Scholar new spell list - "gain STAT" aka bard buffs but single cast.

[Merton9999]

@Merton9999
Thanks! As I said, your and Sotek's initial idea is fantastic. I'm not sure if the bonuses I suggested are broken or not but I really want the SCH buffs to be unique and allow us to work well with other buffing jobs. The idea would be for us to never be redunant in a party when it comes to support.

I think that because SCH is a hybrid job it is going to need small buffs to each of its facets as we head toward lv99. Your idea would really take care of our enhancing role in my eyes. The Animus spells and *maybe* Aldoquium need some work too. That would leave healing and nuking to be addressed. Any thoughts? Or are they fine as they are?

I'm also very disappointed with our AF3 set bonus. I just don't find it particularly useful and in some cases it can be a bother. I would have liked a Conserve Charges kind of ability that would occasionally allow for chargeless strategem uses or perhaps an occasional mag crit when casting nukes of the corresponding weather. Hateless spell of the corresponding weather? There were many other routes this could have gone. It seems even odder given that it looks like RDM is getting a quick magic ability in the next update.

No argument from me that Adloquium and Animus need work. I'd be happy with an easy potency boost, happier with some sort of controllable method to enhance them - gear to be simple, or a new JA that bases their potency on current battle conditions.

I agree about the set bonus. I never have a reason to wear all the pieces at once, and wouldn't do so just for a chance at Quick Magic, except for unmodifiable spells like Reraise, Raise, Teleports, Warp. In those cases it's appreciated, but nowhere near the benefit of charge conservation, like you suggested. A set bonus that affected magic potency or hate would have to be pretty powerful to motivate casting in full AF3+2 vs. swapping in nuking pants, for example.

An interesting point about the hateless spell - Apparently the body "Enhances Addendum" effect relates to enmity already, though I don't think anyone has really figured out exactly how, if it even works at all.

The healing and nuking sides have been covered quite a bit in other threads - most seem to agree healing needs to be buffed. I'd like it to be something other than Cure V with the same overall potency/utility but with a little more thought and preparation behind it.

I'm fine with our nuking. Helix 2 would be fun but I don't really care. Immanence is fun and was unexpected - it'll do me on the nuking side to 99.

[Sotek]

Vision
Students in the art of war who employ stratagems to alter the tide of battle along with elemental magic to support their allies and annihilate their foes.

We wish for scholars to further their education in order to become absolute masters of their art, and the latter stages of their research will produce skills comparable to those of a white or black mage whose spells may take time to cast, but compensate with both the bliss and destruction they beget.

Example Adjustments
Adding spells which gradually reduce an enemy's TP or status enhancements.
Adding a spell that can be cast while under the effect of Tabula Rasa.

New enfeebles sound great. Not the Tabula Rasa adjustment I was expecting however, still waiting for it to make used Stratagem effects permanent so I don't have to waste half its duration applying them to actually make it a worthwhile ability.
I hope the lack of mentioning it doesn't mean they're just dusting Libra/Animus under the rug. Since they wasted 15 levels giving us that crap they better make it worthwhile or just out right replace it with something people were actually expecting like Storm IIs.

Adjustments to enfeebling magic
Revisions to job-specific merit point enhancement attributes.

Those have me more hopefully however.
Enfeebling magic adjustments would hopefully take away any ammunition people have had against giving Scholar the damned basic enfeebling spells (as if they ever had any anyway) and job-specific merits getting a change? Colour me hopeful.

Oh and Dancer getting Regain too? Yeah you better buff ours SE.

[Merton9999]

I can't find a job I play that the manifesto actually made me excited about, or that even comes remotely close to what people on the English boards have been asking for.

I don't really care about SCH-specific enfeebles - we have none now - a TP reduction enfeeble and gradual reduction of status enhancements would both be better for RDM imo. I'd much prefer they buff the enhancements spells as has been said so many times on this board that they will ostensibly be paying attention to...

If the spell that can be cast under Tabula Rasa is Ultima, then I'll be excited. If it's just another Addendum for things like Raise 3, for example, that would suck.

I'm guardedly hopeful about adjustments to enfeebling and merits, but we'll see. As usual it's vague enough for me to imagine the best and be mortified when the details are announced.

