New Astrologian's design complaints (sorry)

[KanataNanaya]

I don't post on the official forum so much, so sorry if i'm posting the same popular opinion or somewhat, but i felt like I've been just coping with the changes every expansion, and not enough voices from people have similar view to me being heard, so here goes.

Astrologian new card system is just more of the same as Endwalker, dumbed down even further.

EW: one attack+ buff every 30 seconds, HAVE to be pushed out ASAP else you are missing out on potential damage (Cooldown and Astrodyne)

DT: 1 attack buff, 1 defensive buff, 1 cure every 60 secs.
is essentially the same, just without the punishment for keeping the cards a little longer.
Defensive and heal cards is very situational. and sometimes don't even get used, especially as astrologian, when other healing spell in your kit are making you plan before hand (Earthly Star, Horoscope), see how often Lady card get actually used.

Exaltation and Neutral Sect is already in the kit for the occasional defensive buff. And in an average savage fight, even that get barely used, as great as neutral sect is.

Why do the dev keep listening to the voices from people that don't want to play AST? People who are asking AST to be easier, less randomized are simply people who want to play WHM but with AST's aesthetic.

Again, I'm sorry if this post is sounds like premature complaints, but I've been in love with AST since 3.x and it's just heart breaking to see my favorite things about the job keep getting stripped off.

Sure, i'll cope by playing other jobs this expansion again. but for the twelve's sake and future copium, this post is me doing my part.

[Cesire]

I am sad that there isn't really anywhere to go after the Astro changes, there isn't another healer that has such a high APM opener, there isn't another healer that has a healing plan and rotation that varies based on draw logic, they (hopefully?) keep their focus on proactive pure healing but I feel like that isn't the reason that AST players love AST compared to the card optimisation.

[KanataNanaya]

And why would we need another defensive buffs?
Excluding ultimates, and special composition parties like 8 healers or something.

Most tank busters/heavy damage AoE in this game can be dealt with 2 tanks buff + 1 or 2 extra buffs from other team members.
Why do i even want to throw out a defensive card when exaltation and neutral sec are already more than enough? why bother with 2 defensive buffs when earthly star or horoscope is primed and ready to be popped right after said hits? What's those 5-10% defensive buffs gonna change for me?


nothing at all

[ForsakenRoe]

I'll give it a chance, but it's looking pretty dire for the class. Shame, since it was my HW main and I played almost nothing else at the time.

I suppose I could say that first part about all four of the healers though

[applepie69]

"EW: one attack+ buff every 30 seconds, HAVE to be pushed out ASAP else you are missing out on potential damage (Cooldown and Astrodyne)"

Are you talking about cards? That's not how you are supposed to use them.

I love how busy AST is now, i hope that stays.

[Zaytex]

It's basically removing the high APM of AST along with their 2 minute window which is extremely busy and difficult to optimise given the RNG factor of the cards whilst managing seals/astrodyne, divination, and lord (if lucky). The only difficult healer where you had mechanics to optimise has been gutted, in favour of a fixed 1 minute window where you don't even need to think about your cards or seals anymore. An offensive/dps buff card with no seal or melee/ranged aspect to it, so you'll always be throwing it to the melee dps with no second thought. A defensive cooldown which will be reserved and given to tanks or parties when tank busters/aoes pop up, which wasn't even needed given our current tool kit. And another healing card/tool which wasn't even needed given our current tool kit, and how in DT, AST seems to be getting a THIRD STACK of essential dignity (who asked for this?) and a level 100 aoe heal (from what I can see).

The only reason I've stuck to healing, even in casual content, is because of AST. It's difficulty and engaging play style is what has kept me to the role despite the current crisis of the healer role. I'm devastated to see AST lose all of this, to be made braindead and less difficult. There's no other healer which provided what AST did, and I refuse to play a role where I am sat spamming the same button for 80-90% of a fight with no thought put elsewhere (which for AST, was cards/2 minute window + timed healing). I'll most likely be only playing healer in a prog scenario and immediately dropping it on reclears, and definitely not touching it in casual content.

On the bright side guys, Pictomancer looks hella fun and good, so I'll be maining that for DT.

[Sephknite]

I'm not too fond of the new draw system with a set of cards over 60 seconds. Am I to understand that each set of 3 (or 4 according to the Live Letter translation) are set as 1 damage buff, 1 cure buff, 1 defensive buff? If so, that makes it feel more restrictive than it is now. While I do see that it gives variety to the cards than just damage buff currently, being a static set makes it lose that random-ness feeling of applying the card as you roll them. I really prefer how the card system worked when AST was first introduced; it was hectic but fun.

Along with that is the loss of Astrodyne. To me, that seems like a nerf for some DPS gain and MP regen. The spell speed increase has always been sorta negligible, so kinda sucks this is going away.

Looking at the Job Trailer, I see that both Sage and WHM both have a gap closer. SCH has the speed increase, but what about AST? Or do we get one and it is an ability not shown but included in the list and wasn't demonstrated in the video?

Some things I was hoping for was bringing back the Stun for Celestial Opposition or Time Dialation to extend buffs. Why they got removed in the first place still puzzles me since the Stun for Celestial Opposition isn't like WHM's Holy and can only be used when CO is on cooldown.

Overall, kinda iffy with AST changes. Willing to give it a shot on DT, so hoping it's not as bad as it seems. Also hoping the devs do bring back some of the stuff they took away in the past.

[Zaytex]

"EW: one attack+ buff every 30 seconds, HAVE to be pushed out ASAP else you are missing out on potential damage (Cooldown and Astrodyne)"

Are you talking about cards? That's not how you are supposed to use them.

I love how busy AST is now, i hope that stays.

The 2 minute window is gone, completely removed. Thinking of where to place your cards too, or what seals they have and considering a redraw? Gone. Now you just give the dps card you get to the melee dps every time, no second thought. The other cards are basically just mits/healing ogcd tools on a 1 minute cooldown that we never needed to begin with.

Stuff can change and some things may be more nuanced or different than on paper, but ultimately, AST has been gutted and reduced to being braindead.

[ArtemisSeraphin]

I am so upset about the AST rework that I am actually posting for the first time on the forums. This change feels like an attempt to appease the people who want the ease of WHM but like the sparkles of AST, while kind of acknowledging that actual AST players exist. But it just falls flat on its face. I LIKE the randomness. I LIKE having to think on my feet. I LIKE the hecticness of AST. I don't want yet another pairing down of its difficulty. A game needs to have some classes with high skill ceilings. They keep lowering ASTs. I really, really miss Stormblood AST. I've been playing since ARR, and AST has been my main since HW. People saying "wait and see" as if every time AST players have done the "wait and see" game, we've been let down. "Wait and see," they say, as we didn't wait to see our class be GUTTED in Shadowbringers. "Wait and see," as if we didn't wait to see the devs double down on said gutting in EW.

I was really, really hoping that the developers would course-correct and make AST into the class it was meant to be. Instead, they just cater once again to the "AST is pretty but too hard... Make it WHM, please?" crowd.

[Zeastria]

I'm going to main SCH in DT