Fix AST's Accessibility Issue

[HyperiusUltima]

I'm just going to write it up here so that it's not going to be drowned in a thread like many other places have.

So, with the expansion the development team was supposed to focus on accessibility more than anything else; as they moved forward, they adjusted NIN, SAM, and SMN in different ways to make them more playable with only balance adjustments to AST.

The problem however is that AST is a bit of a mess in regards to the card system. As much as many healers have said this, there needs to be a fix to this due to how job flow works. They fixed the Job's flow in Stormblood despite it literally destroying WHM in the expansion because they were POORLY HANDLED, and I hope the development team considers the healer community as a whole when I bring this up.

AST is in need of something to break Sleeve Draw's disjointed flow. It heavily disrupts it since at high level play, you're looking at both cards weaved seamlessly to two people in a single Instant GCD. Given how they made Malefic, the argument can be made that you're supposed to use one card at a time per Malefic or healing GCD; I think that rather than put unneeded pressure and not implement old systems during this time it would be a good idea to enforce a 1.5s CD on the Play action.

At the very least it would bring the flow back to it, and not cause all this pressure that's brought on by constant Sleeve Draw with back-to-back card distribution.

The other issue I am wanting to bring up is Controller Accessibility. AST is one of the most difficult for people to play on Controller without Macros, and honestly is required to even macro for people to apply their cards appropriately given the current system used to select down the party list with the Cross Hotbar. I would be greatly pleased if the Development Team could dedicate resources into fixing this issue, since otherwise it can cause clunk in AST's gameplay when having to use Macros all the time.

The easy fix is just bring Royal Road back and its effects. This would solve all Controller issues with AST and also add depth to the job(since sometimes you need to get rid of that Ewer just to get a Spire, Play, then another Ewer) plus solve other issues as well.

[Maeka]

Eh, the problem with Royal Road is that it caused you to fish for certain cards, because some RR combinations were just way better than others. Combine that with the severe disparity between the usefulness of some cards over others and well. Very few cards ever got played, most were either thrown away or used for RR fodder.

At least in Shadowbringers, each card has a 100%, 66%, and 33% chance of being useful for each seal you get towards Divination, though that system isn't without its flaws too (I "love" going 6, 7, 8, 10+ draws without getting what I need).

[QooEr]

Eh, the problem with Royal Road is that it caused you to fish for certain cards, because some RR combinations were just way better than others. Combine that with the severe disparity between the usefulness of some cards over others and well. Very few cards ever got played, most were either thrown away or used for RR fodder.

At least in Shadowbringers, each card has a 100%, 66%, and 33% chance of being useful for each seal you get towards Divination, though that system isn't without its flaws too (I "love" going 6, 7, 8, 10+ draws without getting what I need).

fishing for spread royal road is a 2/3 chance. the current seal system makes you fish more than royal road ever did.

[Risvertasashi]

fishing for spread royal road is a 2/3 chance. the current seal system makes you fish more than royal road ever did.

Also worth pointing out: The current system is not all or nothing. You still get a DPS boost even if you don't get the cards you want.

The old system was all or nothing. RNG might just decide you get no boosts at all.

[MitsukiKimura]

Also worth pointing out: The current system is not all or nothing. You still get a DPS boost even if you don't get the cards you want.

The old system was all or nothing. RNG might just decide you get no boosts at all.

Also pointing out RNG decides if you draw a Melee card or a range card. Had multiple instances where I drew nothing but melee cards when I wanted range or vice versa. It brings out more frustration along with fishing for seals during your opener and during the next time you need to use Sleeve draw. Plain sight this card system is catered to end game minority of players. As in being current state you didn't have stacks of redraw back with the old card system, we have 3 now, chances are getting what you want are much better than what it was back then.

[Risvertasashi]

Also pointing out RNG decides if you draw a Melee card or a range card. Had multiple instances where I drew nothing but melee cards when I wanted range or vice versa. It brings out more frustration along with fishing for seals during your opener and during the next time you need to use Sleeve draw. Plain sight this card system is catered to end game minority of players. As in being current state you didn't have stacks of redraw back with the old card system, we have 3 now, chances are getting what you want are much better than what it was back then.

Yeah, but using a melee card on a ranged is still a DPS boost. And if you don't get the seals you want, you lose 1 or 2% on the aoe boost, but you still get to buff everyone.

On the old system if you kept drawing boles and ewers, you didn't get any DPS buffs at all.

I'm not saying the old system shouldn't return if that's what people want. It's just something to keep in mind. And there certainly was frustration in the old system about getting undesirable cards too.

[MitsukiKimura]

Yeah, but using a melee card on a ranged is still a DPS boost. And if you don't get the seals you want, you lose 1 or 2% on the aoe boost, but you still get to buff everyone.

On the old system if you kept drawing boles and ewers, you didn't get any DPS buffs at all.

I'm not saying the old system shouldn't return if that's what people want. It's just something to keep in mind. And there certainly was frustration in the old system about getting undesirable cards too.

Regardless if you drew a bole or Ewer you had spread to place it on stand by if you needed it or not. Tanks taking 20% less damage? Sign me up I'll gladly use that over a 3% damage boost. Even if you drew a bole or Ewer you had choices to use it for Lady of crowns, you had multiple choices of going about which cards you were given. That's more engaging and fun. This current card system is undesirable, even more frustration than what it was back then.

[Risvertasashi]

Regardless if you drew a bole or Ewer you had spread to place it on stand by if you needed it or not. Tanks taking 20% less damage? Sign me up I'll gladly use that over a 3% damage boost. Even if you drew a bole or Ewer you had choices to use it for Lady of crowns, you had multiple choices of going about which cards you were given. That's more engaging and fun. This current card system is undesirable, even more frustration than what it was back then.

Fair enough. I'd agree, the lady/lord system, no duplicate redraws, and so on did improve it a lot. And it would also solve the controller issue HyperiusUltima brought up.

And, FWIW, I also hate having to individually target each person (manually or by macro). Old system or new system, having to switch targets much less would be nice.

[MitsukiKimura]

Fair enough. I'd agree, the lady/lord system, no duplicate redraws, and so on did improve it a lot. And it would also solve the controller issue HyperiusUltima brought up.

And, FWIW, I also hate having to individually target each person (manually or by macro). Old system or new system, having to switch targets much less would be nice.

What I believe should come back is Royal Road and Spread. I can live without my time extenders even though I greatly miss them just as much. Expecting to DPS as much as possible during down time with manually targeting team members with specific cards while weaving malefic is a strain on my hands. Especially during sleeve draw.

[Marikya]

fishing for spread royal road is a 2/3 chance. the current seal system makes you fish more than royal road ever did.

I agree with this so much. AST's old card system was less fishing than now. It's so frustrating when you just can't get that last seal.