AST cards should be single target

[AtomicBomb]

Right now, there's very little thinking involved with using AST cards. Regardless of what you draw, you're going to use it the same way: just try to hit as many players with it as you can.

If they were single target, you would have to think about who you want to place the card on. Drew Bole? Place on whoever is getting targeted. Drew Balance? Try the player with their LB up. Drew Arrow? Put it on a player who is retreating in Guard or is aggressively chasing the enemy.

Of course the effects would have to be more powerful to compensate. I think the following would be acceptable.


Balance: +20% damage for 10 seconds.
Bole: -20% damage taken for 10 seconds.
Arrow: Super sprint for 10 seconds.

[AtomicBomb]

And just for fun, let's add all the AST cards in:

Spire: Increased LB gauge gain for 10 seconds. (Give to someone with low limit gauge)
Ewer: Increased Mana regen for 10 seconds. (Give to someone with low mana)
Spear: Spells and weaponskills apply 2 seconds of Heavy, for 10 seconds. (Give to someone with high cleave)

[flowerfairy]

I like these!
I think it’d be cool if there were 2 charges, Double Cast Malefic also reduced the cooldown of a charge by half, and Gravity changed to only apply Bind on targets that already have Heavy.

[MintnHoney]

Interesting suggestions, and I'm all for thoughtfulness in play, but making the cards single target would kinda fall flat on its ass in the large-scale pvp modes (considering you couldn't guarantee when someone has an LB, or that you're near anyone to hit them with a card in the first place, and they're applicable only to party members), and would reduce the overall power of AST in both large and small scale PVP modes (with large-scale modes taking a very significant hit). As it stands, AST is already extremely situational, and this sort of update would make them even more situational than before.

Unless AST received potency buffs elsewhere to compensate, had Gravity's CC effects restored to the entire AOE, or were allowed to Double Microcosmos, this wouldn't be a fair compromise.

[IDontPetLalas]

Interesting suggestions, and I'm all for thoughtfulness in play, but making the cards single target would kinda fall flat on its ass in the large-scale pvp modes (considering you couldn't guarantee when someone has an LB, or that you're near anyone to hit them with a card in the first place, and they're applicable only to party members), and would reduce the overall power of AST in both large and small scale PVP modes (with large-scale modes taking a very significant hit). As it stands, AST is already extremely situational, and this sort of update would make them even more situational than before.

Unless AST received potency buffs elsewhere to compensate, had Gravity's CC effects restored to the entire AOE, or were allowed to Double Microcosmos, this wouldn't be a fair compromise.

I think you worded this very well, and more gracefully than I would have.

[AtomicBomb]

Interesting suggestions, and I'm all for thoughtfulness in play, but making the cards single target would kinda fall flat on its ass in the large-scale pvp modes (considering you couldn't guarantee when someone has an LB, or that you're near anyone to hit them with a card in the first place, and they're applicable only to party members), and would reduce the overall power of AST in both large and small scale PVP modes (with large-scale modes taking a very significant hit). As it stands, AST is already extremely situational, and this sort of update would make them even more situational than before.

Unless AST received potency buffs elsewhere to compensate, had Gravity's CC effects restored to the entire AOE, or were allowed to Double Microcosmos, this wouldn't be a fair compromise.

Numbers are always adjustable to be appropriate. FL is not worth balancing around tbh.

[Nanne]

I swear half of the suggestions for new PvP are something that we used to have in the older versions of PvP But cards being more interesting on AST would be welcome

[Shikiseki]

I wouldn't really want to see them single target due to Frontlines still being a thing.
However if double cast would interact with the last card played to act powered up single target version of that said card, I'd be quite intrigued. Even though double cast would have too many options if you'd also include the cards, it's still a fun system to play around with.
Would be worth considering if Aspected Benefic would include the last played card effect for 1 person

[Reimmi]

Suggestion in addition to this: copy the ninjutsu button change mechanic
Press draw, several of your uttons turn into a different card with varying tools
(IMO more classes need to have ninjas variety of options and ast is a good choice)
Also less rng in pvp the better. (glares at chainsaw)

[MintnHoney]

Numbers are always adjustable to be appropriate.

To a point, yes. Consider: the maximum potential for a Balance card, right now, is 10% for each character affected. In CC, that's a minimum potential of 1 person affected at 10% for 15 seconds, for a total of 10% increased output, going up to a maximum potential of 5 people affected at 10% each for 15 seconds, for a maximum total of 50% increased output (ignoring the variable value of putting the buffs on specific jobs). As it stands, the current cards reward positioning and thoughtful placement since the AoE effect is a burst originating from a targeted ally or from yourself if you're not targeting an ally.

What you're asking for is to reduce this potential for all cards for the sake of increasing thoughtfulness and strategic use. In this way, the minimum potential could raise, but then the maximum potential falls; using Balance as an example again, rather than the 50% maximum potential spread evenly across 5 people, we've been reduced to a 20% maximum potential on 1 person. This would be a potency nerf.

I would also argue that this doesn't increase the level of strategy necessary for card placement, it just changes what kind of thoughts would be necessary. Instead of trying to position yourself or target the ally who would enable you to affect the most number of players, you are, instead, just trying to position yourself to avoid losing LOS on the target who you determine to be able to most utilize whatever drawn effect, with the added potential stress that the one person you decided to place the buff onto could be eliminated in the very next instant thereby completely wasting the card.

The way I see it, you're asking for a nerf to AST simply so that they play in a very PVE way. Adjusting potencies would be difficult afterward, because then the value of the cards diminishes even further, and you can't necessarily increase the potency of the cards without worrying how it affects the balance and synergies on other jobs (not to mention, if the potency is high enough, placing a card on someone in PVP would essentially just be marking them as the primary target with the AST as their death knell).

FL is not worth balancing around tbh.

Let's just agree to disagree on this one.