Actually, new classes added are indeed make or break for games like this.
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Actually, new classes added are indeed make or break for games like this.
Except Scholar has more direct heals and regens than it does shields? The only shields it has are Adlo and Succor's Galvanize, Critlo's Catalyze, and Seraph's Consolation. Meanwhile the fairy is a permanent regen (that tends to prioritize whoever's closest to it instead of whoever actually needs healing), Whispering Dawn is an off global party-wide regen, Fey Union is a regen directed towards a single target that lasts as long as you still have Fairy Gauge leftover, and Sacred Soil gains a regen trait at level 78 along with its 10% defense buff. Lustrate is an on demand direct heal with no inherent cooldown beyond waiting for more Aetherflow stacks, and Excogitation is a direct heal that activates whenever the target reaches 50% hp or when the timer for it runs out. Indomitability is a direct party-wide heal that can be paired with Recitation to guarantee a critical heal that won't use up an aetherflow charge, and Fey Blessing is another aoe heal that is more limited by it having a cooldown than being attached to the Fairy gauge. Emergency Tactics can even be used to turn Adlo and Succor into direct heals, and Physick is also a direct heal but lol at anyone that uses Physick for anything other than low-level dungeons and "Dear God I have no Aetherflow charges, all my Fairy abilities are on cooldown, and I can't cast an Adlo in time."
Instead of addressing stuff like Dissipation locking you out of all your Fairy abilities while only buffing your healing spells and not your Aetherflow abilities, and Summon Seraph locking you out of Fey Blessing and Fey Union while also having a 5 second animation lock before it can even execute anything, they gave Scholars a combat peloton and called it a day. That's not even getting into the Fairy ghosting abilities and being unable to make Eos prioritize one target instead of Embracing every player that gets a minor scratch.
So yeah, I can understand why Scholars are miffed, and rightfully so.
SCH used to be able to pull off some insane play, and for some reason SE seems committed to punish that for some reason.
What archetype? Regen vs Shields? Because Sage (a "shield" healer) has more Regens in it's kit than actual Shields.
I know SCH only has 2 Shields (and 1 pet shield) but that just shows the whole Regen / Shield dichtotomy is bullsh!t.
It has no basis in the actual gameplay.
This is a good point. Right now you can play scholar as a pure healer other than when Seraph is out and I personally do because using shields means spending a GCD on something other than damage.
Since we were told Scholar didn't really need any changes, it means these "shield healers" can continue to be played as pure healers if we prefer.
Obsession with balancing kills every MMO. People just need to play what they like and what is fun to them, no matter the balancing, how hard or how easy, really. And SE should know better than ever focusing into balancing over identity and individual class actions customization. Game is already too streamlined in such aspects and way too easy as is. Developers should really stop caring for casual players and actually make the combat in the game way more complex and harder, respecting the players intelligence and not treating everyone as kids and/or adolescents. I really wish FFXIV was more "adult focused" gameplay and combat wise (not being afraid to be a true hardcore MMO with ever more complex combat mechanics and only getting harder and harder. Currently, almost everything outside extremes and savages is just way, way, way, too easy, and an MMO shouldn't be like that, quite the opposite).
I have no idea why people aren't complaining about WHM. It looks like Endwalker is going to be more Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare Glare.......such engaging gameplay, wow. How fun.