How is new AST feeling?

[Jayv]

AST has lost a lot of what made it fun. The original card system, where each card had a different effect, and pair that with the old time dilation - those were the best days of AST's life. Each subsequent expansion stripped something away, and now it feels simple and dumbed down. Most of its color drained has been away. It can still do the job well so I'll level it up (I'll level all healers to max no matter what), but I can easily see SGE becoming my new main.

[MintnHoney]

My question for Astrodyne is should I be prioritizing cards to their respective class (ranged / melee) and then using the skill regardless of what seals I have, or should I prioritize getting all 3 seals?

I believe it's best to prioritize using the cards, whether on your team or yourself, with a secondary priority given to using redraw to try and get the best combination of seals possible.
It's a bit of a waste of time and resources to try and force a perfect Astrodyne every time, and you're better off trying to start a new Astrodyne anyway, rather than tossing out a card (and losing out on a 15 second 3/6% Damage increase for 30 seconds) or drawing new cards to get the perfect set (and pushing out using what you had for another 30+ seconds, without a guarantee that you'll get what you're missing).

[Liam_Harper]

I strongly disagree. This mechanic results in steady DPS increases for the party or yourself, conditional DPS increase to self, MP restoration, and a downtime tool. How this mechanic is not seen as anything but beneficial is entirely beyond me. The element of luck only affects the AST now, and is a matter of how much benefit they get from it. Not getting the best result should not be looked at as a 'loss'. Those who do will not enjoy this mech on AST.

Astrodyne doesn't buff your party. I'm not talking about regular cards, which are perfectly fine (although some will argue dps cards are bland, I'll stay neutral on that). Nor am I talking about RNG, which is fine if triggered often enough (for example, DNC has rng and works). I'm talking about Astrodyne, Redraw and the new Seal system.

Essentially, all Astrodyne does is restore MP and add roughly 80-180 potency worth of self-buff on a long 90 sec cooldown. It's not worth playing the seal-juggling mini-game for. Astrodyne, Redraw, Minor Arcana and Crown Play combined are 4 dps buttons that don't even contribute to 5% of your damage output. That's what I'm saying is a waste of hotbar space. Busy for the sake of busy with no real reward.

My question for Astrodyne is should I be prioritizing cards to their respective class (ranged / melee) and then using the skill regardless of what seals I have, or should I prioritize getting all 3 seals?

Always use it on cooldown regardless of what seals you have. Especially never use Undraw for 3 Seal. Remember the 3rd seal effect is only a 5% damage increase on you, the weakest dps in the entire group, while a regular card is 6% on a damage dealer. 3 seal is really that weak.

[QooEr]

I'm sorry, but I really do not understand what you mean with "bunch of on-the-fly decisions for astrodyne".
You factually have less decisions than before.
Draw->Like? Play. Don't like? Redraw-> Play anyway because you shouldn't waste cards.
That's literally it.

3 seal astrodyne is 50% more net potency gain than astrodyne, which means you can delay aatrodyne to fish for a small potency gain every 4 draws. you also can hold lords of crowns until dyne is up.

the order or seals also matters to know wether fishing for a 3rd seal is worth it as opposed to just using dyne asap. if your 2 seal pattern is XYX or XXY, trying to get a Z seal next draw is worth it, byt if the pattern is XYY then its not

its not about wasting cards, but about wether to overwrite seals and how astrodyne would line up with MA, star, or div if you do.

[Matt_Renard]

Always use it on cooldown regardless of what seals you have. Especially never use Undraw for 3 Seal. Remember the 3rd seal effect is only a 5% damage increase on you, the weakest dps in the entire group, while a regular card is 6% on a damage dealer. 3 seal is really that weak.

Yeah, that's the most optimal way to play AST right now, and it is really bad. No real way to manipulate the seals you get, no real reward when you get 3 seals. Why even bother...

[Matt_Renard]

3 seal astrodyne is 50% more net potency gain than astrodyne, which means you can delay aatrodyne to fish for a small potency gain every 4 draws. you also can hold lords of crowns until dyne is up.

the order or seals also matters to know wether fishing for a 3rd seal is worth it as opposed to just using dyne asap. if your 2 seal pattern is XYX or XXY, trying to get a Z seal next draw is worth it, byt if the pattern is XYY then its not

its not about wasting cards, but about wether to overwrite seals and how astrodyne would line up with MA, star, or div if you do.

Okay, I understand what you're saying, but I'm not sure whether this way of playing is fun/optimal, I'll need some time to adapt.

[KDSilver]

I don't even understand what they tried to achieve with Astrodyne.
To me it needs to be reworked, it doesn't feel rewarding or great to use right now.
It could even be erased it would be better.

[Axzeriuth]

I know Astrodyne only affects myself and the gains are minor at best but I am now wasting cards or potentially *gags* thinking of using Undraw so I can get the 3 seals. NEVER have I done that. I'm happy that Divination is no longer tied to the seals but people are selfish and mostly only think of themselves (myself included) so I would waste a card just for the potential of a missing seal.
I think if I had another redraw or a way to burn unwanted cards, turning into a minor arcana like ShB did, I would be happier.


Edit: Also the button bloat on AST now is too much. Most classes I can easily manage with 24 buttons. We lost 1 ability and gained 4 extra. I have run out of toolbar and hotkey space.

[Gemina]

Astrodyne doesn't buff your party. I'm not talking about regular cards, which are perfectly fine (although some will argue dps cards are bland, I'll stay neutral on that). Nor am I talking about RNG, which is fine if triggered often enough (for example, DNC has rng and works). I'm talking about Astrodyne, Redraw and the new Seal system.

Fair enough. However, the cards have to be drawn and played to access Astrodyne so even the regular cards are very much part of its mechanic, which makes the steady DPS increases given to the party valid in the point I am trying to get across when it comes to Astrodyne's overall effectiveness.

Essentially, all Astrodyne does is restore MP and add roughly 80-180 potency worth of self-buff on a long 90 sec cooldown. It's not worth playing the seal-juggling mini-game for. Astrodyne, Redraw, Minor Arcana and Crown Play combined are 4 dps buttons that don't even contribute to 5% of your damage output. That's what I'm saying is a waste of hotbar space. Busy for the sake of busy with no real reward.

If we want to look at just the effects of Astrodyne, I have addressed this many times now with how the seal configuration and rewards should work. But to reiterate the MP restore, that should just be an additional effect, and not have anything to do with the seals. The seals should be about how much of a damage increase is granted to the AST, which I think should work like slots with how things are currently set up. This would require the least amount of rework from the dev team.

They could go crazy with the seals where the different combinations of seals all do different things. Kind of like: 1,2,3 or 1,1,2 or 2,3,3 but that would be nuts. And the return of the old system is completely off the table. It just has to be a simple system, with simple mechanics, and simple rewards. I can't stress enough that two glaring issues with AST is its high APM, and button bloat. It does not need a sophisticated and deep mechanic on top of this, and measures need to be taken to reduce these issues as things are now.

[ZedxKayn]

At least I really don't like the new stars. Placing it where it needs to be when it pops was part of what made AST's kit fun for me and now that's gone. Can SE please stop lowering the skill ceiling for no good reason.