Thread: AST Adjustments 6.2

just thinking to myself of some changes I would like to see while reducing button bloat.

Healer QoL in general:

Tier 1 cure upgraded to Tier 2 = -1 button

AST changes:

-Aspected Benefic is now a shield that upgrades to Celestial Intersection. -1 button
-Single target regen redundant in conjunction with the proposed card changes.
-2 charges

Cards/Draw/MA:
-Draw still functions the same (3 charges) i.e. 6 cards, but instead, augments the next gcd heal (single target and aoe) and makes it instant cast at the cost of reduced heal potency while applying drawn card buffs
-Draw acts similar but not identical, to SGE Eukrasia to give you an idea of function, this would also buff Synastry usage
-Benefic 1/2 = single target, Helios/Aspected = aoe
-Card buff duration reduced or alternatively apply a stack system to target/s.
-Remove Play, Crown Play, since Draw works differently and is only activated when using a gcd heal that is affected by Draws new effect (effectively making your gcd heals the "Play" button)

-Minor Arcana reverted to 4.0 version i.e. 1 sec recast, Lady/Lord (functions as an ogcd proc similar to Shield Swipe from 2.0 PLD)
-Minor Arcana active when Draw is used until card is spent.
-See Card Effect changes on how MA works.
-Remove Redraw, Undraw, since Minor Arcana now functions as the sole way of removing cards you don't want.

Card Effects:
-Balance/Bole = crit chance up
-Arrow/Spear = direct crit chance up
-Ewer/Spire = increased sks/sps
-Lord of Crowns = if Balance, Arrow or Spire is drawn and MA is used
-Lady of Crowns = if Bole Spear or Ewer is drawn and MA is used
-Remove increasing dmg from AST to better balance with other healers not having access to frequent dmg up abilities.

Draw and MA changes = -4 buttons.

Astrodyne:
-Changed to function as aoe raid utility.
-1 seal = magical defense
-2 seals = magical + physical defense
-3 seals = magical + physical defense + increase duration/stacks of current active card effects on all party members.

These changes basically try to promote gcd healing while still gaining benefits and ease of card use. It also returns RR effects, albeit much easier to utilize since using a gcd heal will apply the card in addition to the heal. Removes a lot of buttons that didn't need to be there in the first place. Still retains the "three" system all healers have i.e. lilies, aetherflow, addersgall, card seals. Changing the cards to apply a stack which affects the next gcds (i.e. the tanks) could also nerf the raid potential of AST since it will no longer affect ogcds but at the cost of making it more consistent.

if they truly wanted to make things "accessible" for ast with minimal effort they could at the very list fix their awful macro system so it actually queues actions.

Originally Posted by QooEr

if they truly wanted to make things "accessible" for ast with minimal effort they could at the very list fix their awful macro system so it actually queues actions.

Queueing macros would be a massive improvement over what we have now but would also give AST a montorous 45 buttons, giving the class that already has the worst button bloat in the game 7 more buttons I don’t think is really the right solution here rather than just at this point removing AST’s intense reliance on party targeting

Originally Posted by Supersnow845

giving the class that already has the worst button bloat in the game

Not to distract from the previous line of conversation, but why do people keep saying this? It's not at all true.

AST takes up the same number of hotbar slots as jobs such as PLD, NIN, and SAM.
It's only 1-2 slots more than some others, an example being its fellow healer; SCH.

Does it have a lot of things you can/need to press? Yes. Is it more than jobs like SMN or MCH? Yes. Does it have some areas it could probably use some cleaning up? For sure.
But can we stop band-wagoning this "Oh my god, it has the worst button bloat" nonsense? (This isn't to attack you specifically: I see a lot of people say this way more often than seems needed.)

Originally Posted by QooEr

if they truly wanted to make things "accessible" for ast with minimal effort they could at the very list fix their awful macro system so it actually queues actions.

Agreed. They don't want automated gameplay, but macros containing only a single action (such as mouseover or target macros) should be allowed to queue.

Or at the very least allow mouseover functionality as an option.

But what am I saying, this is the company that made a job worse for EW and can't fix it until 2 years after release. Heck, they haven't even managed to make pots and Sprint queue after a decade, never mind macros. Smallest of indie companies and all that.

Originally Posted by Supersnow845

Queueing macros would be a massive improvement over what we have now but would also give AST a montorous 45 buttons, giving the class that already has the worst button bloat in the game 7 more buttons I don’t think is really the right solution here rather than just at this point removing AST’s intense reliance on party targeting

how do macros give ast more buttons? the point is to make macros functional so you can consolidate actions and the like

Originally Posted by QooEr

how do macros give ast more buttons? the point is to make macros functional so you can consolidate actions and the like

Because a macro is a button that you would link to a hotbar, the classical setup is to have a “play” macro for each position on the party list besides yourself, that’s 7 extra buttons you’d need to find a spot for

Originally Posted by Supersnow845

Because a macro is a button that you would link to a hotbar, the classical setup is to have a “play” macro for each position on the party list besides yourself, that’s 7 extra buttons you’d need to find a spot for

a macro is anything you want it to be, you can make it switch hotbars too like controller users do

Used to be an AST main before Shadowbringers. However since they can't stop touching the job I decided to just not touch it at all beyond leveling it up. Gonna be a long wait I guess.