AST, and what we lost

[KamuiKmsr]

I had to split this post into two parts because there's a 3000 character limit. I'll append the rest in a response below.

Let me preface this with the following: I have a lot of love for this game. Ever since having picked it up 4 years ago, it's become an integral part of my life, for better or worse. The following I wrote not out of malice or spite, but out of hope for what this game could be.

It is very clear to me that the dev team has little to no idea what they're doing with AST. Anybody who's played since HW/SB could tell you the same: AST has lost most of its identities, both the themes and the gameplay. I'll try to go over as many of them as I can.

AST, the Gambler
When talking about AST changes, this is usually the first one that comes up. Before ShB, the different cards had unique effects with different kinds of buffs. There also existed a tool, Royal Road, that allowed you to burn a card to enhance the next one with an interesting effect. In practice, this was the core mechanic and fun of AST - improvising with the hand you were dealt to help the party through content.
Alas, due to the DPS-focused nature of the game, there was a large complaint about how an AoE Balance, a damage buff for the whole team, was the only desirable option and that the rest of the cards were virtually useless. Without getting into the conversation of whether or not they really were useless in this post, the dev team decided to gut the cards in ShB. They were now all effectively Balances, damage buffs, and created a new ressource to build up an AoE Balance, Divination. This, coupled with Sleeve Draw's changes, guaranteed consistent DPS output in content. Additionally, one could also use the modified Minor Arcana to play a card without generating a ressource, allowing players to more safely manipulate Divination. While this didn't necessarily please veteran AST players, it was understandable to some extent.
Now, in EW, the ressource and core gameplay mechanic was changed once again to not affect Divination, but rather a personal buff called Astrodyne. Besides being the third iteration of AST in 3 expansions, Astrodyne as it exists today has a major flaw: there is no longer any guarantee that you'll collect all the ressource to profit from the full buff. Besides Sleeve Draw not existing anymore, another important way to manipulate RNG was using Minor Arcana to flush unwanted ressources. However, Minor Arcana has now changed as well, and gives a 50/50 probability to get either a DPS spell or a healing one.
These changes combined result in a hilarious outcome, in a cosmic kind of way. Today, DPS output is no longer consistent while still not having any of the interesting manipulation from pre-ShB, essentially meaning that AST, as it exists today, is a class that has been designed for nobody.

[KamuiKmsr]

AST, the Hybrid Healer
With the release of SGE, the dev team decided to have the new job be a barrier healer like SCH rather than designing a new type of healer. This would've left AST in an odd position - in its old state, it was defined as the healer who could do either regens or barriers by using different sects. To compensate for the new job, AST was shifted to being a pure healer, just like white mage, removing the sect aspect from the game entirely. Gameplay-wise, this is fine.
Story and theme-wise however, this is kinda tragic. While I admittedly haven't gone back and played through my job quests since EW to see what has been changed, the sect switching was always a major part of AST's identity in the world of the game. And yes: this isn't a serious problem, but it's simply another theme removed from AST's identity as a whole, on top of the other blows.

AST, the Time Mage
White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, Time Mage... FF classic jobs, all represented in XIV - in SB, that is. AST used to embody part of the Time Mage archetype, reflected in the old Time Dilation, a skill that extended all your buffs on a target party member, and the old iteration of Celestial Opposition, a skill that "stole" time (=stunned) from nearby enemies to "give" it back to your party (=extended buffs). Thematically, this was really cool, and gameplay-wise tied in with the card system really, really well. Additionally, Lightspeed let you cast spells with virtually no cast time.
Since then, Time Dilation has been outright removed, and Celestial Opposition has been completely reworked to simply be an AoE heal with regen. This makes Lightspeed kind of an odd skill in AST's toolkit, the only time-themed spell that survived from a time long past, back when AST embodied a classic FF archetype.

I understand that the dev team had their hands full with EW's MSQ and new jobs, and maybe didn't have enough time to properly look at all the jobs, but I truly hope they consider AST's position today and make changes going forwards, even hopefully recreate the class from the ground up using their newfound knowledge from many more years of XIV experience.

[Cygnia]

Having done the quests, they nix any direct mention of drawing power from the sun or moon and instead speak generally regarding the stars properties including the ability to mend aka Aspected Benefic, which turns out to have the same effect on barriers as it does flesh. It still works, although I likewise mourn the symbolic inclusion of the two sects as inheriting two distinct modes that taps into the mysticism of the class. It was particularly important as the class doesn't grant the same level of detail that say, a red/white/black mage receives on the harnessing and manipulation of the aether involved.

[elioaiko]

Having experienced AST since StB, I do miss Royal Road and the varying card effects. But for endgame content like raiding, it's not reliable because you didn't know if you would get an AoE Bole. So the extra mitigation isn't accounted for as you could not plan it–it was all random.