[Eric]

If the spell that can be cast under Tabula Rasa is Ultima, then I'll be excited. If it's just another Addendum for things like Raise 3, for example, that would suck.

Yes yes yes yes x 10000.

Although it would suck that it'd only be castable under Tabula Rasa. Hopefully it's strong enough to compensate for it. There are always plenty of blue chests & revitalizers lying around.

[Sasaraixx]

The Animus spells need a lot of work done to even begin to become respectable spells. Aldoquium needs nothing more than an extra tic added to it to match Corsairs random version. Healing, I stand by giving Scholar (and Red Mage) Cure V minus the reduced enmity bonus. Nuking we're pretty much fine, Helices could possibly do with a small buff or second tier (which would have happened by now, unless we're getting them as merits in which case that's all we're getting as merits so boo) and thus I'm obliged to mention that Modus Veritus is still broken, SE.

I agree that the Animus spells are a joke and need a lot of work. Instead of a straight -/+ enmity perhaps they should reduce /increase enmity over time. DOT spells are supposedly our niche and that would actually address the problem of what to do when melees have capped their enmity. It would still need to be fairly potent.

Aldoquium only needs one more 1tp per tic and it will be fine. And I also agree that Cure V with enmity changes would be fine on the healing side. I'd like to see a few more white magic spells come our way though.

Nuking. SCH casts so slowly compared to BLM and RDM and Abyssea's infinite MP really haven't helped SCH in the nuking department. I think Blizz V and the like will help and honestly it's been so long since I've done anything outside of Abyssea that it's hard to maintain perspective.

Really? It's effectively Double-Cast since MP isn't an issue for Scholar, that's great for nuking and healing. Even if you have an issue such as not having gear equipped in time due to it, who cares? It's a free spell effectively.
I wouldn't really complain at Red Mage getting a Quick Magic ability (don't they already have one called Chainspell?), at least SE weren't as unoriginal as they were with Dark Knights, Beastmasters, Dragoons and Puppet Masters, who all got effectively the same Set: enhancement. Though I must say I'd have much rather have had it actually enhance Grimoire, rather than just being a mini-Chainspell (maybe SE figured we needed it to go along with our TP-Refresh spell, mini-Convert ability and mini-Composure Stratagem). Since Quick Magic is effectively just Alacrity/Celerity on steroids I figured it would be nice for it to do something similar for all the basic Stratagems (not at the same time of course), but I imagine that would be far to complex to pull off, not to mention a random buffed up Manifestation effect would probably be more trouble than it's worth; +100% damage/cure potency and Minifont would be nice though.

I am probably in the minority on this, but yes I do not care for it. It's too random to be useful. Sure it would be great in the healing department, but you cannot rely on it. When nuking, you might not always want the nuke to be instant cast, depending on what you are fighting and what you are doing. Also, the proc rate is too low to warrant nuking in the full set and and at best you'll be casting in 3/5 pieces (if you've used Ebuillence). And while SCH has great MP management skills, there are plenty of times when you will need to watch your MP. When the ability was initially thought to be 0 mp and quick magic, then I had less of a problem with it. Although even then I would still have preferred some other kind of bonus to our grimoire.

And I think you misunderstood me on the RDM point. I'm not bothered at all that RDM received the ability. I was just pointing out that it was odd that it is our set bonus, yet they have always been the "fast casters" and now they are receiving the job ability. It makes more sense for that job and I'm glad they are getting it.

Perhaps it was SE's way of dealing with our lack of Elemental Celerity or native Fast Cast. I'm just not a fan.

Edit/PS
You are SO RIGHT ABOUT MODUS VERITAS! Why don't they just return it to the way it used to be and not allow multiple SCH's to use the ability? Or if they really want to keep it that way, have only subsequent MV have the opportunity to miss. The first use should be 100%.

[Sotek]

Sure it would be great in the healing department, but you cannot rely on it.

You're not meant to rely on it (though without Cure V, I've had to a few times). Black Mage doesn't rely on theirs to dish out 12k+ nukes every time, it's just a great benefit when it does happen. For Cures it's effectively Divine Seal or a small Curaga IV if you heal two people, how can that possibly be bad? Yes it's not going to get us main healing (though I feel the urge to say that I have main healed a few times and only succeeded because of it), but nothing short of a sizable Light Arts buff is going to do that.

