Sage 7.0 Review: Underwhelming

Overview
In this post, I’d like to go over what changes Sage needed coming from Endwalker, how the new changes size up to these expectations, and what we can do now while setting up for 8.0.

Sage Review
Coming from Endwalker, Sage needed a reevaluation of both Addersgall and Addersting. Addersgall clashes with Sage’s identity by being Sage’s most powerful and important forms of healing, yet having nothing to do with barrier application or DPS. Addersting is entirely inconsequential being the worst gauge resource in FFXIV due to Toxikon’s incredibly low power and lack of effective use. Additionally, Sage was supposed to be a response to feedback from Shadowbringers of players asking for more ways to attack, yet Sage is no different than the other three healers when it comes to having single button DPS spam.

With that in mind, how did Dawntrail’s changes address these issues?

Philosophia does try to better compliment Sage’s identity as a healer who heals through DPSing, but its incredibly long cooldown severely limits how often Sage can actually be the “DPS healer.” That’s not to mention that there are currently no changes at all to Addersgall. Much like Endwalker, Sage will likely cruise through most content never even casting Philosophia and instead healing exclusively with Addersgall.

Both Psyche and Eukrasian Dyskrasia are not nothing. They are still additions to Sage’s overall DPS gameplay, but they are not enough to offset the shear amount of Dosis III spam that Sage is subjected too. Having a second DOT is great, but when it shares the same duration as the other DOT, then it doesn’t really fit into a “rhythm” of sorts and just effectively makes applying DOTs feel like a 1-2 combo, which is not ideal. Having two DOTs with different durations would improve that significantly.

However, Addersting has not been touched at all, and Dosis III is also receiving a significant potency buff. Neither Toxikon nor Pneuma seem to be receiving the same adjustments either. So now, Sage’s most iconic animation, Pneuma, is going to be avoided as much as possible, and Toxikon is even more of a joke than it already was.

Based on the Media Tour build of Sage, I give Sage a 4/10. I am disappointed how little effort seemed to go into these changes, “encounter redesign” or not.

How Can We Fix This?
Without making sweeping changes to the Dawntrail build of Sage, what can we do now to address these concerns?
Remove Magick Mastery.

Eukrasian Dosis I/II/III duration: 30 seconds > 15 seconds. New: 35% chance to generate 1 Addersting.

Eukrasian Dyskrasia New: 35% chance to generate 1 Addersting.

Phlegma I/II/III cooldown: 40 seconds > 20 seconds. New: Restores 7% of max MP.

Remove MP restoration on Addersgall use.

Remove HP regen on Kerachole; replace with a barrier effect.

Change Toxikon I/II to an OGCD ability. Potency: 330 > 275.

Psyche cooldown: 60 seconds > 40 seconds.

The above changes would go a long way toward improving the state of Sage and capturing the identity it was originally claimed to have. We don't need Dosis III to be even stronger; we need Sage's other DPS actions to take a greater spotlight in Sage's gameplay. By reworking Toxikon ever so slightly into a resource that Sage will generate naturally through DPS and contribute to greater damage, as well as increasing the frequency of Sage's other attacks, we can achieve this with what we already have to work with. Additionally, changing the MP management to stem from Phlegma instead of Addersgall allows us to bypass the "Energy Drain Problem" that Addersgall suffers from where you have no way to burn excess Addersgall but need to for MP restoration, and this does so without needing to add a new Addersgall spender or rework the system completely.

Looking Toward 8.0
As for Sage's identity moving forward, I think 8.0 should focus more on capturing the spirit of Sage's performance in current PVP. There, Sage embodies the identity of an offensive barrier healer to such a higher degree that it makes PVE Sage look pitiful by comparison. Naturally, several aspects of Sage's PVP kit do not translate well to PVE, namely its limit break, but pretty much everything else could work well in PVE environments.

In other words, 8.0 Sage should focus on making Pneuma feel like a true power move both for healing and for damage, making Kardia more the focal point of Sage's healing rather than Addersgall, and to continue to pursue a snappier, fast-pace offensive skillset.

Just noting here they have never once designed job updates for people who actually play them, so I don't think they particularly care that they failed a target demographic

Underwhelming, yet probably got it the best out of the healers regardless.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KageTokage

Underwhelming, yet probably got it the best out of the healers regardless.

Which is depressing. We're celebrating a victory of getting a slice of bread rather than a full meal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KageTokage

Underwhelming, yet probably got it the best out of the healers regardless.

I genuinely hope the SGE mains enjoy their new additions and are able to carry the veteran healer population by themselves.

Because some of us who main other healers are out of the role for good after these tone-deaf changes.

The devs won't read this

Quote:

Originally Posted by Battler-Ushiromiya

The devs won't read this

Won't stop me for trying.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ty_taurus

Which is depressing. We're celebrating a victory of getting a slice of bread rather than a full meal.

Tbh after 4 years of not eating that slice of bread feels like a full meal.

Not that I don't like those changes you propose, I do (I'd nerf toxikon potency tho) but Sge getting 2 more things to manage instead of the 0-1 I was expecting feels like an improvement