Eh. In most content of the game, Shields aren't necessary, so Zoe + Eukrasian Prog wouldn't matter because you can survive without it with the rest of a healer's healing abilities.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fendred
In content that actually does matter - content that requires shielding or you will die, Zoe + Eukrasian Prognosis still falls short compared to Recitation + Adloquium + Deployment Tactics, especially once you factor in how healing buffs can scale a single target GCD heal to be much better than an AoE heal.
It's kind of hard to see Deployment Tactics as "higher stakes". You just use it when you know you need a shield and know when to best apply it. This is how all healers function, and is not unique to just Deployment Tactics. This is especially true for Astrologians, who know when to best detonate their Earthly star. That's why people say a healer at high-end content can map their entire toolkit to the encounter. How else do you plan around using Seraph to ensure you get the most healing value out of your two charges of Consolation?
"Mileage may vary", what really matters is if you can rely on it when it counts. If it isn't as useful when it matters, as shown when Holos had to be buffed to compensate for that lack of shield potency a Sage cannot output whereas a SCH's can, then it's not very useful at all. This is exactly the sole reason why Scholar is the undisputed shield healer. Comfortability is good, but raw potency and effective utility is equally as important. The higher stakes isn't really an issue because that's mostly covered by personal skill and knowledge, which is something all players accumulate overtime, and is unrelated to the job itself.
At most, I would want Scholars to get a slightly reduced cast time (2 seconds to 1.5 seconds) only to make it easier to weave.