AST Minor Arcana need to be changed back!

[Mantou]

Minor Arcana felt so good to use back in 5.0, where you have to take one "extra" step to convert whichever card to lady or Lord card, then execute. It was so impactful and feels good to do so. Now with that "extra" step been taken, most of the time I didn't even know which card I played and who did I gave the card to.
And that feels AWFUL!

Please bring back the 5.0 AST card draw system, it's just perfect and rewarding every time you draw and use a card, to be an Astrologian. Being able to convert the duplicate card to lady or lord and able to see the actual visual effect when doing so just added one extra layer to the gameplay. That one added layer, however, changes my whole game experience playing Astrologain.

I am begging you to have the 5.0 Minor Arcana back.
God bless.
Yours truly.

[Billythepancake]

While I still hate the current card system with the constant swapping, I'll take the small QoL change they did, and I'd much rather they didn't go back. The less I need to do with how much target swapping AST needs, the better. If they could make the cards not require you to constantly swap targets, then I'd be fine to going back to old minor arcana.

[Rongway]

While I still hate the current card system with the constant swapping, I'll take the small QoL change they did, and I'd much rather they didn't go back. The less I need to do with how much target swapping AST needs, the better. If they could make the cards not require you to constantly swap targets, then I'd be fine to going back to old minor arcana.

This will mostly help KBM players, but here.

Play:

/ac Play <mo>
/ac Redraw
/ac Draw
/ac "Sleeve Draw"
/micon Play

Divination:

/ac "Minor Arcana" <mo>
/ac Divination
/micon Divination

With no card drawn: Play uses Draw or Sleeve Draw. Divination uses Divination.

With card drawn, with mouse over someone: Play plays current card on them. Divination plays Minor Arcana on them.

With card drawn, with mouse not over someone: Play redraws. Divination uses Divination.

[Billythepancake]

This will mostly help KBM players, but here.

Play:

/ac Play <mo>
/ac Redraw
/ac Draw
/ac "Sleeve Draw"
/micon Play

Divination:

/ac "Minor Arcana" <mo>
/ac Divination
/micon Divination

With no card drawn: Play uses Draw or Sleeve Draw. Divination uses Divination.

With card drawn, with mouse over someone: Play plays current card on them. Divination plays Minor Arcana on them.

With card drawn, with mouse not over someone: Play redraws. Divination uses Divination.

Yeah, I'm aware of the macros to help with AST, but I choose not to use them because I've been burnt by macros and their delay too many times. IMO, the main mechanic of a class should not have to rely on macros to be usable or to be played at an optimal level.

[Rongway]

Yeah, I'm aware of the macros to help with AST, but I choose not to use them because I've been burnt by macros and their delay too many times.

These aren't heals or attacks; they are card draws and plays. They don't cause any safety-critical concerns like healing macros might, or significant DPS loss concerns like attack macros.

IMO, the main mechanic of a class should not have to rely on macros to be usable or to be played at an optimal level.

The mechanic doesn't rely on macros. You can hard target people and press five different buttons to do all the things if that's what you want to do.

As targeted party buffs, there isn't really anything they can do to make using cards any less involved. The only way it could be made to require no target swapping at all would be to make all cards AoE, which is bad for obvious reasons. Minimizing target swapping would require something like a second Synastry or Dance Partner mechanic, which wouldn't work for multicard moments e.g., Play-Draw-Play or Sleeve Draw-Play-Play-Play.

[Billythepancake]

These aren't heals or attacks; they are card draws and plays. They don't cause any safety-critical concerns like healing macros might, or significant DPS loss concerns like attack macros.


The mechanic doesn't rely on macros. You can hard target people and press five different buttons to do all the things if that's what you want to do.

As targeted party buffs, there isn't really anything they can do to make using cards any less involved. The only way it could be made to require no target swapping at all would be to make all cards AoE, which is bad for obvious reasons. Minimizing target swapping would require something like a second Synastry or Dance Partner mechanic, which wouldn't work for multicard moments e.g., Play-Draw-Play or Sleeve Draw-Play-Play-Play.

Which is why I argue this card system is flawed. The old card system didn't have this problem because you spent most of your cards on AoE, and when you did single target a card, it wasn't very often as opposed to doing it on the opener on here for 3 cards, and doing that every time sleeve draw is up. God help you if you need to do literally anything else during that sleeve draw window too. The fact that this card system is near unplayable without macros, especially on controller, makes it a failure, despite whatever dps benefits it gives, and that, imo, is why AST has tanked in people who are willing to play it. Through all of SB, while WHM was considered useless, it was never as unpopular as AST is right now, because it wasn't complete ass to play, or require macros.

[Side-Eye]

Minor Arcana felt so good to use back in 5.0, where you have to take one "extra" step to convert whichever card to lady or Lord card, then execute. It was so impactful and feels good to do so. Now with that "extra" step been taken, most of the time I didn't even know which card I played and who did I gave the card to.
And that feels AWFUL!

Drugs are bad, mmkay

[NobleWinter]

I know this isn't meta but the party targeting needs to disappear altogether. It isn't friendly on mouse and keyboard or controller. Cards should automatically go to an appropriate Ranged or Melee within 20 yalms at random after you decide what to use. Then no one complains about not getting cards or lining up with burst windows because it's out of your control. Make the choice between Minor Arcana and Redraw for seals the meaningful part and add some beef to the effect for getting seals right on Divination. Then it wouldn't feel like such a chore targeting everyone but we could be "busy" with orchestrating what cards we allow to twist the parties destiny instead. Give back Time Dilation with multiple charges to give us a bit more control on the randomness. Then you can extend effects from Divination or cards for a dps burst window or Regens for more healing on a tank or maybe even extend Lucid Dreaming on ourself to give us an mp management tool that was multi purpose. Investing actions per minute into building a powerful divination makes more sense to me over expecting targeting majesty from players.

[Osmond]

snip

So, what you are saying is that you want SE to bring back the extra button to press over a ability that is already predicted what lord or lady card you going to get based on the card is drawn out. I guess there's a saying, "it's why people can't have nice things...."

[Brandedblade]

I know this isn't meta but the party targeting needs to disappear altogether. It isn't friendly on mouse and keyboard or controller. Cards should automatically go to an appropriate Ranged or Melee within 20 yalms at random after you decide what to use. Then no one complains about not getting cards or lining up with burst windows because it's out of your control. Make the choice between Minor Arcana and Redraw for seals the meaningful part and add some beef to the effect for getting seals right on Divination. Then it wouldn't feel like such a chore targeting everyone but we could be "busy" with orchestrating what cards we allow to twist the parties destiny instead. Give back Time Dilation with multiple charges to give us a bit more control on the randomness. Then you can extend effects from Divination or cards for a dps burst window or Regens for more healing on a tank or maybe even extend Lucid Dreaming on ourself to give us an mp management tool that was multi purpose. Investing actions per minute into building a powerful divination makes more sense to me over expecting targeting majesty from players.

They've already did so much to mitigate the RNG of the card system and now you want to add it back? How would this mechanic work if you have all melee or all ranged? Would it just mean the cards would be thrown onto the tank or healer that whole time? Making the cards randomly apply to nearby allies would ruin your ability to optimize them.