Please buff AST

[Renathras]

AST starts at level 30, Sage starts even higher, and it can be argued that it's skills are even more cryptic. You didn't provide specific example of why you find AST to be convoluted, there could be , though can't think of ones that I had particular issues with. I would point out however that the concept of a skill that can be used while soling is already used in Blue Mage (Basic Instinct) so it isn't as though this is an entirely new concept in FFXIV.

Also- there are terrible players in every job. AST starts at level 30, Sage starts even higher, and if you want to go down route- anyone can use a job skip on any healer, so there's always a way to start any healer that way, and consequently there is no way to know if that is why someone is "terrible". However I don't see why this should factor into or hold back buffs to AST.

Okay, fine, don't make any changes. Happier?

If someone's making an argument that you might actually agree with, maybe go with it instead of trying to nit-pick?

"...though not ALWAYS true, as a rule..." already notes there are exceptions. So saying there are exceptions isn't actually a counter-argument.

I also didn't use this as a reason for factoring into, nor holding back, buffs to AST. I used it to argue that something SLIGHTLY convoluted/newb trappy shouldn't be an argument NOT to do it.

I noted SGE started even higher. I even explicitly mentioned that in part of my post. You mention this twice - what argument are you countering? Did you think I didn't know SGE starts at a higher level than AST? Did you not see in my post me noting that SGE starts "even higher" than AST? Not just "even higher" but MUCH closer to the level cap? Do I need to spell it out more clearly?

Did you read my post before replying to it?

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I agree Basic Instinct exists (and this was also the original intent, arguably, for Cleric Stance and Tank damage stances; the OG design in 2.0 was probably for these to be mainly abilities used when soloing, not optimization dances); using AST Cards for this is the better solution to me since (a) they already exist and (b) AST has enough button bloat already. Some trait that gives your Card buffs on yourself 2x effectiveness is a pretty small change that doesn't muck with any balance or game design issues or anything overall, could create some niche optimization cases rarely, and plays into the existing system without issue. It's a minor change that fixes the existing problem of AST's low soloing damage without mucking with the rest of the game or contributing to button bloat and the odd nature of Basic Instinct.

Honestly, Basic Instinct should be a Trait (for BLU) that you learn, since it has no effect when you're in a party and is just a tied up button when you are. Would also open the door to "Learning Traits" as a thing for BLU, which would be kind of cool in its own right.