When nuking, you might not always want the nuke to be instant cast, depending on what you are fighting and what you are doing.

Honestly, I can't really see how casting faster would be a major problem when nuking. If that were the case Elemental Celerity wouldn't have been so painful to watch.
Depending on what you're fighting, it goes both ways I imagine. I assume you mean something that can absorb magic, in which case you can cast just before it starts absorbing thanks to Quick Magic, as well as casting before it stops absorbing thanks to Quick Magic. That cancels out unless you had something else in mind, I'm probably missing something obvious.
As for what you're doing, I can only assume you mean something like Immanence and Magic Bursts. I guess it's annoying for it to fudge Immanence, though it's still +100% damage so I wont complain, though I've had it proc on my closing spell a few times with no problem, a benefit in fact since I could Magic Burst with the same spell. As for Magic Bursts;
There's a couple seconds window after the closing Weapon Skill before the Magic Burst window opens, which is about 5 seconds long. Aero V has a (base) cast time of 10 seconds, typically if you're going to do a Magic Burst you'll start casting before the window opens (just before the closing Weapon Skill). Lets say Quick Magic procs and you cast before the closing Weapon Skill, you've got about 8 seconds to somehow reduce a 10 second cast time to a 5 second cast time and still Magic Burst. It's called Alacrity. Counter intuitive that Quick Magic would make that worth using, but I'm just happy it's worth using.
The only issue I could find - unless you care to give an actual example - with it after giving it some consideration was that it requires you do adapt your strategy to use it when it happens, which I guess is a negative for some people but I quite like it. I'd rather have my Set effect have me changing my plan and doing more damage, than just doing more damage. And to be fair it is a fairly logical bonus to Grimoire, even though it's ignoring the MP reduction, Grimoire effectively is Fast Cast.

Really, in terms of damage it's better than Black Mages. Theirs offers a damage multiplier based off Conserve MP, the maximum value that will ever conserve is 50% which I believe translates to +100% damage. They have a chance at +100% damage (it ranges from +6.25% to +100%) where we just get +100% damage; if not more.

And while SCH has great MP management skills, there are plenty of times when you will need to watch your MP.

Speak for yourself. Outside Abyssea maybe, but since "it's been so long since you've done anything outside Abyssea", I'll just ignore that and go straight to saying that the state of MP recovery in Abyssea made me upset about getting Convert; because I rarely need to use it.

Edit/PS
You are SO RIGHT ABOUT MODUS VERITAS! Why don't they just return it to the way it used to be and not allow multiple SCH's to use the ability? Or if they really want to keep it that way, have only subsequent MV have the opportunity to miss. The first use should be 100%.

Sadly I've said it about a dozen times to no avail. Honestly, I try to say it once per thread, if not post. Not that it matters since SE is never going to listen to reason. Stacking it was practically used solely for the damn exploit, yet they left that there and made it worthless altogether.

[Sasaraixx]

You're not meant to rely on it (though without Cure V, I've had to a few times). Black Mage doesn't rely on theirs to dish out 12k+ nukes every time, it's just a great benefit when it does happen. For Cures it's effectively Divine Seal or a small Curaga IV if you heal two people, how can that possibly be bad? Yes it's not going to get us main healing (though I feel the urge to say that I have main healed a few times and only succeeded because of it), but nothing short of a sizable Light Arts buff is going to do that.

Yes. You are right in that none of the set bonuses are meant to be relied on (and if you are needing it to main heal, you should be on WHM). The bonus is too random for me to appreciate it. If it procs on Cure IV, great. It's just as likely to proc on Aurastorm or something equally useless. In the healing aspect, I never said it was bad. In fact, I said it would be great. That's not enough for me not to wish the bonus was something else.

Honestly, I can't really see how casting faster would be a major problem when nuking. If that were the case Elemental Celerity wouldn't have been so painful to watch.

Two entirely different things. Elemental Celerity is not random. You know exactly how fast your spells are going to go off each and every time you cast them. You can't even compare the two.

