I miss the old Astro Cards with their varied effects and while I understand why many people enjoy the consistency of the new card system I would like to offer my take on a card system with some of the old and new elements I enjoyed most combined. For my proposed system every card can be manipulated four different ways with Play, Royal Road, Minor Arcana and Undraw.
First, choosing to Undraw a card would grant 1 stack of "Royal Road," up to a total of 3. Previously, Royal Road Effects were activated by using the next card drawn but I didn't like that. Instead, every time a card is drawn a player could choose between pressing "Play" for single target card use, Royal Road (if available) for an altered effect, or Minor Arcana to default to the Lord/Lady of Crowns effects which could then also be applied with Royal Road or Play. Royal Road is greatly simplified in my version but more on that later.
Let's look at my proposed Card Effects. I'm stepping outside the imaginary boundary that Astro's can only buff the party and decided on 3 DPS Boost or Offensive Cards and 3 Support Cards like we had before. Let's consider the Offensive Cards first. I will abbreviate Royal Road to RR and Minor Arcana to MA from here on.
Balance
Spear
I wanted to create a reason for the Balance to be as desirable as I remember but with some alternatives that could be better depending on the situation. In solo play a Balance would offer you more personal damage than the Spear. In a dungeon or trial a Spear on a single boss would offer 4% more damage to the entire party outweighing the Balance on a single person if everyone is pumping out dps. In an Alliance Raid a plain Spear would outweigh a Royal Road Balance on the whole party against a single enemy due to the number of people taking advantage of the Vulnerability. Being able to weigh the Vulnerability of the Spear against the Damage Up of the Balance, both with and without Royal Road, is a dynamic I would enjoy personally. There's still an optimal card for every situation but it isn't always the Balance this way.
Arrow
Divination
Divination would require three card draws of specifically the Arrow to execute. Matching your seals correctly would be a thing of the past. In comparison, it would take four card Draws (two Undraws for Royal Road and two Balance) to Spread a 5% Damage Up Buff twice to your party making Arrow the bigger Dps Gain for an Astro in a party setting but smaller solo since you could simply use 3 Balance on yourself. Depending on how much time is left in an encounter, the number of enemies, party members present and their individual performance, fishing for Balance, Spear, or Arrow could each be optimal and this decision making would allow for growth as an Astro becomes more familiar with their cards and the content they enter.
That covers the DPS boosting cards. Now let's look at the Support Cards.
Spire
Bole
Spire on a single enemy and Royal Road Bole on the party provide the same damage mitigation although Spire can't be used when the Enemy is unable to be targeted. Another Distinction between the two appears when there are multiple enemies versus one or a single person taking damage versus the entire party. Spire and Bole may be capable of giving the same amount of mitigation but which is better would vary by scenario.
Ewer
Royal Road
Minor Arcana
Lord of Crowns
Lady of Crowns
Minor Arcana in my proposal is a way to get some healing out of Offensive Cards and some Damage out of Support Cards. If being a pure Healer is your wish or the situation is dire any card could potentially help you heal or mitigate damage. Conversely, if your healing kit provides all the healing you need every card could be used to squeeze out more damage. Optimization could be for extra damage, wipe prevention, or just fun. We could choose for ourselves again!
Redraw
Sleeve Draw
Sleeve Draw is a way to guarantee which card you draw every 3 minutes. Using Redraw to get what you want ensures a spread balance during openers by Using Draw and Undraw for a stack of Royal Road and then Sleeve to choose a Balance. This Sleeve Draw makes the RNG of the card system reliable at the same interval that Scholar's have access to Deployment Tactics. If planned mitigation suits your fancy all the benefits the cards provide would be available at regular intervals.
Now I realize that this proposal has a lot of new card effects, but I feel it could follow a natural learning progression if we learned the skills in a different order than we do currently.
Level 30: Draw, Play, and Royal Road
Royal Road would only be accessible when Arrow is Drawn or a Seal from Arrow is present to allow for the Focus Trait to be used. Without Undraw available no stacks of Royal Road could be gained to spread the effects of any other card. Basically, you are forced to use every card you Draw and Arrow is one of 4 Support Cards.
Level 35: Redraw
Players get a chance to choose a different card and take more control of the Deck.
Level 40: Minor Arcana
All Cards can now be traded for Minor Healing and Dps Potential
Level 45: Undraw
Options increase as AoE potential arrives from using Undraw but Arrow is still purely a Support Card with only two dps increasing options in Balance and Spear
Level 50: Divination
Arrow gains the additional benefit of a DPS increase for the entire party transitioning from purely a personal buff to an option worth weighing apart from the enhanced swiftcast.
Level 70: Sleeve Draw
Continue reading...
First, choosing to Undraw a card would grant 1 stack of "Royal Road," up to a total of 3. Previously, Royal Road Effects were activated by using the next card drawn but I didn't like that. Instead, every time a card is drawn a player could choose between pressing "Play" for single target card use, Royal Road (if available) for an altered effect, or Minor Arcana to default to the Lord/Lady of Crowns effects which could then also be applied with Royal Road or Play. Royal Road is greatly simplified in my version but more on that later.
Let's look at my proposed Card Effects. I'm stepping outside the imaginary boundary that Astro's can only buff the party and decided on 3 DPS Boost or Offensive Cards and 3 Support Cards like we had before. Let's consider the Offensive Cards first. I will abbreviate Royal Road to RR and Minor Arcana to MA from here on.
