Astrologian Changes - Dawntrail Media Tour FFXIV 

Just picture the spear as more of a javelin lol

piercing talon baby!

They have the spear - no the melee buff is balance They have the arrow - no the range buff is the spear They have the balance - no the increase hp recovery is the arrow Excuse me what

🤣🤣ikr, The Arrow is apparently a better option for "Ranged DPS" if they intend to scale down only to two universal DPS buffs. Arrow has always been ranged in RPG.

I mean The Arrow has always been a melee DPS card

Right?? Why didn't they just split them up based on sign. Would make more sense for Play too. Solar Play, Lunar Play, and Celestial Play instead of Play 1 2 3.

And one that's literally called "The SPEAR" too 😭

Spire and Ewer had restorative effects in the past (mp/tp regen) so it’s unsurprising to me that those now give shields/heals. The remaining current ranged buff card Bole also has had damage reduction in Stormblood and prior as well so it’s also a no brainer that it would get the same effect. So we’re stuck with using 2 the 3 melee cards as damage buff cards, and Balance makes sense for to be used as one of the damage cards. Arrow I think would have made more sense to use as bows and arrows are ranged weapons but I’m guessing they went with Spear instead since Arrow historically has either reduced GCDs or increased movement speed like in PvP and decided it was more utility focused to deserve the healing increase effect.

@@heliotropei I'm fully aware of their HW history, however, they've been Melee cards and Ranged cards for a longer period of time than they were in their HW states, it seems absurd that they'd prioritize what they were 5 years ago rather than being consistent with what people are now accustomed too.

The fact it's no longer optimal to give THE SPEAR to the Dragoon saddens me, but will probably not affect my enjoyment of the class outside of meming on this oversight.

Or better how it is supposed to be Spear gives crit, and arrow reduces sks and sps They had the chance to give us the classic cards

Astro got 500 mana per 30s draw, so I’m sure they get 1000 mana to compensate for the cd increase

@@KenchanKrafts they going to need a bit more than that since they also lost astrodyne

@@tonyike8451 true, maybe make it 2000 mana since scholar gets 2k mana every minute. I seriously do not like this new iteration because the cards give us nothing new, it’s just adding more buttons to defensive skills Astro already has. Button bloat with nothing new or useful.

@KenchanKrafts Yea AST singles target heals and mits ogcd are now way more than any other healer 3 ED 2 CI exaltation and now 2 cards that 8 ogcd mits/heals every minute.

I missed extended Arrow on monks

@@valkyrieKNIGH7 hell extended or enhanced potency crit for monk and war

​@@valkyrieKNIGH7 settle down there Satan 😮

We peaked with Stormblood AST :(

I miss all the cooldown extension nonsense. My BLM friend in particular misses the enhanced arrow + time dilation + celestial opposition combo. We had a lot of fun with that back in HW running expert roulette and trying to catch the tank off guard and pull aggro. Our tank friend does not miss it quite as much.

exactly what i was thinking about, I feel concerned about how to play ast with a cvontroller >_

you could most likely use the new combo action feature to chain the play buttons together

How does one even play a healer on a controller? I remember needing to swap to keyboard to be able to manage spot heals on non-tanks

​@@maxspecsMacros plus practicing D-pad cycling the party. You get used to it after a while.

​@maxspecs its not hard. D pad up and down to cycle through allies, d-lad left and right to cycle through enemies.

In Mr. Happy's video, he says you instance/respawn with cards already drawn. So, pre-pull Astral/Umbral Draw shouldn't be a thing.

Have the same sentiment regarding the mp generation. Wondering since they removed their mp generation skill astrodyne, how will we manage our mp now?

@@migurusu-saint9160 and previously we draw every 30s to get 5% MP. Now the recast time of draw change is to 60s but still restore 5% MP.........

@@TigerRutata I'd be very surprised if the numbers aren't fixed so that we get more sources of MP. At least by the X.01 patch, considering that SCH's Aetherflow gives 2k MP compared to the 500 from the current build.

Would up damage and survivability

Kinda ruins the point of a selection actually. Imagine the 10% increase to healing actions being put to a Sch or Sge just to have your own regens also get buffed up and delete any real healing check requirements.

