Please Return Randomness to Astrologian's Card System

[Carighan]

People want this over Stormblood astro? Did you even play the job?

Interesting, however the current system didn't replace Stormblood astro so what does this add to the discussion? It frankly doesn't matter whether you want Stormblood Astro with all it's glorious raid-useless randomness or not. We had Endwalker Astro, and now got Dawntrail Astro, which is a marked improvement.

[FurryFrikker]

I started at the tail end of SB, like a month or so prior to ShB release so I never actually got to play that rendition of AST. However I still fell in love with the ShB version of the job, and while I wasn't a huge fan of EW AST, the fast APM and adjusting who gets cards based off my RNG was fun and was the reason I stayed engaged with the job.

Then they announced they were planning a rework for AST like, halfway through Endwalker and I was already dreading the idea, seeing as how they turned my favorite caster into current SMN.

Getting the confirmation that cards were static disappointed me heavily, but I was willing to give it a shot. The unique cards coming back was cool after all and they could probably be really useful and fun to use. However, as the media tour happened and we got more information on the new card system, and I eventually got to play it, my actual enjoyment I got from the system just wasn't there anymore. I still really enjoy the healing kit, and it's the main reason I've taken it so far, but I can't see myself staying on the job if it gets left in this state.

The cards feel so... underwhelming. Aside from the Arrow, they're all glorified charges of tools AST already has, just more limiting since you can only get certain ones in 60s time frames with no way to adjust the window. There's no decision making anymore.

I can understand why people may like this version of the system, it's a lot easier to understand than SB AST and a lot easier to execute than ShB/EW AST, but currently the job gauge feels like a side attraction rather than the main ride.

[IDontPetLalas]

Interesting, however the current system didn't replace Stormblood astro so what does this add to the discussion? It frankly doesn't matter whether you want Stormblood Astro with all it's glorious raid-useless randomness or not. We had Endwalker Astro, and now got Dawntrail Astro, which is a marked improvement.

Unless you don't think that it's a "marked improvement" ,- I don't, in comparison to at least one of the prior versions- so it's quite valid to question whether this rework is a better version of any one of the prior versions, especially one of the more popular ones.

[Payadopa]

But also, I don't really care. RNG for the sake of RNG isn't good class design

OG AST didn't have RNG for the sake of it, though. The new card systems did. And even if people didn't like RNG, you had two different (now three) healers to choose from yet SE opted to make all 4 the same one. What even is the point of having 20 or so different jobs if none are allowed to deviate?

We can literally swap jobs at the press of a button yet we pretend everyone only has access to one job so all must be balanced into the ground (unless you're a WAR).

[Ramiee]

Please don't. Have you guys looked at the astro numbers in savage? Astro is more popular than ever. Whm was finally dethroned as the most popular healer

SMN was also popular in EW and now it's below RDM and PCT. Reworks always draw in new players but they never stay. Popularity does not say a job is automatically good or bad.

[Zolvolt]

SMN was also popular in EW and now it's below RDM and PCT. Reworks always draw in new players but they never stay. Popularity does not say a job is automatically good or bad.

Smn does bad dps and it's rotation isn't engaging. Thats why it's not popular

[Ramiee]

Smn does bad dps and it's rotation isn't engaging. Thats why it's not popular

Both of which was the same in Endwalker, so my point stands popularity does not equal good design.

[Valence]

There is still an incredibly high amount of summoner players in raids even if PCT has carved for itself a good spot within casters.

Also, to actually participate to the actual OP of the thread, my opinion on RNG is that both the community and the devs hate RNG. Just look at the sorry state of every rng based job in the game right now. And I'm not even talking about encounters.

[velswen]

As we near the potential mid-expansion job changes I hope the developers would take this feedback into account...not asking for the cards to be completely random, but just random between a few options would do wonders to help restore the job fantasy and moment-to-moment decision-making that the job was previously known for.

[CyberNettrix]

I used to love this job. I stopped enjoying it in EW and now even more so in DT. Most of the cards only get used just because they are there and not because they're needed. The support cards are all nonsense because you have other support abilities which are better or equal to the strength of the cards.

I really think they need to combine the healing part of the job with the card part of the job instead of them being two different unconnected systems. You see this with Whm and it works perfectly fine they use 3 flower heals and then they get a massive potency spell. Why they changed the Astro card system to not work with Divination is beyond me. Imo the best Astro has ever been was Shb and they shouldn't have changed the card system from there.