Ideas to improve the AST card system

[AnotherPerson]

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In my opinion, the current AST's whole DPS card kit has its ups and downs.

The Pros:

It's good for raiding, it has a high rDPS.
Statistically, the numbers are consistent because we have plenty of 'DPS cards' because that's all we have now.

The cons:
- Lack of different card skills for versatility & lore
- Still makes people fish for DPS
- Doesn't feel impactful on the average player without looking at raw statistics
- Less situational versatility (too focused on raid DPS)

Indepth Analysis on the Cons:

Storyline at level 30 introduces 6 different skills and it's up to you to choose how to utilize them. After reading the skill descriptions, you actually have 2 card skills. 4 of them are just renamed. The main focus of the AST gameplay that separates other healers - the card effects - was lost, which was the most the interesting point of the job.

It's been said in the past that people only fish for balances for DPS. As someone who started in the 5.1 patch on AST, I can assure you that with this new card system, I'm still fishing for DPS via seals. It didn't address the issue with different cards being utilized. I'm still fishing for DPS! The only difference now how it's been fished. It looks like they slapped a band-aid by making a 2-card system 'complex' and called it a day while removing what was fundamentally, the core of the class.

Next issue I found - the impact of the cards for the situation. The AST storyline made me think the cards will help adjust the situation on the battlefield. Even if I know a 6% DPS increase is doing something, it's not as noticeable as I'm not the DPS/tank putting out the new numbers. I should not need a parse to feel that impact either. Sure, things die faster when you increase DPS, but when my tank pulls a lot in a place like Aurum Vale, sometimes it's nicer to have a mitigation card than a 6% DPS increase.

A 6% DPS to 8% DPS increase doesn't make up for solo instances where I have to output damage on my own. Having the old Lord of Crowns would be better. Old Lady of Crowns could be reworked though.

I came up with these ideas after hearing a ShB quote and looking through old gameplay of AST.

We may accept this fate or defy it, but we cannot deny it.

What I pictured to have happened when I saw this is -
1. Play (accept)
2. Minor Arcana (Defy)
3. Redraw (Cannot Deny)

Here are my ideas:
- Have 6 different card effects like storyline says we do.
- Remove redraw to prevent fishing, replace it with Spread. Make every card count.
- Change Balance to not give DPS. Move all DPS gain into Divination (adjusted).
- Make divination require any 3 seals and give a FLAT % DPS gain for consistency.
- Lord of Crowns can be a flat DPS attack. Lady of Crowns can be an AoE DPS attack/mitigation.
- I'd like to see Royal Road return for more versatility, but that's asking for a lot at this point.

[ty_taurus]

I believe there's a way to create a new card system that pulls from the strength of the old cards and the new cards. It looks like this:

Replace Draw with Sun Draw, Moon Draw, and Star Draw. These each share a recast timer.

Sun Draw will always pull a card with a Solar Seal, in this case:
The Balance: 10% Crit Boost for 15s
The Arrow: 10% Direct Hit Boost for 15s

Moon Draw will always pull a card with a Lunar Seal, in this case:
The Bole: 20% Damage Reduction for 15s
The Spear: 20% Max HP Increase for 15s

Star Draw will always pull a card with a Celestial Seal, in this case:
The Ewer: MP Refresh for 15s
The Spire: 20% MP Cost Reduction for 15s

The idea here is that we go back to cards each having their own unique effects, but you can choose whether you want something to benefit DPS (which will be most of the time) with Sun Draw, something to benefit Tanks with Moon Draw, or something to benefit you and your co-healer with Celestial Draw. You have the freedom to always choose DPS cards, but you'll still want to pull a Lunar and Celestial Seal at some point between Divination uses to ensure you're getting the most out of your AoE DPS boost. This encourages you to find the best ways to utilize your non-damage utility cards within a set time frame, adding a layer of decision-making gameplay back into the Astro's kit.

As for Minor Arcana, I'd say separate it from your normal Arcanum cards entirely and place it on its own cool down. We can go back to the Lord being an attack and the Lady being a heal, but instead of getting them randomly, they always alternate. Lord -> Lady -> Lord -> Lady -> Lord -> Lady, etc... The problem with the heal was that you could never predict when you'd draw it, so you couldn't prepare for it, but now you can take advantage of it because you'll know when you'll draw it.

[Shurrikhan]

...

Why have one of each pair so much better than the other? And why take up 3 buttons just for Draw?

[ty_taurus]

Why have one of each pair so much better than the other? And why take up 3 buttons just for Draw?

Well with this setup, we wouldn't actually need Redraw, and Undraw is already unnecessary now that Draw goes on CD after a card is drawn and not after it's played.

Separating them from the large pool means you're not plagued with the RNG of the 4.0 cards that were problematic and caused the change to 5.0 to begin with. You realistically can't have 6 completely different cards all pulled at random from 1 button and be balanced with the setup we currently have. That's why the current solution was to make all the cards essentially the same and tack on the seal system.

People want to see the decision-making elements return from the old system, but we can't just undo the current changes because that system had lots of problems.

Giving you the choice to choose utility over damage not only allows you to eliminate the concern of getting RNG screwed in a raid, but also adds uses for the utility cards. It's very difficult to use the old The Bole because you never knew when you'd be getting the defense reduction. You couldn't prepare for it, and when you did get it, you almost never needed it. Here, when you need something to throw on the tank, you have the ability to choose that option and know you're getting something that will help them eat the incoming attack. Same goes for the healer cards. Did your co-healer just get revived, or perhaps you did? Use Star Draw to help them or you get back on top of your MP.