Been saying this. The only reason for the role restrictions on cards before was to differentiate them for the purposes of collecting Astrodyne seals. No Astrodyne, no reason for Spear to be shittier-Balance.

Prefer it because now you can select the highest dose ranged and highest dps melee or you have a squad like mine where I had 1 melee and 3 ranged. No it's fine

@@Frostbyte115 why do we need a role limitation to make that distinction? Can't you just rotate of your own will?? Or hell Wana be toxic tell the other to suck it up 😂

@Vinex3431 Because it means you can autopilot card play now. Which is what some people want I guess? But not the majority of people that are already actually playing AST...

1 you're incorrect. The I creases healing actions cars can indeed go to a shield tank it the Astro to buff their healing or Shielding by 10%. You read it as "Healing received" but it doesn't say that on the card. 2. A shield or a mitigation card for anyone who is in a tether mechanic or specific cases where they will be hit instead of the tank.

@@Frostbyte115 That card does not increase outgoing healing. It increases healing received on the target, so single target physis or hell Thrill of Battle without the max hp and heal. And why bother throwing a shield card on someone that ain't the tank, we have THREE ED's. We're not hurting for heals, and those cards HAVE to be used every min or you lose em when you go to draw your next set. (Card says HP RECOVERY VIA HEALING ACTIONS, which is exactly worded how Thrill of Battle is, but Thrill says on self. The reason why this card doesn't is because we throw it on someone to have them get more healing.)

You don't think of anything other than "oh it can go on the tank" 1. Healing actions increase likely affects shields and Regen spells 2. Astro already had two ogcds it did those effects with for a mit and a shield so it's fine to have extras to toss about especially for specific mechanics. Regen on ogcd is massive. A shield to chuck or 10% mit is also massive and increases the scope of mitigation Astro has. Which is good.

​@Frostbyte115 so pretty much they are still going onto the tanks is what I read. I would rather give haste than more healing, I would love to give mana regen.

Imagine saying 10% mitigation is massive 1 week before Dawntrail launch lmao.

it only seems good if you ignore our healing kit and the sustain/mitigation of tanks. Tanks already do not need healers unless high level and even then the dmg is scripted so... you learn when to shield/heal. the rest of the time smashing malefic and now now giving out cards the tank does not need. why give the tank cards he doesn't need? Thats just wasting time when i could be smashing my one dps button they haven't changed except OH! after two minutes of smashing I get a mitigation... tied to a mitigation spell which makes it redundant to use both when I could have spaced them out if they weren't tied together...... save me tarisland so i can enjoy healing again.

Why do they gate keep our spells behind other spells? I don't mind it's a 2min but do not tie to something else just give us the spell. I swear they do this because of controller players. Stop handicapping our class, please. Also what about this for cards: Royal Road: burns drawn card to double the duration or potency of your next card played Minor arcana: plays lord or lady drawn Umbral: spear: dps 10% to any job melee or range doesn't matter bole: reduce dmg taken by 15% 20 secs ewer: mp regen 20secs 2500mp The lord: 500 potency dmg aoe astral: balance mp 2500 direct bonus arrow: dmg shield that dmgs the enemy anytime the target is hit duration 20seconds potency 500 spire: barrier of 800 potency The Lady: 500 potency aoe heal

I love that they got an ogcd Regen. I feel it needs to have a place in the game.

Back at the beginning of shadowbringers, SCH went through a very similiar issue. the changes were so awful that square back peddled and fixed the mp issue they were having. As well as a fairy issue. If astros mp management is too low of an issue, or they are needing to meld piety more then the other healers without offering more utility, then square will change it by offering more mp regen somewhere. Like maybe a mini lucid buff added in somewhere. Much like how astrodyne did. Only time will tell though.

