Originally Posted by
Motenten
Suggested Regen duration: 144 seconds (exactly 1 game hour), or 48 ticks.
Current HP rate for sch on test server, but assuming 48 tick duration:
Regen 1:
- rate: 21 (22) HP/tick.
- total potential healed: 1008 to 1056 HP.
- MP cost: 15
- HP/MP ratio: 67-70
Regen 2
- rate: 28 (30) HP/tick.
- total potential healed: 1344 to 1440 HP.
- MP cost: 36
- HP/MP ratio: 37-40
Regen 3
- rate: 36 (39) HP/tick.
- total potential healed: 1728 to 1872 HP.
- MP cost: 64
- HP/MP ratio: 27-29
Regen 4
- rate: 54 (58) HP/tick.
- total potential healed: 2592 to 2784 HP.
- MP cost: 82
- HP/MP ratio: 31-34
You can see a noticeably skewed MP efficiency imbalance between the different regens (and that's assuming they have the same durations; given the different durations on the test server, it's significantly worse).
There does not appear to be any valid reason to use different durations for the different spells. 48 ticks (1 game hour) appears to be a functionally useful duration in all cases. Therefore the only adjustments should relate to how much is cured per tick, and how it relates to MP efficiency.
Because the HP/tick rates are (on the test server) fixed increases to the previous non-boosted values, the rate at which higher tiers of the spell gain relative to the MP cost of the spell drops considerably. Regen 1 maintains an extremely high MP efficiency because of its lower MP cost, though it's HP rate increased the most (going from 6 to 22 is a 3.6x increase, compared to Regen 4's going from 34 to 58, a mere 1.7x increase).
In terms of maintaining MP efficiency, you can reach a fairly even scale across the board by changing the HP adjustment from a flat +16 to instead use 2x the base rate (before adding AF3+2 hat).
Regen 1:
- 10 (11) HP/tick
- total potential healed: 480 to 528 HP.
- HP/MP ratio: 32-35
Regen 2:
- 24 (26) HP/tick
- total potential healed: 1152 to 1248 HP.
- HP/MP ratio: 32-35
Regen 3:
- 40 (43) HP/tick
- total potential healed: 1920 to 2064 HP.
- HP/MP ratio: 30-32
Regen 4:
- 60 (64) HP/tick
- total potential healed: 2880 to 3072 HP.
- HP/MP ratio: 35-37
Regen 4 can be capped at 56 (boosted up to 60 with AF3+2 hat), for:
Regen 4:
- 56 (60) HP/tick
- total potential healed: 2688 to 2880 HP.
- HP/MP ratio: 33-35
That gives a fairly balanced effect all around.
Regens provide healing over time, but are also limited by that very fact.
If a whm casts Cure V and needs more cured *right now*, they can toss a Cure IV or Cure VI immediately. They may burn through MP fast, but they can keep casting and piling on more HP cured for as long as the MP holds out. Regens, on the other hand, have a fixed value. If you need more cured *right now*, casting another regen is useless. It just continues at its existing pace.
While the above numbers appear to cure quite a lot, they are spread out over a fairly lengthy amount of time, and potentially don't cure anything if you're not getting hurt (whereas you can just refrain from casting a Cure if someone isn't presently hurt).
What might be a comparable amount cured? A Curaga IV hitting 3 people could cure about 3000 HP in about the same amount of time it takes to cast a Regen (rather than over the next 2 and a half minutes), and (for a whm) for only slightly more MP (100 MP with Light Arts and AF3+2 pants, compared to 73 MP for a Regen 4 from sch).
Given the trade-off of the time it takes to actually receive the HP payout vs the MP spent, it does not appear to be at all unbalanced.
I would thus suggest that this is a far more reasonable and balanced improvement to how regen healing is calculated than that which is currently in place. (excluding possible secondary bonuses that have been suggested, such as regain, crit rate, +max HP, etc).
Edit: game day > game hour