Astrologian changes feedback

[RodP]

We obviously need to play it before passing a definitive judgement, but from what they showed and said, the changes look really disappointing and kind of upsetting as someone who has been playing the job since Stormblood.

That was my favourite instance of the job, with varied buffs and creative ways to apply them. After seeing the footage, I only feel like they've gutted the job I love so much.

There's four healers in the game and AST was the only one who has some challenge to its job mechanics, what's wrong with having ONE difficult healer?

Even if the randomness has to go (which is a thing I like even if it frustrates me sometimes), I believe it can still be fast paced and complex without it, I hope the dev team reconsiders the changes.

[luca20]

Hard agree. It seems like whoever was in charge of reworking AST never played it and only read feedback from people who didn't play the job.

Current AST is fast and hard to play and that' s ok. It's good to have jobs that appeal to different people. If someone doesn't like the RNG and fast descision making they can go play WHM, but what am I supposed to do when they kill my favorite job?

With how things are looking right now it seems I will go from an AST main to never touching a healer in DT. The other healers are already easy to play and accesible, allow me to keep one with a high skill ceiling and fast paced gameplay.

[Kissune]

I want the devs to read this and realize exactly what they are doing, even if I know they probably don't read NA forums. They have said they're taking feedback into account, and I've been pretty quiet about AST the whole time I've been happily playing it, and now I regret not making my voice heard. Bc now they are turning the most unique healer into something that functions and plays exactly like the others. No, cards are not more interesting now that they have 'unique' effects bc they are no longer random. People liked HW and SB cards because you had to adapt to them. And y'know what? I didn't like that. But I regret saying that bc it feels like a monkey's paw compared to this. I did not like stormblood cards, I liked ShB cards and EW too, just a little less. But I can at least recognize that they were still cards, with all the hallmarks of what I love about current day astrologian.

What you have shown is not cards. There might still be draw in the game, there might still be play in the game, there might still be minor arcana but these are not cards. They don't evoke the feeling of mastering your reaction and on the fly planning, they don't make me feel like I'm moving and shifting cards around to get them in the right place at the right time, they feel like the exact same mitigation and healing buttons every healer has been working with since its inception. Like... Astrologian used to be about using your cards in the best way for any possible outcome of draw. Now? The LL talked so much about having 'the perfect card for the situation', when that could not be further from the truth. Instead, you're just trying to find the situation for the card. A card that heals is no different than lustrate. A card that mitigates is no different than aquaveil. A card that amps healing is no different than krasis. Because they're predictable, and streamlined, and duller than ever.

Please reconsider. I'd be happy with just sticking with EW's AST for a little longer while you cook something better, or whatever. But I can't wait for 8.0 hoping that you guys don't get it so painfully wrong, even if you don't get it quite right. I'd be happy with the job not being what I want it to be, as long as I can still play Astrologian. I don't want to be a white mage with stars, please.

[Mugs]

I'm a legacy, and this has always been my favorite job. It has changed a lot over the years, which was always fine, I was ok with the other changes. It still felt like the same job that I love, but to me, this is the most disappointing change ever. Dont take away the the flavor from Astro. Its what makes me love it so much...

[VictorSpoils]

Cards aside, fishing for a 5% personal damage buff won't be missed.

[Kissune]

Cards aside, fishing for a 5% personal damage buff won't be missed.

Yeah Dyne was a miss but like... We wanted it gone, but not THIS. If they wanted seals to be relevant just put them on div and just add sleeve draw back...

[Fawkes]

I don't get that sense. It was already gutted, this seems like them walking it back and putting flavor back in to me. Every card being balance was boring.

[Kissune]

I don't get that sense. It was already gutted, this seems like them walking it back and putting flavor back in to me. Every card being balance was boring.

Maybe, but at least they were recognizable as cards. You had to actually react to the ones you got and think about where they went. This is just aetherflow with a new coat of paint and more restrictive usages. Which means in basically every fight you know where they're going to go without any kind of on the fly decision making. And without a way to burn cards you don't need for damage like SCH you're going to be overwriting or just throwing away cards a lot considering most fights won't require crazy amounts of healing/mitigation or the casuals will get mad.

[RodP]

Thank you all for the support in general, it feels good knowing people feel the same way.

What you have shown is not cards. There might still be draw in the game, there might still be play in the game, there might still be minor arcana but these are not cards. They don't evoke the feeling of mastering your reaction and on the fly planning, they don't make me feel like I'm moving and shifting cards around to get them in the right place at the right time, they feel like the exact same mitigation and healing buttons every healer has been working with since its inception. Like... Astrologian used to be about using your cards in the best way for any possible outcome of draw. Now? The LL talked so much about having 'the perfect card for the situation', when that could not be further from the truth. Instead, you're just trying to find the situation for the card. A card that heals is no different than lustrate. A card that mitigates is no different than aquaveil. A card that amps healing is no different than krasis. Because they're predictable, and streamlined, and duller than ever.

That's exactly how it feels. It doesn't feel like cards, it feels like one damage buff, one defense buff and a heal every minute, I want a fast-pace buffer, you already have shields and heals in the rest of the kit and other healers have access to that, we need something more unique for the cards.

Cards aside, fishing for a 5% personal damage buff won't be missed.

100% agree, that needed to go, but I think this is worse.

I don't get that sense. It was already gutted, this seems like them walking it back and putting flavor back in to me. Every card being balance was boring.

I agree that every card giving damage is boring, but at least it was fast and complex, and the new ones seem to be balance, (old) bole and... A heal? That's beyond boring, we have plenty of that already.

[Aelin_Ashryver]

I found the sleeve draw and redraw in SHB kept astro fun for me due to the fast paced gameplay. Astrodyne and the removal of sleeve draw and redraw charges killed AST for me in EW after we already lost the more interesting cards in SB, the job became just frustrating and boring to me.

Every card being just damage is boring imo, I like that we can draw cards that do different things again and I hope that we get some skills back that interact with our cards again. I would love SB cards back but since we can't seem to get those back as they were I am happier with this iteration than EW one by far. I hope in future they add more abilities to interact with the cards again. I enjoyed those a lot. I also enjoy the more proactive approach you take to healing with ast as opposed to whm. Cooking your spells and letting it go off a fraction of a second after the damage comes out is always satisfying to me. More of that would be cool too. It feels more thoughtful than WHM.