[YusiKha]

Well with this setup, we wouldn't actually need Redraw

Eh, I'd still want redraw, as:
Balance is vastly stronger than Arrow (1.4x+ vs 1.25x damage multiplier)
Spear is god awful unless it heals the 20%, in which case it's better until 100%+ hp damage is taken (the only balanced cards)
Ewer is vastly stronger than Spire (assuming 50 refresh potency, like Lucid, Ewer is 2500 MP. Spire saves at most 1580 MP with Noct Benefic spam and a raise)

[Allegor]

I had a random thought the other day while chatting with a friend regarding AST. I think an interesting ability for the job with some time mage aspect to it would be if Sleeve Draw is changed so you can give out the buffs, but you have, say, 20 seconds to manually 'detonate' them. That way all buffs have the same duration and can be more easily coordinated with Divination and/or other party buffs, and wouldn't feel as hectic as draw, nope, redraw, play, play, nope, redraw, play, and by the time everyone's buffed the first person would've already lost like half the buff duration.

I'm aware that in the opener the general consensus is to just throw whatever card but...doesn't that sound wrong? I mean, I'm not a minmaxer so I don't really care for a marginal 1% difference, but intentionally ignoring the job's intended mechanic? that just makes it very clear the system itself is flawed.

[Limonia]

- Remove redraw to prevent fishing, replace it with Spread. Make every card count.
- Change Balance to not give DPS. Move all DPS gain into Divination (adjusted).

I always wondered why they even removed the different card effects if they just could have removed Redraw. They wanted to prevent fishing for Balance and instead of removing "fishing" they made all cards Balance...
Removing Redraw and making only Divination buff DPS is a much better idea.

But 6 different card effects, while none of them are direct dps buffs? What kind of buffs could we have then? Old Bole and Ewer, like before, but what would the rest of them become?

I once suggested to make only Divination have the Balance effect and the other cards have critical hit, direct hit and speed instead, but got insulted for even thinking about something like that, so maybe having the cards themselves not buff dps at all might be a better idea.

[ty_taurus]

Eh, I'd still want redraw, as:
Balance is vastly stronger than Arrow (1.4x+ vs 1.25x damage multiplier)
Spear is god awful unless it heals the 20%, in which case it's better until 100%+ hp damage is taken (the only balanced cards)
Ewer is vastly stronger than Spire (assuming 50 refresh potency, like Lucid, Ewer is 2500 MP. Spire saves at most 1580 MP with Noct Benefic spam and a raise)

Well in this example Balance and Arrow could do what exists now...
Balance boosts DPS by 6% for melee and 3% for ranged
Arrow boosts DPS by 6% for ranged and 3% for melee

I imagine extending someone's max HP would also restore their HP by that amount for Spear.

As for the celestial cards, the MP cost reduction could also increase to be on par with what's restored with Ewer... perhaps 40-50%?

[Morningstar1337]

I feellike Royal Road should return and tie into Divination in some way. the seals can be used to map onto the old effects (Solar increaeed the buff, Lunar the Duration and Stellar the range)

From there modifying Divination and the job gauge to account for these changes (for example adding more DPS buffs based on how if a RR-augmented card has been used three times) may ensure the best of both worlds.

(Minor Arcana used with RR buffs may or may not contribute to the Divination proc or damage.)

[Shurrikhan]

I don't really see the point in keeping Royal Road if we're keeping Divination/Seals.

Royal Road causes only two changes in gameplay, depending on whether Royal Road itself gets balanced.

If not balanced:

• Obliges additional steps, and arguably "bloat". it creates slightly better burst potential, as you deal -- to oversimplify -- twice (or more) the effect half (or less) as often. If permitted to bypass Royal Road (using the effect retroactively instead of automatically spending it on your next Play), this becomes far more consistent, with fewer obligatory Undraw casts. Otherwise, you can also say that this helps to make Undraw part of typical play. Arguably, both parts of this are merely "bloat" save that there are also some very rare cases in which one may change this RR-Play-RR-Play rotation when one player is absurdly more strong than average for the party or much of the party is dead.

If balanced and allowing you to bypass Royal Road effects (RR is a key to press after Draw, to apply the loaded effect retroactively, rather than being automatically applied on next Draw):

• Obliges awareness while allowing for (and often obliging) additional steps. One must note when one player is dealing well above proportionate effect for his/her party to funnel resources towards that player or to spread the effects to the entire party when no player is dealing disproportionate effect.

If we want either of those things, great. But if not, Divination itself can already be a fine mechanic for diversifying Card usage, especially if we can pair the Seals in a few more ways (e.g. all different OR all same) and/or the seal sets are more distinct (encouraging use of Seals from Cards with effects that apply less directly to damage and would otherwise be avoided).

Heck, you can have both, too, if the Royal Road were to have an altogether different effect: imagine, for instance, if Balance (RR) would link you with another ally, causing their damage taken to increase your damage dealt or the like, while Arrow (RR) could shift effects (e.g. from yourself to a more usefully affectable ally or to steal a buff from an enemy to place on an ally, or change the direction of your Ewer-Arrow's movement speed bonus to all allies in a particular direction into a new direction).

Simply put, there's a ton more we could do with Cards, but if we're truly satisfied with distinct Card effects that are each nonetheless useful, then either a repolished, balanced take on the old Royal Road mechanic or the Divination mechanic could already accomplish it. While we could certainly have both, we're far from needing more than either.