Depending on what you're fighting, it goes both ways I imagine. I assume you mean something that can absorb magic, in which case you can cast just before it starts absorbing thanks to Quick Magic, as well as casting before it stops absorbing thanks to Quick Magic. That cancels out unless you had something else in mind, I'm probably missing something obvious.
As for what you're doing, I can only assume you mean something like Immanence and Magic Bursts. I guess it's annoying for it to fudge Immanence, though it's still +100% damage so I wont complain, though I've had it proc on my closing spell a few times with no problem, a benefit in fact since I could Magic Burst with the same spell. As for Magic Bursts;
There's a couple seconds window after the closing Weapon Skill before the Magic Burst window opens, which is about 5 seconds long. Aero V has a (base) cast time of 10 seconds, typically if you're going to do a Magic Burst you'll start casting before the window opens (just before the closing Weapon Skill). Lets say Quick Magic procs and you cast before the closing Weapon Skill, you've got about 8 seconds to somehow reduce a 10 second cast time to a 5 second cast time and still Magic Burst. It's called Alacrity. Counter intuitive that Quick Magic would make that worth using, but I'm just happy it's worth using.
The only issue I could find - unless you care to give an actual example - with it after giving it some consideration was that it requires you do adapt your strategy to use it when it happens, which I guess is a negative for some people but I quite like it. I'd rather have my Set effect have me changing my plan and doing more damage, than just doing more damage. And to be fair it is a fairly logical bonus to Grimoire, even though it's ignoring the MP reduction, Grimoire effectively is Fast Cast.

Really, in terms of damage it's better than Black Mages. Theirs offers a damage multiplier based off Conserve MP, the maximum value that will ever conserve is 50% which I believe translates to +100% damage. They have a chance at +100% damage (it ranges from +6.25% to +100%) where we just get +100% damage; if not more.

Immanence, Magic Bursts, monsters absorbing damage, bouncing hate off a duo partner, wasted mp and wasting charges are what I had in mind. Perhaps these are trivial things to you but it's enough to make me wish that our set bonus did something else. Our job is supposed to be a tactical one, so I find it ironic that our "bonus" is one that can mess up our intended strategy and force us to "change our plan." I'd just take more damage.

And I don't think it will translate to more damage than the BLM bonus simply because it won't happen as often. A BLM will likely be 5/5 while nuking, while a SCH will not (unless you want to lower your damage per nuke to increase the chance for the bonus to proc). As I said, with Ebullience up, you'll be nuking in 3/5 of the pieces. Without it, you'll only be in 2/5.

Speak for yourself. Outside Abyssea maybe, but since "it's been so long since you've done anything outside Abyssea", I'll just ignore that and go straight to saying that the state of MP recovery in Abyssea made me upset about getting Convert; because I rarely need to use it.

Obviously I meant outside of Abyssea because even a COR/WHM doesn't have MP problems inside Abyssea. (And pulling that quote out of context doesn't help either ) People seem to forget that there is a world outside of Abyssea and that our new content will probably be taking us back there. I actually welcome it as it might actually give me a reason to use my SCH.

We are quickly derailing this thread, so let us just agree to disagree. You seem to like the bonus. I wish it were something else. Nothing is going to change my opinion on that. I know that it is not going anywhere though, so I will just have to get used to it.

[Raksha]

Rarely used anymore I think, but if you have to time-nuke stuff then the set bonus will throw you off. And you may have better reaction times than me but whenever set bonus procs I'm usually sitting there with a dumb look on my face thinking "WTF just happened?". It's so rare that I haven't really adapted to it yet. Also When I cast a spell i'm usually planning my next move by rotating the camera or changing macro pages etc. If the mob wakes up while i'm setting up it throws me off guard. Also sometimes you cast a spell when your sleep timers aren't ready yet expecting them to be up when it finishes casting. Set bonus can screw that up too. Lastly I hate it when set bonus procs on a spell that i've used Alacrity/celerity on, wasted charge.

I've basically modified my macros to minimize the chances of set bonus proc'ing. It's a neat Idea, and I don't dislike it on principle, it's just too random to be useful. If it were something that didn't disrupt your rhythm it wouldn't be as huge of a deal.

On-topic: Single target bard-like spells or gain-stat ala rdm/whm spells don't seem particularly exciting.