reacts to are their party's mistakes. If you have a competent party that doesn't go swimming in every AoE circle, then healing is really boring. In stark contrast to tanking and DPSing, which get more engaging as your skill level increases and you learn more about how to optimize your rotations, healing gets less engaging as your skill level increases, because you have no decisions to make while healing, and your DPS rotation is braindead-easy and cannot be optimized.

AST's old card system mitigated some of that with its randomness. Yes, you probably always wanted Balance. When you didn't get Balance, that was where AST had to make real decisions, on the fly, reacting to unpredictable circumstances. Depending on the situation, sometimes you might Spread a Bole or Ewer just in case. Sure, Spire was useless, but that problem could have been more easily solved by fixing Spire, rather than gutting the entire card system.

Now, there are no decisions to make, and nothing to react to. Every card is Balance.