HoTs on SCH

I'd like to know what some scholars at cap think of SCH's new heal over time capabilities. From what I've heard, the HoT on sacred soil is quite potent.

I'm a bit hesitant about their inclusion on SCH because in the past the lack of HoTs was part of what made SCH feel distinct (yes, we had whispering dawn, but before that was the only ability, and you wouldn't even have access to that if you were using Selene). Giving HoTs to SCH looks to me like healer homogenisation, but I don't know what using sacred soil with HoT feels like, so I'd like to know your thoughts.

When you can get use out of it, sacred soil feels very good to use. In dungeons when the tank is doing big pulls, sacred soil feels very good to use as both a healing cooldown and a mitigation cooldown. In the ex primals and normal raids....not so much. It's certainly a powerful cooldown but there isn't enough damage to actually make it necessary. I guess I just use it because it's there. Hopefully in savage things will change. I'll say that the old sacred soil feels terrible to use in most situations and since we need to spend our aetherflow stacks anyways, something needed to be done to sacred soil. Overall I'm not unhappy with the sacred soil changes, it's definitely strong. It might possibly be too strong, for what it does and its low cooldown. I just can't help but feel that there's a more creative way to make sacred soil better that isn't just giving it a generic HoT.

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Originally Posted by Hatstand

I don't know what using sacred soil with HoT feels like, so I'd like to know your thoughts.

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Using it feels like shit because party members actively avoid the bubble. Even stationary casters will leave the bubble. 90% of the time I feel like it's wasted. The only point I see, at this time with the current random DPS/tanks out there, the only real good use is with a stack because (THEORETICALLY) they're supposed to stay in one place. Haha, who am I kidding? I was in Titania Ex last night during the stack in ad phase. I put bubble over the effect person and said person (and group) moved out of the bubble. Literally, it just feels like an empty AF spender. Good in theory, but everyone is afraid of the bubble o' doom.

U see... Its hard to device new and exclusive skill, the more we progress the more homogenization will appear
As long its not totally the same i can accept with some distinct characteristic
For now they give SCH a few HoT as one of our utility, and WHM some shield as their extra utility

it’s ok when people stay in it I enjoy basking in it when I pop the fairy regen as well. But due to a lot of the fight mechs people don’t stay in it long enough to make a difference.

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Originally Posted by Naychan

it’s ok when people stay in it I enjoy basking in it when I pop the fairy regen as well. But due to a lot of the fight mechs people don’t stay in it long enough to make a difference.

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I see this a lot but I don't completely agree. Sacred Soil's regen effect is applied the same as that of Collective Unconsciousness, meaning it gives you a 15 second buff when you step into the bubble. That way even if you leave the bubble, you still get at least 15 seconds of 100 potency regen ticks. It applies only once though, so you can't get additional ticks by staying in it, and it won't reapply if you step out and then back in. This actually gives you some leeway as a DPS running through the circle at any time during its 15 seconds like a mesmer buff bar for its regen, though that's assuming you don't want the mitigation buff.

Also it's weird, but for whatever reason you as the SCH get the regen buff upon casting Sacred Soil, whether or not you're actually in the circle yourself. You can throw the bubble all the way across the room and still get the personal regen for dropping it, though you only get the mitigation buff while actually inside it.

It's a nice new effect, and gives Sacred Soil some value to use outside of cutting-edge progression and ultimates, given the extreme waste of a stack it used to be in the majority of instances compared to even lustrate. Combined with Whispering Dawn's effective 80 potency regen (due to fairy tax) over its longer 21s duration, SCH now has quite a bit of burst of regen on long cooldown, which I guess is to normalize with things like WHM's new 30 second cooldown 500 potency benison shield.

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Originally Posted by LegoTechnic

Sacred Soil's regen effect is applied the same as that of Collective Unconsciousness, meaning it gives you a 15 second buff when you step into the bubble. That way even if you leave the bubble, you still get at least 15 seconds of 100 potency regen ticks. It applies only once though, so you can't get additional ticks by staying in it, and it won't reapply if you step out and then back in. This actually gives you some leeway as a DPS running through the circle at any time during its 15 seconds like a mesmer buff bar for its regen, though that's assuming you don't want the mitigation buff.

