SE, "Seraphism" is appalling. This is not the fantasy that appeals to Scholar fans.

Update:
FFXIV's Producer apparently does not care, and is also riding on the edge of openly-mocking us.

https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/interview/1593842.html

Quote:

――学者がいきなり変身していて、びっくりしました。

吉田氏：　学者は「妖精食べた？！」など、色々な歴史があって、いよいよ自身がフェアリーに転身。でもデザインはバトル班とアート班が相当な回数のやり取りをして決まっていきました。ちょっと天使よりという意見もでるかもとは思っていますが、まずはじっくり触ってみていただけると嬉しいです。

――学者はいままで海兵魂！とか、結構武骨な印象だったので、落差がすごかったです。

吉田氏：　絵替わりは非常に大事なので、こういった大胆さはあって良いと思います！

――学者のセラフィム化やソルバハムートは、どちらも裏設定がありそうなアクションですが、今回それがわかるようなジョブクエストがあるんでしょうか？

吉田氏：　一連のジョブクエストは一回完結させているのと、ジョブクエストを作った場合、縛られてジョブ自体の改修に影響がでるため、本当はあった方が良いのかもしれませんが、今回用意していません。むしろ今後別の形でサイドクエストを作る時に、その中でロアが分かるようになるということはやると思います。

Quote:

I was surprised to see the scholar suddenly transform.

Yoshida:
The scholar has a lot of history, including "Did he eat a fairy?!", and now he has transformed into a fairy. But the design was decided after a lot of back and forth between the battle team and the art team. I think some people might say it's a little more angelic, but I'd be happy if you could just take a look at it.

Scholars have always had a pretty rough impression, with people saying things like "Marine Spirit!", so the difference was huge.
(Alternative from DeepL)
The art team has been a bit more “Marine Soul” and “Soul of a Marine” until now! The difference between the two was quite striking.

Yoshida:
Changing the art is very important, so I think this kind of boldness is good!

(Alternative from DeepL)
Yoshida:
I think it's good to have such a bold change of picture!

The scholar's transformation into a seraphim and [Level 100 Summoner's] Solar Bahamut are both actions that seem to have backstories, but will there be a job quest this time that reveals that?

Yoshida:
The series of job quests are completed once, and if we created a job quest, it would be tied down and affect the revision of the job itself, so it might be better to have one, but we haven't prepared one this time. Rather, when we create side quests in a different form in the future, we think we'll do something that reveals the "Lore" in them.

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Firstly, please excuse the relative "lateness" of this feedback, but it has taken me a while to catch-up fully on the recent Live Letter and Jobs Trailer, as well as to process just exactly what the designers intend to "do" to Scholar in Dawntrail.

But, I still feel that it is important to express my opinion on this subject, so I hope that this feedback might still be useful.

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Starting Disclaimer: Remembering the humans behind the designs

To SE / "CBU3" / Mr. Yoshida / the Job Design Team / the Community Moderators / the Unpaid Interns / or, whoever is actually reading this...

...Let me clarify that I do understand that, ultimately, you and your designers want to create a good game that makes your audience happy. And I do understand that you devote immense amounts of time and energy into trying to do exactly-that.

Please understand, in return, that any hostility or harsh criticism that I seem to present is not intended as malice towards the actual individuals and humans working on FFXIV.

Rather, what I write stems from my own continued passion about FFXIV, and my own desire to try to make it the best experience possible for myself and my fellow players, based on my own experience and judgments.

So, please be clear — I do appreciate the reality, regardless of how much I may disagree with some of your design choices, that those choices are ultimately born from the same sort of passion and desire.

And in turn, I hope that the players and the developers can continue to maintain a productive and mutual dialogue about the future of Job decisions in FFXIV.

Understanding an FFXIV Scholar fan's "Scholar Fantasy".

Obviously, it's impossible to literally and accurately speak for every single player of a large player-base like FFXIV.

However, I feel confident stating — based on my own experiences speaking to other players who are attracted to the Scholar Job — that a majority of Scholar fans are not attracted to the Scholar Job because of "Holy", "Light", "Religious", or "Angel" motifs.

If Scholar players wanted those motifs in their character-fantasy, then they would just be playing White Mage — and, I think that the sheer quantity of White Mage players in FFXIV is suggestive of the idea that the White Mage Job is, indeed, satisfactory-enough for players seeking "Holy", "Light", "Religious", or "Angel" motifs.

Therefore, I think that Scholar does not need — nor want — "Holy", "Light", "Religious", or "Angel" motifs.

