I don't normally start threads, but if the dev team is actually taking feedback like they say they do, may as well start this and pray for 8.0 (if anyone decides to stay at all).
I'll go first:
Card System:
I want them to be diverse and I want to have our RNG. I do not want the seals system back. Divination should remain, but I want to think about the cards and how to use them effectively.
I don't want them all to be damage. I don't want them all to be utility. I want for the damage cards to not be a flat increase and actually something that makes me pick which role it goes to and for the utility to have some impact and not be a useless heal or shield we don't need. A tall order to ask I'm sure but I'm asking anyway.
I'd like to be able to Hold a card for future use if I don't need it now.
GCD vs oGCD:
I am firmly in the oGCD camp. I like AST having high APM. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. Controller's issues with targeting the party is a UI issue, not a class one. Make the changes there and not with the class.
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Healing:
My wishful thought is for Nocturnal Sect to come back and AST can stance dance between the two as needed with parts of their kit changing under the differing sects. And while logically I know that would be a balancing nightmare, whimsy says screw logic and I'mma toss that idea out into the void anyway.
I loved the idea of Celestial Intersection and Celestial Opposition flipping to regen and shields respectively and the appeal of a healer that can do that is always going to be there. You can even tie the card system to it where under one sect you draw only damage cards and the other only utility. I'd opt for Nocturnal to get the damage and Diurnal for utility but either way I think I'd like it.
All that said, logic has returned and is going to beat fantasy into submission. Failing all that I would be more satisfied with a regen/delayed healer motif for AST. More abilities like Macrocosmos, Exaltation, Horoscope and Earthly Star and some abilities to manipulate them by either extending their duration or allowing them to be detonated early as our form of burst healing, removing the likes of Benefic 1/2 and Essential Dignity and having that be our healing gameplay.
I am fully aware this will probably boost AST's skill floor. I personally have no problems with that.
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General Healer Complaints:
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- I'd like for us to have another attack that isn't tied to buffs/debuffs/healing/cards. The card mechanic, no matter what iteration isn't enough to make solo play enjoyable and I don't believe a class should only be fun in group play and no where else. Healers are going to have down time, even with a class that's as "busy" as AST. There's no reason for us to have a DoT and spam one button ad nauseum for most of a fight and the cards do not and have never broken that up since we just weave them inbetween casts.
- Stop giving us unnecessary heals. I felt AST was pretty much complete at lv70 with all of its healing tools. Don't get me wrong I LOVE Exaltation and find it to be a more thematic Celestial Intersection. I love Macrocosmos even if it isn't a proper Rewind (I don't see that ever happening in this game, but if we could... ooh! please!). But we really didn't need any of it. In 90% of content they're sitting there dead unless I decide I want to be extra. Our GCDs that we started with are sitting there dead with the only time I ever press any of them is to activate Horoscope or when I'm in sub-80 content and don't have tonze of excess healing to burn because
- The damage frequency in the game is too low and needs to be raised. We need less unavoidable damage. We need less damage that requires mitigation. We need more heal checks and not mitigation checks. We need more varied damage, said damage also needs to be threatening. We need damage to come more often. And for the love of the Twelve enough with body checks and one shots. MAKE ME USE THE STUPIDLY BIG HEALING KIT WE HAVE.
- I want mp management. I don't see it happening but I want it.
And finally... let's address 7.0.:
Assuming we aren't going to see another card overhaul until 8.0
- I want the "curative card" to be MP and not a heal. We have enough heals. Lady of Crowns still exists. At the very least if its an MP card I can give it to a caster/healer that just died, my PLD, my DRK or my BLM. It has more uses than a regen.
- Reduce the timer from 60s to 30s. 60s is way too long to not use our main mechanic and most of us who play AST now can get all 4 cards out in about 15s.
- PLEASE consider in post patches making this into Sleeve Draw and giving us back Draw every 15-20s with the same cards minus Lord/Lady (or giving it to us in Dawntrail at the start). I like the RNG and the differing effects, but I do understand the concerns of having dead cards with extended little use. I think that with tweaking we can have both (perhaps wishful thinking).
UP THE DAMAGE.
I'm sorry dev team, but it is very obvious you do not play healers in high end content. We are more than capable of handling more damage. Astrologian ALONE has 14 heals including Lady of Crowns and excluding 2 charges. Over half of which cost 0 mp. You're even giving us a 3rd unneeded charge for Essential Dignity.
And make no mistake I don't mean make things hit harder. Make things hit MORE OFTEN. A raid wide every 60s means nothing when I have 4 heals available every 60s to handle it.
Please remove this new attack from Divination and put it on a 20s recast timer.
Alright, I've said my long winded peace. Do I believe the dev team will read it? Nah. At least its out there though.