AST proposal: An idea revisited

[Supersnow845]

I can’t see how they could keep cards as oGCD’s and reduce the APM in the burst because they could never realistically tune the cards in such a way that dumping in the burst window isn’t optimal, they could remove the second charge on draw but APM of AST was still high in the burst window of ShB after they changed sleeve draw

The only thing you could do is gut auxiliary damage options like star and minor arcana so your entire burst window basically just becomes cards, even then it’s still debatable if it would fix the problem

[ASkellington]

I can’t see how they could keep cards as oGCD’s and reduce the APM in the burst because they could never realistically tune the cards in such a way that dumping in the burst window isn’t optimal, they could remove the second charge on draw but APM of AST was still high in the burst window of ShB after they changed sleeve draw

The only thing you could do is gut auxiliary damage options like star and minor arcana so your entire burst window basically just becomes cards, even then it’s still debatable if it would fix the problem

I mean, AST's APM is so high because you're trying to get seals.

In Shb it was so you could have Divination up (and then buffs of Lord/Lady until that was changed).

In EW its so you can have Astrodyne up on yourself (and 2-3 buffs on 2-3 party members).

Once you're out the opener though, AST's APM kinda drops. You don't have 2 charges of Draw constantly after all and you're gaining seals as you buff your allies.

Now targeting on controller adds more to it since you need to cycle from what I'm hearing on the party list, which is where I think the APM is blown out the water by comparison to kb+m, but I don't think there's a fix for that in terms of AST's kit.

Moving it to the GCD doesn't change that you still need to target your allies which is going to be a few extra presses compared to a MO or mouse click - tab back to target on kb.

[PercibelTheren]

The APM of Astrologian is why I enjoy playing it. If the cards get moved to the GCD, that's going to be the day I quit healing in this game because it makes me fall asleep. I also straight up don't understand why anyone would want to make AST more of a WHM clone than it already is. If anything, we should be leaning into delayed healing and diversifying healing tools in general, so that healers have some decision making to do if they want to be using the right tool for the job in a particular situation.

[Supersnow845]

Targeting on controller adds APM regardless of its a GCD or oGCD but you have far more wiggle room to soft target in a Insta-cast GCD (which is why I actually quite like phlegma) that also double as the initial action (because you can queue it) than weaving it into an unrelated GCD damage option

AST is always going to be harder on controller but I do think the difference in relative difficulty is a bit too high right now, controller being disadvantaged I do think is one of the valid reasons to change a job (whereas say liking the aesthetics of the hard job in your role but wanting said job to be easy is not), it’s the same reason as on since square refuses to adapt Alexander into a feature I support changes that benefit people that suffer from poor ping

[Renathras]

But yeah, long story short -- using flat potency bonuses would be absurdly imbalanced. +% Damage is literally already the most balanced buff possible.

Fair enough.

I don't recall...in how it's skills operate

In simple terms "at least one staying for people who enjoy healing right now". Note that AST plays the least like the other three, and is either the least played or second least played (depending on which metric you use), and the least liked (or second least liked) in most polls. I don't think most people who enjoy healing as it is now would enjoy AST as it is now, given that AST is arguably the least played healer Job. So it doesn't really meet the requirement unless it were changed to be more like the other healers.

Indeed, most of the people who play AST now here freely say it's because it doesn't play like the other healers...and are the players asking for more damage buttons and more kit in general, meaning AST doesn't appeal to the same audience that the "one for people who like healers today" needs to appeal to. Hence why it would require changes. Indeed, WHM, SCH, and SGE could probably be left EXACTLY as they are now with no issue, but AST couldn't be for that reason.

EDIT:

To make more sense of it - suppose 80% of healers right now don't play AST (AST is played by something like 15-low-20s% of the healer playerbase). Meaning people that like healing right now largely aren't playing AST. Meaning that AST doesn't appeal to them...otherwise, presumably, they'd be playing it.

So, a healer Job that appeals to them wouldn't be AST as it is right now. Again, the people who most like AST as it is right now...are the people asking for the changes you want to be made to the role and Jobs. The people who like healing right now are mostly playing the other healer Jobs. And most of the people who are playing AST right now seem to want to go back to the SB incarnation of it anyway. Granted, we don't have metrics on THAT that we can truly trust, but we have long had metrics indicating AST is the least played.

Meaning, to people who find healing enjoyable right now, AST doesn't suit them in its current form. That's why it would have to be changed for that to work.

Again, something untrue of the other three.