I would agree but they deleted all rng aspects so it just doesn't feel the same

no royal road no fun 😡

@StellarCove I feel like rng was removed to prevent balance fishing from back in SB when so many obnoxiously vocal people thought the only thing you used AST for was damage buffs actively throwing away the rest of the cards (which itself probably explains the bullshit cards of SHB and EW where all they did was give damage), now you're forced to actually play correctly to what the class is intended for but at the cost of our old rng freedom as a compromise

How’s white mage for you, wanted to try it cause I got my sage 86 Astro 70, and wanted to try another healer

@@kuzanmaine-_-205 WM is straightforward and perhaps the simplest to master, that explains the fact that WM is the most used healer in this game. Regen, big heals (Both GCD, oGCD lilies, etc). They are simple to understand. You will probably master it in no time if you have mastered the rest of the healers that are comparably more challenging to play with.

Agreed. If they want to revert Bole to its old Heavensward effect *now*, at this point just make it a glorified second charge of Exaltation. Like come on, we don't have the extend, enhance, or spread manipulations anymore...why is Bole just a shitty version of Oblation that I only get to use every other minute?

It's fine, especially since we constantly want to avoid overheal anyways.

@@Frostbyte115 It's actually not fine. Bole being a straight 10% damage mitigation on single-target on an effective TWO MINUTE COOLDOWN (because of how the decks cycle) makes it completely useless even in the context of Heavensward lol. Our tools are supposed to be getting better not worse.

Pretty much - whether the card changes will be good or a straight removal in essence is going to depend entirely on fight design. I don't expect things are going to magically do twice as much damage in Dawntrail so we will likely be just sitting on things a lot

@@RinBanana The problem with the mindset of 'we'll see how it pans out in new fights' is its not reverse compatible. We will still BE running old content. (roulettes at bear min) and people will still be GETTING astro and moving on from its original point. I think one of the biggest things that needs to be explored on these classes is how NEW changes affect OLD content too.

@@stardustorchard9316 on a less negative note from my original comment and going in line with how new changes affect old content, it'll be quite funny to see how white mage can make use of it's new dash in old content like cob and such; kinda agree that astro in current and previous content will probably take a bit of hit otherwise

Yes absolutely this. Glad to find somebody else's concerns that mirror my own. The redundancy of 4 out of 6 of the new cards in this system is concerning to me -- for as much as I dislike Astrodyne, it at least incentives good card play and quick decision-making. Why is Spire just a third charge of Celestial Intersection? Why make Ewer a regen card again...but an HP regen instead of an MP regen? At least then I'd have the option to put one of those 4 sacked cards on somebody other than a tank -- or I could have hypothetically chosen to throw it on a DRK instead in this situation to buff *their* damage. This rework has a lot of missing potential that could yet still be realized.

I am particularly very sad at this change, I was an enjoyer of the business in bursts and being rewarded for quick decision making and planning with cards. I’m not a fan of this system for Dawntrail, but I at least think this Card system is nice for players going through the leveling experience/roulettes, when you don’t have some or most of these mit tools in your kit already, it’s just once you’re Lvl80 onward, yeah. The cards start to feel way, way less meaningful. It is a shame that button bloat especially for controllers didn’t really get alleviated, and (possibly?) was made even worse.

we peaked in Stormblood and its been downhill ever since.

​@@StellarCoveAmen to that.

I think it balances out with a net 0 with removal of astrodyne. Which is frustrating cause that’s the biggest problem with AST is button bloat

Wonderful take, extremely good assessment of how the job has developed over the past few years.

As someone who played AST through all of HW & SB, Shadowbringers AST is the last thing I would want again good god. That was the start of where it is now, and it sucks.

@@StellarCove That's fair. The job has changed dramatically multiple times since its introduction. I started in SHB so I can't speak for earlier incarnations of the job, but I at least preferred SHB AST to what we have now and how 7.0 AST is looking.

Redraw and Astrodyne are gone so you’re only adding one button, if that’s any consolation 😅

Lmao what I been saying.

I believe it's not going to add anymore buttons then what we already have. don't forget that other abilities are just straight up getting deleted.

They keep making jobs simpler and making them similar to other jobs in their role and I don’t like it.

The previous version was fuggin clunky. I could play it fine but I hated it. ShB version was better. This version looks better and more reminiscent of Stab Astro without fishing to Balance

Maybe it's a start in them moving away from the 2 min window. you know, that thing that EVERYONE complains about now that it's being forced. What's funny is it was the community in general that created the 2 min window. Yoshi enforced it cause it's what the people want..... Now the people complain nonstop about it. I really don't care if it doesn't align with the 2 min window. I'd rather the 2 min window nonsense be pushed away.