Balance
- 10% Damage up for Self or Party Member for 15 Seconds
- RR: 5% Damage Up to all Party Members in Range of Target for 15 Seconds
- MA: Lady of Crowns
Spear
- 4% Vulnerability Up to Enemy Target for 15 Seconds
- RR: 2% Vulnerability Up to Enemy Target and all nearby Enemies for 15 Seconds
- MA: Lady of Crowns
I wanted to create a reason for the Balance to be as desirable as I remember but with some alternatives that could be better depending on the situation. In solo play a Balance would offer you more personal damage than the Spear. In a dungeon or trial a Spear on a single boss would offer 4% more damage to the entire party outweighing the Balance on a single person if everyone is pumping out dps. In an Alliance Raid a plain Spear would outweigh a Royal Road Balance on the whole party against a single enemy due to the number of people taking advantage of the Vulnerability. Being able to weigh the Vulnerability of the Spear against the Damage Up of the Balance, both with and without Royal Road, is a dynamic I would enjoy personally. There's still an optimal card for every situation but it isn't always the Balance this way.
Arrow
- Grant Self 1 Divine Seal. Once three seals are obtained you will become "Ready to Divine" and able to execute "Divination" consuming all Seals
- RR: Grant Self "Focus" for 8 Seconds allowing the next spell to be cast instantly at half the MP cost. If no card is held and at least 1 Seal is present Royal Road will consume 1 Seal and grant "Focus" (meaning that basically a Seal can be traded for an enhanced Swiftcast any time no card is drawn if you're willing to potentially push back the use of Divination)
- MA: Lady of Crowns
Divination
- Grant Self and all nearby Party Members a 12% Damage Increase for 17 Seconds. This can be stacked with other bonuses like how it works currently and would still be a 120 Second Cool Down
Divination would require three card draws of specifically the Arrow to execute. Matching your seals correctly would be a thing of the past. In comparison, it would take four card Draws (two Undraws for Royal Road and two Balance) to Spread a 5% Damage Up Buff twice to your party making Arrow the bigger Dps Gain for an Astro in a party setting but smaller solo since you could simply use 3 Balance on yourself. Depending on how much time is left in an encounter, the number of enemies, party members present and their individual performance, fishing for Balance, Spear, or Arrow could each be optimal and this decision making would allow for growth as an Astro becomes more familiar with their cards and the content they enter.
That covers the DPS boosting cards. Now let's look at the Support Cards.
Spire
- 10% Damage Down to Enemy
- RR: 5% Damage Down to all enemies in range of target
- MA: Lord of Crowns
Bole
- 20% Damage Received Reduction to Self or Party Member
- RR: 10% Damage Reduction to all Party Members in Range of Target
- MA: Lord of Crowns
Spire on a single enemy and Royal Road Bole on the party provide the same damage mitigation although Spire can't be used when the Enemy is unable to be targeted. Another Distinction between the two appears when there are multiple enemies versus one or a single person taking damage versus the entire party. Spire and Bole may be capable of giving the same amount of mitigation but which is better would vary by scenario.
Ewer
- Refresh MP to Self or Party Member
- RR: Refreshes MP to all Party Members in Range of Target
- MA: Lord of Crowns
Royal Road
- Spreads the effect of every card except Arrow to nearby party members or enemies at half potency. Grants "Focus" when used with Arrow Drawn or when no card is drawn but a Divine Seal is present consuming 1 Seal. Granting Self Focus doesn't consume or require any stacks of Royal Road.
Minor Arcana
- Converts Balance, Spear, and Arrow into Lady of Crowns or Spire, Bole, and Ewer into Lord of Crowns.
Lord of Crowns
- Deal 200 Potency Damage to Enemy Target
- RR: Deal 100 Potency Damage to Enemy Target and all Enemies nearby
Lady of Crowns
- 400 Potency Heal on Target
- RR: 200 Potency Heal to all Party Members in range of Target
Minor Arcana in my proposal is a way to get some healing out of Offensive Cards and some Damage out of Support Cards. If being a pure Healer is your wish or the situation is dire any card could potentially help you heal or mitigate damage. Conversely, if your healing kit provides all the healing you need every card could be used to squeeze out more damage. Optimization could be for extra damage, wipe prevention, or just fun. We could choose for ourselves again!
Redraw
- Draw a new card from your deck of the next most likely fortune. The same card cannot be drawn if it has appeared in the last 10 seconds. 30 Second Cool down. Up to 3 stacks may be held
Sleeve Draw
- Redraw your last card again for use. Cooldown on Redraw is changed to 1 Second for 10 seconds. 180 Second Cool down
Sleeve Draw is a way to guarantee which card you draw every 3 minutes. Using Redraw to get what you want ensures a spread balance during openers by Using Draw and Undraw for a stack of Royal Road and then Sleeve to choose a Balance. This Sleeve Draw makes the RNG of the card system reliable at the same interval that Scholar's have access to Deployment Tactics. If planned mitigation suits your fancy all the benefits the cards provide would be available at regular intervals.
Now I realize that this proposal has a lot of new card effects, but I feel it could follow a natural learning progression if we learned the skills in a different order than we do currently.
Level 30: Draw, Play, and Royal Road
Royal Road would only be accessible when Arrow is Drawn or a Seal from Arrow is present to allow for the Focus Trait to be used. Without Undraw available no stacks of Royal Road could be gained to spread the effects of any other card. Basically, you are forced to use every card you Draw and Arrow is one of 4 Support Cards.
Level 35: Redraw
Players get a chance to choose a different card and take more control of the Deck.
Level 40: Minor Arcana
All Cards can now be traded for Minor Healing and Dps Potential
Level 45: Undraw
Options increase as AoE potential arrives from using Undraw but Arrow is still purely a Support Card with only two dps increasing options in Balance and Spear
Level 50: Divination
Arrow gains the additional benefit of a DPS increase for the entire party transitioning from purely a personal buff to an option worth weighing apart from the enhanced swiftcast.
Level 70: Sleeve Draw
Continue reading...