Also it's weird, but for whatever reason you as the SCH get the regen buff upon casting Sacred Soil, whether or not you're actually in the circle yourself. You can throw the bubble all the way across the room and still get the personal regen for dropping it, though you only get the mitigation buff while actually inside it.

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This is all new information to me and probably the best thing I've learned about the new expansion so far.

Sacred Soil is powerful with it's new HoT and Damage reduction. Was it needed? Not really; it's more extra healing. But, it is nice when everyone stands in the bubble, or at least step in it for the regen effect. For what it does and for its 30 sec cooldown, it's insane.

I'm not mad about it, but I just feel like we're encroaching even more into WHM territory with more HoTs, while also having our cake with unmatched damage mitigation. And the Fairy pet was always a permanent HoT effect. Just feels like too much extra, if that makes sense. But it's what we got now.

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Originally Posted by LegoTechnic

I see this a lot but I don't completely agree. Sacred Soil's regen effect is applied the same as that of Collective Unconsciousness, meaning it gives you a 15 second buff when you step into the bubble. That way even if you leave the bubble, you still get at least 15 seconds of 100 potency regen ticks. It applies only once though, so you can't get additional ticks by staying in it, and it won't reapply if you step out and then back in. This actually gives you some leeway as a DPS running through the circle at any time during its 15 seconds like a mesmer buff bar for its regen, though that's assuming you don't want the mitigation buff.

Also it's weird, but for whatever reason you as the SCH get the regen buff upon casting Sacred Soil, whether or not you're actually in the circle yourself. You can throw the bubble all the way across the room and still get the personal regen for dropping it, though you only get the mitigation buff while actually inside it.

It's a nice new effect, and gives Sacred Soil some value to use outside of cutting-edge progression and ultimates, given the extreme waste of a stack it used to be in the majority of instances compared to even lustrate. Combined with Whispering Dawn's effective 80 potency regen (due to fairy tax) over its longer 21s duration, SCH now has quite a bit of burst of regen on long cooldown, which I guess is to normalize with things like WHM's new 30 second cooldown 500 potency benison shield.

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Not true, the buff you as a Scholar get is a buff saying that you put down a ground effect. The damage reduction and actual regen ONLY tick if you are INSIDE the bubble, if you step outside you lose both on the next server tick. Because of the way they changed buffs to apply faster instead of waiting for server tick this means that if you put the bubble down and you're already inside it, you'll get 1 immediate tick as it applies the buff to you, then the rest on normal server ticks, you might see 2 ticks of regen very close if you put it up near the server tick. This also actually means it ticks 6 times for a total of 600 potency, but you DO need to stay inside the bubble to get the healing.

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Originally Posted by RegularJoe

Sacred Soil is powerful with it's new HoT and Damage reduction. Was it needed? Not really; it's more extra healing. But, it is nice when everyone stands in the bubble, or at least step in it for the regen effect. For what it does and for its 30 sec cooldown, it's insane.

I'm not mad about it, but I just feel like we're encroaching even more into WHM territory with more HoTs, while also having our cake with unmatched damage mitigation. And the Fairy pet was always a permanent HoT effect. Just feels like too much extra, if that makes sense. But it's what we got now.

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I would say it certainly needed something, it was a waste of an Aetherflow stack before it got the regen, Indom was a better response in any situation that wouldn't one-shot someone. The regen effect is good and makes it worth using. But in many fights people can't stay close enough to stay in the bubble because of mechanics.

I will say that it was a bit disheartening that of the new stuff we got for leveling in Shadowbringers level 72 was basic healer damage spell upgrades, and levels 76, 78, and 80 were all AoE Heals. Seraph does at least have a little more to her but Consolation is why I bring her out in extremes. Only Level 74 with Recitation was like an interesting ability.