Instead, I think that what attracts most Scholar-fans to the Scholar Job is some combination of:
Wielding Books as their "special tool"

Arcanometry / continuing the Arcanist Class lore, flavour, ideas, and traditions

Nymian, naval, Fifth Astral Era, and War of the Magi lore and history

Tonberry story and connections

Being a more "mundane" / "rugged" / "street-level" Healer, as-opposed to the extremely "spectacular" and "magickal" healers like White Mage and Astrologian

Being a "military tactician"-themed Job

Being an "intellectual" / "well-read" / "acadaemic"-themed Job

Using strategy, commands, and tactics to affect the battlefield, debilitate enemies, and bolster allies

As far as the "Fairy", I think that for most Scholar fans, the "Fairy" is simply a "tool" — a portion of the kit that's "inoffensive" or "fine", but also not the primary "appeal" of the "Scholar fantasy".

Therefore, I think that any time that the Scholar Job over-emphasises its "Fairy" aspects, or drifts towards White Mage-like "Holy", "Light", "Religious", or "Angel" motifs, the SE/CBU3 designers's ideas are becoming "desynchronised" from the interests and fantasies of the types of players that are most strongly-attracted to Scholar as a Job Concept and Personal Fantasy.

Understanding what FFXIV Scholar fans like to do and "play" with their Actions and "rotations".

I think that most FFXIV Scholar fans find it appealing when Scholar feels like a "smart", "intellectual", "challenging", or "tactical" Job and/or Healer to "play".

I think that players looking for an "unprovocative", relaxing "Healer experience" will instead be drawn to the simplicity and "iconic obviousness" of White Mage, and that such players are unlikely to be enticed towards Scholar, no matter how much the Scholar aesthetic is changed, nor how much the Scholar gameplay is simplified.

Therefore, rather than trying to pile "hybridised" aspects of White Mage onto the Scholar Job, I think that it would be better for the SE/CBU3 designers to just focus on what players who are naturally-attracted to Scholar already tend to like doing.

I think that what tends to attract players to Scholar as their Job or Healer is:
A strong offensive potential

Making moment-to-moment trade-offs and decisions between dealing damage or healing

Access to a large variety of damage-dealing tools

Access to protective, preemptive, or mitigative tools that reward preparation and/or encounter-knowledge

Interesting or complex ways of accomplishing various gameplay tasks

Feeling rewarded for engaging in the mental and logistical complexity of managing two different "entities" simultaneously (Scholar and Fairy)

Basically, I think that the Scholar Job attracts thoughtfully-minded players, who like to face "puzzles" in their Healing and Damage toolkit, and then feel rewarded for "solving" those puzzles by having the potential to perform strongly in both offensive and protective/mitigative outcomes when doing-so.

The aesthetics of the "Seraphism" Action are the most-displeasing aspect of the Job Trailer for Scholar fans.

Setting aside everything else written above, it's a fact that we — as players — still do not know exactly how "Seraphism" works, mechanically.

However, I also feel confident in saying that "Seraphism's" mechanical function is almost irrelevant right now.

What I mean by that statement is: It does not really matter what "Seraphism" does, mechanically, if a Scholar player feels disappointed with their Job's fantasy and aesthetics every time that the Action is activated.

Therefore, given the near-certainty that the limited remaining time and resources before Dawntrail Release preclude more-extensive changes, I would say that the most valuable possible adjustment to "Seraphism" would be to dramatically-alter its visual effects, because the "Seraphism" aesthetic is currently extremely "abrasive" to the fantasy that most Scholars imagine for themselves.

An example of a "powerful Level 100 Action" that would be more aesthetically-compatible with the personal fantasy of most Scholar fans.

Please understand that this is simply a single, hastily-designed example of the sort of ideas that would be more appealing to Scholar fans.

There are also many other examples of different player-ideas that have been posted on various FFXIV Social Media such as Reddit and Twitter, as well as in the various post-Job Trailer Scholar-threads here on the FFXIV Forums.

Overall, I think that the most important take-away is simply to use these various "fan ideas" as a reference-frame to try to understand what Scholar fans actually find appealing, in terms of aesthetic and fantasy, and then adjust "Seraphism" to better-synchronise with those desires and passions — rather than implementing an aesthetic, for the next 2+ years of FFXIV, which seems to directly-antagonise what Scholar fans actually like about their Job, its concepts, and its fantasies.

For the example itself, please refer to the image that is posted in the second post below this one.

I think that Scholar also still has many other issues that would, ideally, be addressed — but at this point, it no longer seems feasible to do so for the 7.x design-period.

I think that there are many other on-going, "blood-soaked battles" still at-play between Scholar fans, and SE/CBU3's developers.

