Here's my feedback concerning Scholar additions:
Light Arts / Regen
This is a very welcomed change. I have always valued the Regen line of spells even before this time because I always saw them as a way of MP conservation instead of providing "immediate" HP recovery when it wasn't as necessary.
Having them not only become more efficient but last longer can be SCH's fix to their lack of healing magic. Even with Rapture as well as obis/Twilight Cape/Aurorastorm making SCHs better healers than RDMs, they still needed some improvement (For example, if SCH got Cure V, if it was used with Rapture it'd exceed a WHM's Cure VI in raw healing strength, not factoring cureskin). The more potent these Regen spells are, the more we don't really need a higher tier Cure spell.
Suggestions to further improve this trend:
- Add Regen V later on once we get the final level cap increase, perhaps through the 99 merit system, or via a scroll - usable at level 99 (Considering the changed levels - 59 for Regen III, and 79 for Regen IV). Since SCH is obviously wanted to be viewed as "best at using Regen spells" they should get a Regen spell no other job has, not even WHM.
Overall:
The additions to Light Arts are very much welcomed and can't wait to make use of them.
Dark Arts / Helix
Like many other Scholars, I do not understand the Helix level adjustment. Instead of them being learned from 61 to 75, they are learned from 18 to 32...!
That is a VERY huge decrease. Not only does this make us less desirable for Voidwatch, it takes away one of our "niches" and gives it to other jobs, even though they will be less potent on using them compared to us. Most of them would just use it to see if it staggers anything anyway, but still, having one of our main things given to other jobs feels like a "slap to the face," for lack of better wording. This change will make people want SCH in Voidwatch for only job ability procs (Libra and Modus Veritas). The Embrava spell will make us wanted in a zerg situation, but that is universal anyway, not limited to Voidwatch.
Suggestions:
If we're going to lose exclusive rights to tier I helix spells, we'd want tier II helix, and the ability to make them stagger mobs later on. Since staggering things is the trend in the remainder of FFXI's time from what we've seen, we want to be desired for things that aren't limited to our two-hour. If we got tier II helix spells, I'd be fine with this change.
The only thing I liked from this "side" of adjustments was this:
- Modus Veritas's recast reduced to three minutes, since it involves the helix spells. 10 minutes was way too unreasonable for a job ability that misses well over half the time.
Klimaform
It's about time we got this duration extended. 1 minute to 3 minutes is very welcome, considering we can't use it with Perpetuance. I still don't understand why something that enhances our magic accuracy is not only black magic, but dark-magic based, but I digress.
Overall, very content with the SCH changes - look forward to seeing them implemented in the next version update. I'm just not happy about the helix levels being adjusted.