GCD AST Cards, why not?

[Aravell]

Seen a few folks express their disgust in the idea, but I haven't really figured out what the problem is with having AST cards being GCD skills.

I completely dislike the idea of GCD cards because it tears out a playstyle enjoyed by players and turns it into another playstyle that already exists. Putting cards on the GCD is like the lily system WHM has, but buffs instead of healing, might as well slap on a nuke you can use at 3 seals to completely mimic the lily system at that point. I don't see why people want cards on the GCD, you want a slow and methodical healer? WHM is right there. Some of us don't like slow-paced jobs, which is why we play AST.

Changing cards to be on the GCD is like telling SCHs that their fairy is now automatically summoned when you swap to SCH and sits on their shoulder, you can no longer interact with the fairy in any way and all her skills now originate from you. That would completely delete fairy management from the game and give nothing similar in return. That's the same problem I have with putting cards on the GCD, it would completely eliminate the fast-paced gameplay I enjoy and replace it with nothing, no other healer is as fast as AST, there will be no other option.

What AST needs is something that incentivises the usage of cards across the entire encounter rather than in a 15s window every 120s, the spread of cards would also make it so that their opener/reopener would stop being a near impossible mess unless you save Lightspeed for it. GCD cards is basically the laziest solution that can be done, which is why SE will probably make GCD cards in 7.0. They've already ruined old MCH and NIN, I'm expecting them to kill the last fast-paced job in the game at this point.

[Shurrikhan]

I completely dislike the idea of GCD cards because it tears out a playstyle enjoyed by players and turns it into another playstyle that already exists. Putting cards on the GCD is like the lily system WHM has, but buffs instead of healing, might as well slap on a nuke you can use at 3 seals to completely mimic the lily system at that point. I don't see why people want cards on the GCD, you want a slow and methodical healer? WHM is right there. Some of us don't like slow-paced jobs, which is why we play AST.

Changing cards to be on the GCD is like telling SCHs that their fairy is now automatically summoned when you swap to SCH and sits on their shoulder, you can no longer interact with the fairy in any way and all her skills now originate from you. That would completely delete fairy management from the game and give nothing similar in return. That's the same problem I have with putting cards on the GCD, it would completely eliminate the fast-paced gameplay I enjoy and replace it with nothing, no other healer is as fast as AST, there will be no other option.

As much as I absolutely don't want a GCD on Play... for a GCD on Draw --which wouldn't even need to use any Blood Lily- or Toxicon-like mechanic anyways-- this seems a bit of an exaggeration. And the APM, even the APM density, could certainly be made up for in other ways.

To be clear, I could take or leave Draw being off or on the GCD, given accordant tuning, though I would likewise prefer to see any APM lost to that made up for in other ways.

What AST needs is something that incentivises the usage of cards across the entire encounter rather than in a 15s window every 120s, the spread of cards would also make it so that their opener/reopener would stop being a near impossible mess unless you save Lightspeed for it. GCD cards is basically the laziest solution that can be done, which is why SE will probably make GCD cards in 7.0. They've already ruined old MCH and NIN, I'm expecting them to kill the last fast-paced job in the game at this point.

That one, at least, is simple: Just remove its third charge. While it says it only has two, because it begins cooling upon being Draw-n, not being Play-ed, it effectively has three. Return it to cooling only after Play, and you're already solid. There's no Astrodyne rush in the opener, nor are 3/4s of your Cards per 2 minute given within 15s.

[AmiableApkallu]

Putting cards on the GCD is like the lily system WHM has, but buffs instead of healing, might as well slap on a nuke you can use at 3 seals to completely mimic the lily system at that point.

Thanks for giving us a preview of the AST rework for Dawntrail!