Concerns about SCH.

[Pebe]

In regards to cure potency you guys are forgetting that we get 15% over whm from aurastorm + korin obi and twilight cape.
Cure V would be awesome but, we could make our cure Vs surpass whm's easily considering we can boost it by 75% more than whm can, without even touching cure potency. Rapture + Savant's Bonnet +2 and the storm obi cape combo i talked about earlier. So as you can see, that would make us encroach on whm's cure territory before even trying to implement some of the creative ability enhancements in the other thread. Cure V is just that awesome. The reason cure VI needs fixing is because it is not mp effiecient in the least for the amount of hp it cures. And it also has a good amount of hate. It is one of the least mp efficient cures without combining it with penury. Where as I think cure V is the most efficient (haven't actually calculated).

[Hiroshiko]

In regards to cure potency you guys are forgetting that we get 15% over whm from aurastorm + korin obi and twilight cape.
Cure V would be awesome but, we could make our cure Vs surpass whm's easily considering we can boost it by 75% more than whm can, without even touching cure potency. Rapture + Savant's Bonnet +2 and the storm obi cape combo i talked about earlier. So as you can see, that would make us encroach on whm's cure territory before even trying to implement some of the creative ability enhancements in the other thread. Cure V is just that awesome. The reason cure VI needs fixing is because it is not mp effiecient in the least for the amount of hp it cures. And it also has a good amount of hate. It is one of the least mp efficient cures without combining it with penury. Where as I think cure V is the most efficient (haven't actually calculated).

Thank you for this. You pretty much summed most of my concerns about Cure V. I agree with most people that something must be done for SCH and RDM in the healing department inside of Abyssea. Cure IV clearing isn't keeping up and anyone /WHM (and eventualy /RDM) is/will have be able to utilize Cure IV. However, we have to consider the situation outside of Abyssea. Even though Abyssea seems to dominate FFXI at the moment, there are still things to do outside and we don't know what is to come in the future.

SCH gets a decent amount of Cure potency gear:
-15% from Aurorastorm with Korin Obi and Twilight Cape (plus additional amounts with the day bonus); additionally, these bonuses do not count towards the 50% cap.
-5% from the Serpentes Hands/Feet Set or 4% from Augur's Gloves
-22% from Surya's Staff
-2% from Fylgja's Torque (3% with +1)
-5% from Tatsumaki Sitagomoro (add-on augments)
-3% from Selenian Cap

A "perfect set" would give you: 38/50% towards the cap + 15% from the Aurorastorm pieces (putting you at 53% potency since the Aurorastorm pieces don't count towards the cap). You can add one of the Cure potency atmas to make that 48/50% + 15% from Aurorastorm. That's not too shabby considering the bonus from Rapture (though some of potency would be lost if Savant's Bonnet +2 was used). Inside Abyssea, this would be enough for SCH to perform well with Cure V yet not overshadow WHM. However, outside of Abyssea, SCHs efficiency would outstrip WHM.

As Pebe said, Cure VI is very MP inefficient both inside and outside of Abyssea. However, inside Abyssea all of the Refresh atma cloud this issue. On the other hand, once you step outside of Abyssea, Cure VI becomes unnecessary. Personally, I made my macros so that I can swap out Cures VI when I'm not in Abyssea because 1) DD don't have the HP pool to warrant anything beyond Cure V and 2) DD aren't taking ridiculous amounts of damage. Giving SCH (and RDM, can't really exclude them) Cure V without some consideration towards future updates or content outside of Abyssea could potentially lead to unbalance. Other posters and I have mentioned potentially altering the Cure formula to make Healing Magic Skill have a more significant effect. I have both WHM and SCH at 90, so I can attest to the fact that Cure IV isn't cutting it anymore inside Abyssea because it's not potent enough nor do we have a second Cure to fall back on. However, outside of Abyssea, the problem isn't as significant. Abyssea may be the bulk of everything now, but the future is yet to be determined.

I like the suggestions other have made toward carving out a unique niche for SCH. Rather than take bits and pieces from WHM, BLM, and RDM, what SCH really needs now is something more defining that will draw the community towards using it. No matter what SE gives us it is up to the community to determine its value. Adloquium and Animus Spells were a first step, but their potency was less than stellar. I can't think of any ideas at the moment, but I would like to see something unique that will make the community more willing to include a SCH (other than another !! trigger because that's only useful inside Abyssea).