How is new AST feeling?

[Gemina]

Gemina, i just hate when abilities have rng mechanics. Crit chance is enough rng i think.

And it's understandable why you do. The AST card mech has been cumbersome since its inception. We're stuck with it though. This is why I feel it just has to be stripped down completely and akin to a scratch ticket. The more layers and RNG mitigation you add to it just serves to convolute the playstyle.

The thing is, if there is any role to give this mechanic to; it's a healer. Without question. Especially with FFXIV design and how adamant they are with the direction they have gone with healers. When placed in this context, the card mech becomes a lot more enjoyable. I'm not saying that is how everyone should look at it, but rather that is how it is looked at by those who do enjoy it.

[Gemina]

It's 56% chance to get a 3 Seal Astrodyne, but you're almost guaranteed a 2 seal. Both 2 and 3 seal are worth less than 100 potency each. At this point you could probably take Redraw off your bar entirely and the overall loss on a raid fight would be 0.5% or less and even Astrodyne itself is worth maybe a few % and is mainly there for mana economy. The whole system is just a waste of hotbar space.

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.

[Laphicet]

Cant say, I toss my star globe into my glam dresser and moved on to sage which am enjoying with 0 complaints, same boring cards with only lady/crown being changed back to stormblood effects with aoe instead is alright but that was not enough + removal of noct which idc for no more cause sage such a better noct ast . Maybe if the cards get some flavor again like old stormblood one maybe one day ill pick up ast again.

Guess I'm in the same boat as this one, though I don't consider Sage to be flawless. But as far as AST goes I'm dropping it for good save for leveling it to 90 at some point during this expac. The flavor is gone and the lore is shattered further, and Lord/Lady does nothing to restore it.

AST would probably be a little better if they swapped the DPS buff and SpS buff parts of astrodyne, though. DPS for two seals and speed for 3 seals. But even then this mechanic is a source of frustation because they significantly took away from your tools you had to deal with and shape the RNG.

As for the people in the thread shitting on SB AST cuz "muh deeps" over job flavor and lore, it's people like you that got us in this shit situation in the first place and I hope you realize that. And you could've easily fixed that by changing Balance to DhiT, Spire to HP regen, and adding a tiny flat dps buff to all the cards alongside the unique effects while still keeping RR system. But no, we have to toss the baby out with the bathwater cuz "muh deeps" and "muh RNG" despite having the tools to mitigate it even back in SB and the ability to salvage bad cards with lord/lady.

[IceBlueNinja]

Guess I'm in the same boat as this one, though I don't consider Sage to be flawless. But as far as AST goes I'm dropping it for good save for leveling it to 90 at some point during this expac. The flavor is gone and the lore is shattered further, and Lord/Lady does nothing to restore it.

AST would probably be a little better if they swapped the DPS buff and SpS buff parts of it, though. DPS for two seals and speed for 3 seals. But even then this mechanic is a source of frustation because they significantly took away from your tools you had to deal with and shape the RNG.

As for the people in the thread shitting on SB AST cuz "muh deeps" over job flavor and lore, it's people like you that got us in this shit situation in the first place and I hope you realize that. And you could've easily fixed that by changing Balance to DhiT, Spire to HP regen, and adding a tiny flat dps buff to all the cards alongside the unique effects while still keeping RR system. But no, we have to toss the baby out with the bathwater cuz "muh deeps" and "muh RNG" despite having the tools to mitigate it even back in SB and the ability to salvage bad cards with lord/lady.

I agree I still do not get the hate on stormblood cards period even if some where situation they all had a use to me, I didnt just fish for stupid balance and if someone dare told me I tell em play ast themselves then, the only card I RR was spire when tp was taken out of the game , for each card to me was nice, ewer if i died right as I lucid for mp recover, bole for migi to help dps trash in light pt dungeon, arrow was nice as blm loved it and could save their ley lines up for future use, spear gave +10% crit who dont love crit which means bigger heals flat heal/shield/regen /dps increase.

Its very confusing how people complain about storm blood ast was too random/rng when that is the MAIN point of the job high risk high rewards lol. Now its just a more mobile whm with yawn ville boring same dry card buffs. Sorry if I sound I was dissing SB ast, its my fav and ill forever miss it the 6 different effect cards SB ast had made it very busy fun and quick thinking compared to sbh/ew dry yawn ville one.

[Vivix]

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.

Divination barely required luck before when sleeve draw was a thing. It was also a fun mechanic to acquire three different seals which now feels kind of pointless and even selfish when it's probably better to just immediately use card buffs on dps over trying to get a 5% damage buff on a healer.

[Ironthorne]

Hate it. The previous card system was nothing to write home about, but at least, I had more control over it. Now it's just an RNG fest, and crown play is just plain terrible. I'll probably just cap my AST and never touch it again, or I'll adapt to the new system somewhere along the way, but I doubt it.

[currentlemon]

AST will be my new healer since I'm getting bored of WHM. I haven't touched it yet, but I will level the job once I finish the MSQ. I don't mind RNG mechanics. I've played games where RNG mechanics matter before. I bring Guilty Gear up a lot, but that game has a character that relies heavily on RNG gameplay, and his mechanics can literally bring the match in his favor or cost him the round.

[S4M4EL]

Overall i love it, the new Earthly Star is fantastic, i love how they've kept Neutral sect...

There are some issues though, like the whole 1 draw=1 redraw instead of the old system
Minor Arcana should have a lower cooldown so it doesn't feel as weird to use...
I like Astrodyne but at the same time it feels kinda odd to use, buffing myself for some reason feels weird idk...

[Valmaxian]

For my part, I’ve been having a blast with AST! As long as one can deal with not always getting perfect Astrodynes, it’s fast, busy, and feels strong.

#blastwithast

[Anxin]

I'm mixed on AST. The RNG is mildly annoying, but I'm shifting my thinking around it. I would prefer Astrodyne as a buff that can be used on yourself OR on an ally. It would work better with the whole AST ethos. I don't care about personal DPS levels. I dps, but I would rather buff the others in my party than myself.

I find the sound effects odd. Gravity 2's timing seems off, and I dislike the sounds of Malefic. But I'll adapt. I agree with most of you, Lord/Lady and their draw need to be a single button. It feels a little busier than ShB.