​@LuminateTheWorld This would have been a good point had you accounted for the fact that decks still cycle on a 1min cooldown, so you're effectively locked into a 2min cycle now. For this change to have accomplished the intended result that you stated, the decks would need to cycle on a 30s cooldown. I don't even disagree with your point about the 2min burst meta, but you seem to have missed the point of my initial comment since it wasn't really about that at all. I simply mentioned that the proposed changes to the cards further simplifies the 2min buff window as an AST; rather than adding flexibility to work buffs outside of 2min windows these changes remove even more complexity while locking you into a 2min window even harder. It's almost like you read "2min burst" and didn't even consider the rest of the implications of how the card changes affect AST, namely in terms of adversely affecting the job fantasy as well since a strategic element to card play would be removed. As much as I hated Astrodyne, I never thought I'd see the day when I'd say I'm actually a bit sad to see it go. At least it rewarded good card play; seals were only *objectively terrible* for the job flow when it was still tied to Divination, but since Astrodyne was added, getting 3 seals is more of a reward than a hard-punishment for getting any less than that (yes I know you lose some personal damage as the AST but let's be real, you're not going to drift your cards during Divination for a 3-stack Astrodyne). Furthermore, mitigation and regen cooldowns are basically more of a suggestion than a requirement in anything outside of Ultimates, Savage, and maybe some EX -- so 4 of the 6 cards are basically removed from the game now in most content. And you only get Balance and Spear every minute instead of every 30s, so your party buff contributions are directly reduced as a result. My point in my initial comment was to point out that this change adversely affects job fantasy and design by simplifying card play, which is the exact opposite of what most people who play AST for the card-drawing aesthetic...are playing it for...

And if you wanted to be really nitpicky about these changes like I am, this essentially just means Balance is your good damage buff that you get to throw out on a melee every 2 minutes and Spear is your shitty damage buff that you get to throw on a ranged DPS every other minute in-between. Lame. Or do as Rinon suggests in the video (which likely will be optimal) and just hold your Spear for right until just before Astral Draw comes up and toss it out just a little bit before raid buffs go out. Which still makes Spear the shittier version of Balance anyway but slightly less shitty.

Same, pretty dissapointed with the card effects. The SB system had clear issues but it was at least really whacky and fun especially in roulletes which is something no other job can say for itself in this game.

Stormblood Astro was fish for Balance. That was it. Hell no we don't want that.

No

Personally i'm against the rng. too many times I get melee/range cards nonstop and even after redraw, having to put them on a range class just "feels" bad knowing it's a dps loss from what it could have been. Also the lord of crown/lady of crowns rng was mad annoying.

@@LuminateTheWorld i mean it was part of the class, if you dont like it literally just go play whm lmao

But aye even if i dont like it right now lets be honest with talks and hints of how 8.0 was gonna be job design focused ast will prolly be reworled again anywas lol, but this system does show a little promise i just personally want the rng.

Amen dude. You know what would be more interesting than these cards? Give us a 1-2-3 combo off of Malefic which splits into a Malefic-2a-3a or Malefic-2b-3b sequence, each sequence granting a different star (Astral and Umbral, let's say). You collect 3 stars to build a constellation, which you then throw out either as a buff or a huge fuckoff oGCD attack, or whatever, depending on the combination of stars you use to cast it. This would even reduce the need for memorization by locking the number of abilities you can create to 4, since there's only 4 combinations you can make with a 3-set of 2 different stars (3 Astral, 3 Umbral, 2 Astral + 1 Umbral, or 2 Umbral + 1 Astral).

After second thought, Square has had four attempts at making a card system. Maybe it is time to give up and go a different direction.

Yeah starting to get the sense we should just ditch the cards at this point friends.

​@@ezrasilver9819Counter argument: how about we don't gut jobs for the sake of balance? It's clearly not worth it if the end result is this three expansions in a row.