Some examples include:
Wanting the full-suite of Scholar DOTs returned

Wanting AOE DOTs such as "Miasma 2" returned

Wanting interesting tactical DOTs such as "Shadow Flare" returned

Wanting satisfying tactical tools such as "Bane" returned

Wanting a more balanced offensive and defensive/supportive "kit" in general

...and so on.

However, such battles are, firstly, unlikely to be resolved in the time remaining until Dawntrail Release; and, secondly, are outside the scope of this Thread/Post, and the specific issue that this Thread/Post is attempting to address.

Therefore, for the present moment, I must simply express my encouragement to the dedicated Scholar fans who continue to tirelessly argue, across various channels of communication, in-favour of a return to a more "Scholarly-feeling Scholar" than what SE/CBU3 has done to the Scholar Job since Stormblood, and especially since Shadowbringers onward.

(The following image is automatically downscaled by the FFXIV Forum, as well as on the Imgur page. A full-resolution version exists at: https://i.imgur.com/8iFrgul.png

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https://i.imgur.com/8iFrgul.png

This is one of the biggest problems I have with SCH; The devs seem to be too afraid to tap into some of the older themes (military tactician, plague doctor, their Arcanist roots, FF Tactic's Orator/Mediator, etc.) because they would clash with the ShB healer reworks and the healer-waifu aesthetic healers are now expected to have, plus now having SGE (who has a similar academic and medic theme and is sold as the "more DPS-centered" healer), so they try to double down on faeries and Seraph. (≖ x ≖)

Also, I approve of your capstone ability but I think instead of Knowledge of Nym being similar to Aetherflow (push button, get stacks), maybe you could earn books via your actions, like maybe when your Adlo shield is used up and/or when you use Aetherflow skills. Then have Knowledge of Nym be something you can turn on and change the spell you want into the Nymian version (possible instacast.) (´∇｀)

Scholar’s fate is probably the single most devastating aspect of FFXIV. Every single expansion has sought to dismantle Scholar piece-by-piece, mutate its identity, and undermine their faeries. Even Heavensward which gave Scholar a few good new tools also came with downsides. Ruin II was the perfect mobility spell in ARR, ignored and forgotten in Heavensward while Ruin would be replaced with Broil. Dissipation was and still is a bad action and began the trend of constantly maiming Eos and Selene in every expansion.

It has gone from being a masterpiece that literally was the sole reason I continued playing FFXIV to a hideous insult to the Scholar we started with that has somehow remained at the top of the healer food chain despite being gutted over and over and over. I really believe the designers hate scholar more than any other job.

For anyone that continues to play Scholar, my best advice is to remove Seraphism from your hotbar. Trust me, you won’t need it. Scholar already has a surplus of healing. All the new Dawntrail heals are just going to be more excessive healing bloat anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eorzean_username

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https://i.imgur.com/8iFrgul.png

Why is it that just about every random 'this is my take' posts are miles and miles ahead of what we got.
(Yes I know that it's because litteraly not getting a capstone is better than the Halloween angel)

I think it looks bad even disregarding the aesthetics. The wings look exactly like those ugly wing fashion accessories with physics applied, and the robes are unappealing. I'm not a fan of the idea of a transformation but they could have at least made it look unique and interesting. Faerie wings would have been a no brainer for this kind of thing but no, we get generic wings instead. I'm also not a fan of my racial characteristics and glam being overwritten, but I suppose it makes sense in the context of it being a transformation into something that isn't my character... but that kind of just ties back into why I don't like it being a transformation ability. Hopefully SE adds a visibility toggle at some point.

Af first glace, I read appealing. Thank goodness i was severly wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eorzean_username

https://i.imgur.com/8iFrgul.png

Let me just say I absolutely LOVE this design. Granted, it's just a concept, but it miles better already than what we have right now or going to have in Dawntrail. Like I really want to play around with this iteration of SCH so much already. Going to pretend this is the updated job when I go to sleep tonight. Thank you for this <3

It is a bit baffling that SCH gets the short end of the stick in DT. I know that we haven’t seen the tool tips yet, but I don’t think that alone will help alleviate SCH player worries, even if the tool tips were to suggest anything positive on the Job.

SCH doesn’t need Seraphism. It needs a rework. And it’ll likely get one either mid-expansion or in 8.0.

It’s a letdown, really. When I first started playing this game in 4.05, I wanted to play SCH, but never got the chance. Now I just don’t want to touch the dang Job.

I kinda like the book page floating around design, reminds me a lot of FF11's Eald'narche and Valkyrie Profile's Lezard.

But not sure where they turned the wrong way focusing so much on the fairy and seraph identity so heavily... Imagine being more angelic than friggin White Mage
Their rework was way more overdue than the AST rework was (granted, that job wasn't stable since 3.0 lol)