In ShB, while not perfect, was a decent balance. The devs saw that the utlity cards aren't useful so they decided to make them all balance. 5.0 was awful with Sleeve Draw forcing you to draw and then play, 3 times in a row. On top of Minor Arcana adding more to the APM.

In EW, Astrodyne is interesting but it's only a buff for yourself, it would be interesting if you could have a "dance-partner" (or even Synastry) that you could give these buffs to. Or even small buffs that affected tanks, healer and then dps.

I disagree on Noct being missing. While it was nice to have an option, it hindered a lot of AST's design–being half-baked SCH or WHM and since Diurnal is better they opted for AST to be a regen healer. Now the job has space to grow in a sub role rather than be two at once.

In the end, AST's cards being RNG buffs will never fit into the current combat design. It's either guaranteed or nothing. And that's why they'll keep changing AST.

[OtakuSempai]

In the end, AST's cards being RNG buffs will never fit into the current combat design. It's either guaranteed or nothing. And that's why they'll keep changing AST.

Its this type of limited thinking and bad hot takes from the community as to why none of the jobs (mainly healers, tanks) have any identity anymore. God forbid the devs had to get creative to maintain the flavor and lore of old AST - best to throw the baby out with the bathwater cause everyone wants only the maximum effect with the least effort.

Changing balance to be direct hit only would've gone a long way in being more, well balanced in my opinion. Instead now we're back literally in the position we wanted to get ourselves out of. I'd laugh at the irony if I wasn't so jaded.

[Jybril]

Having experienced AST since StB, I do miss Royal Road and the varying card effects. But for endgame content like raiding, it's not reliable because you didn't know if you would get an AoE Bole. So the extra mitigation isn't accounted for as you could not plan it–it was all random.

In ShB, while not perfect, was a decent balance. The devs saw that the utlity cards aren't useful so they decided to make them all balance. 5.0 was awful with Sleeve Draw forcing you to draw and then play, 3 times in a row. On top of Minor Arcana adding more to the APM.

In EW, Astrodyne is interesting but it's only a buff for yourself, it would be interesting if you could have a "dance-partner" (or even Synastry) that you could give these buffs to. Or even small buffs that affected tanks, healer and then dps.

I disagree on Noct being missing. While it was nice to have an option, it hindered a lot of AST's design–being half-baked SCH or WHM and since Diurnal is better they opted for AST to be a regen healer. Now the job has space to grow in a sub role rather than be two at once.

In the end, AST's cards being RNG buffs will never fit into the current combat design. It's either guaranteed or nothing. And that's why they'll keep changing AST.

Old Noct AST main here. Hi, I miss Noct stance, haven't even removed it from my bar.
AST is dead since 3.0. Where it was the hardest healer to be, but the most rewarding and fun.
It won't come back and I'm sad for it. Theatric sounding as it may sound, I won't forgive SE for screwing
one of my fave classes I've played in the last 15 years of MMO history. So F it.
They can do without dumbing the game down at EVERY expansion.

[AngeliouxRein]

I’m starting to feel like the oddball AST that actually likes Lord and lady as heal and attack instead of more balance lol. As for the cards…

I will always be salty they got rid of 6 unique ones in favor of “meh deeps” and thus we now have 6 redundant cards. What I would like to see is flavor added back to the cards. Since we give out a measly damage buff I would like a bonus buff added to them if we apply the cards to the right player. Like if we draw arrow and apply it to melee jobs, a speed buff would apply on top of the damage buff as a bonus . Or we pull a bole, toss to range, then a defense buff as a bonus applies and so on. And I still feel like Astrodine could’ve been a skill that also spreads these buffs to everyone as long as someone has the card buffs on them. I like to think changes like that wouldn’t be too much to ask for, or other ideas I’ve seen.

[Tobias_Azuryon]

I feel that AST is more time mage now than its ever been and moving in the right direction personally. Cosmos and Exaltation alone make me happy about that, as well as Horoscope.

NOt that it couldn't be better, and I have to admit it's hard to go back to regen healing after SCH and Noct, but I think AST is moving in the right direction but needs some tweaks.

[IckeDerTyp]

Rest well my sweet Prince!

We'll never forget where ya came from~

[AstreMcClain]

I've mained AST as my go to healer since HW. It was the only healer I played since mid SB. I will admit that I loved the unique card mechanic and I personally want to see it come back but I know it will never happen because the "Muh Deeps" mentality as someone mentioned before. Now the issue I'm seeing is that they're dangling Astrodyne in our faces and removed the only way to safely guarantee maximizing use out of it. I personally loved Sleeve draw it was fun to whip it out when needed and getting maximum Divination for it.

I hope they reinsert Sleeve Draw back into the game.