@@TheOneGreat I was mostly joking. I agree with your point about not stripping job complexity. The cards are why I picked up AST as my first healer when I started playing again right before Stormblood launch.

Um... May I ask what complexity? Ever since ShB the cards have been brain dead. Or do you mean HW to SB?

@TheOneGreat when i was starting out last year, managing draw/redraw so frequently (this was before i was familiar with the concept of saving charges for burst windows) AND looking for symbols AND placing them on allies on top of normal dps + healing was enough to bounce me off the job. i might do better with it now that i'm better at the game, but at the time that level of things to manage just didn't click with me. removing the symbols and shifting draws to a more predictable system (and making them actually do unique things!) makes the job appeal to me specifically a lot more. ^^

@@TheOneGreat Unfortunately people like this are the reason AST is as braindead as it is now lmao..

​​@@penultimateApogee Then practice! Its so frustrating seeing jobs becoming even more simple because they seem off putting because of their "complexity" which in reality you just need to practice with it for more than a day. I swear job simplicity should be the furthest thing on their mind but somehow its always so forefront in every expansion.

yeah it already had too many buttons. they're like here's the option to combine your combos onto one button to alleviate button bloat, but here astro, here's 3 additional buttons just to play your cards.

I'm curious was to what kind of effects on the cards you would like to see? Mp regen is the only thing missing h ere that could be added. A shield, aoe heal, single target heal, damage for range/melee, mit. I really don't know what else you would want...

@@LuminateTheWorld Damage cards: Balance - Physical Damage Up, Spire - Magical Damage Up, this is far more interesting than melee/ranged cards since different jobs do different kinds of damage Mitigation cards: Bole - Defense Up, Ewer - MP Regen Up, the shield effect is just boring and might as well be another heal, having to choose between something for a tank or something for a healer is a more interesting choice Healing cards: Arrow - HP Regen Up, Spear - Healing Received Up, honestly healing cards aren’t necessary in the first place if they aren’t getting rid of any other heals from AST but this is just for the sake of sticking to their design Cards with these effects, alongside keeping RNG so you can get either 1 or 2 cards in the slot was the best way to handle their new 4-card system, you could even add new buttons to change all cards to its pair, or consume a card to change the other cards into a longer duration or AoE. Not this Umbral/Astral draw nonsense, you can’t even call them cards at that point

Pessimism aside, neutral sect having that is very nice for flexibility. I quite like the theoretical nod to diurnal and nocturnal with the cards, at least a tiny speck of that lore flavor was brought back.

Bringing aero III back but making it a 60 second CD with like a 15 second duration is INSANELY on brand for their current job philosophy, except they wouldnt call it aero III and it would have a light spell effect instead of a wind one

You say that without seeing that AST primarily is the fastest casters of the healers, primarily using Spell Speed along with Det and Crit. Plus limited MP economy can be a killer if a raid goes south and either they have to start using Ascend or they end up needing to be rezzed, leaving them with little MP and no hope of a bounce back. Astrodyne was amazing for that at the very least if you didn't get seals for the spell speed and/or damage increase.

Bro do you play ast above Ex? Do you prog with the job with an actual build??

Yes​@@AkenoAkine

​@@HildagardeGaming I mean healers. Currently our mp economy is beyond bloated. We might need a little tweaking when it comes to the mp we gain through our new cards but we dont need anywhere near as much as we have now. Also when a raid goes south its normal to drain mana.

@@PKcrash you obv dont

I don't think they have any devs that actually play healers in the game. healers always get the short end of the stick. If they do have a dev he or she definitely plays sage because look how their new skills (dot) is on a one min cd without being tied to something else. If only all jobs could be so lucky.

I don’t think you know much about optimal card play based on that response. That’s fine! But there was definitely a lot more to them than just playing on melee or ranged

Yeah, I wish the effects were a bit more interesting than giving more of what we already have. But I'm excited for the new way they are played

So the generic "always got a dps increase card" that was unique?

This is similar to how it functioned in HW, what are you talking about?

@@pod155 The playstyle was definitely more unique than this garbage with healing cards you won't use because tanks can keep themselves up by themselves in this game

@@MastaToken not even close LOL