On the Scholar's Eos: A Detailed Analysis of Current State and Future Potentiation

I've been playing as a scholar in dungeons for quite some time now, and I'm noticing a trend in the manner of which I play. For the majority of the time, I simply allow Eos to operate as it will, without much direction or direct control via the Obey command. There are occasions where I will direct Eos to take a station somewhere near the tank so that I may kite enemies back to the tank/dds (I tend to occasionally pick up adds with my healing potency) or to simply allow myself a bit more maneuverability. There are some trends I am noticing whilst playing as the scholar in regards to the pet, and I'd like to touch on those here as well as provide some potential improvements.

First and foremost, the current state of ability in regards to controlling Eos could use some work--a Scholar's pet is a goodly portion of our healing potency on the battlefield. I would recommend a way of directing Eos's actions, potentially through a variation of the gambit system seen in FFXII or some other form of macro-management. I believe the developers wanted to make it as easy on the player in terms of not having to micromanage two sets of abilities; however, the lack of customizability renders most of my experiences with Eos as a methodology of apathy.

The second change that I would like to see is some variation of the "follow" command implemented for Eos. Simply put, enabling Eos to be set on a choice player in the party--most notably the tank--would enable Scholars to manage their own sets of skills and battle tactics without having to worry exactly where Eos is.

Furthermore, the developers could limit the range of this follow command to a respectable battlefield measurement, thus ensuring that Scholars won't simply succumb to a set-and-forget mindset and must therefore stay with the group throughout the progression of the dungeon.

These are just some thoughts that I had that I feel would greatly improve the Scholar pet healing experience. It would be a sharp turn from many of the MMOs on the market and ultimately set a pace for the developers to further enhance their classes in ways never seen. Not that I'm saying they haven't already done that with a majority of A Realm Reborn's features; it is simply an emphasis on another step in the right direction.

[[Moved to first post]]

[[Moved to first post]]

Future reference: You can edit a post to bypass the character limit.

Devs have stated there are no plans for a pet gambit system in the past.

Hey, thanks for letting me know that; I had no idea. And that's pretty disappointing that they're not even considering it; it could add a lot of value to the combat system.

Having read your arguments, I have to disagree with making the AI inherently better. Since the last patch, I have been using mouse-over macros with the fairy on Obey->Follow to great effect. Proper micromanagement of the pet is what distinguishes a great scholar from his peers. In more challenging fights like Ifrit Exreme, I make the most out of Eos by manually placing her, shielding her, and commanding Rouse/WD, Fey Illumination, and Fey Covenant as completely unique abilities. Left on autopilot, Eos would blow her load immediately and the healing burden would be dramatically higher. I would prefer this to remain so that scholars will have to play well in order to perform well.

i personally disagree and think it is fine how it is now.
With macros you can have total control over your fairy without it being extremely annoying.

And the heel on tank, i personally don't think it is useful.
Go fairy! go next to the tank and say hello to plummet, death sentence, mountain buster, wicked wheel, inferno...
it will be fun for you, i swear! have fun little fairy, stay really close to him.

These are all valid arguments, but the fact remains that built-in macros would generally be more viable for the less perceptive of players. You make note that there are distinguishing factors between different levels of players, but the reality is that you will not always have great healers. I would much rather have a player who is not comfortable micro-managing their pet who is still capable of using their pet's abilities via a better-designed UI or macro system. As for the tank-following argument, setting the follow command on someone doesn't necessarily put you in harm's way, depending on the range. This would obviously have to be taken into account when designing a suitable mechanic.

IMO controlling Eos isnt an issue at the moment.
I have a macro for EOS which gets her to turret heal and in turn follow any target.
I know it is harsh, but if you are player who cant micro manage and arent delivering whether it be heals or DPS, you should go for the pet-less equivalent.
I would hate for pets to have a gambit system, not only does it make it easier for poor scholars to appear good, it would remove the flexibility we have at the moment.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheLostGunslinger

These are all valid arguments, but the fact remains that built-in macros would generally be more viable for the less perceptive of players. You make note that there are distinguishing factors between different levels of players, but the reality is that you will not always have great healers. I would much rather have a player who is not comfortable micro-managing their pet who is still capable of using their pet's abilities via a better-designed UI or macro system.

---

Well, if I could not handle my fairy via micromanagement, it would encourage me if I know that I could improve my healing via micromanagement. Therefore I completely agree with my "pre-posters", that they should not change anything else on the pet AI for now.

If they wanted to make SCH/SMN easy by having a pet that assists you, I think they have done all but the opposite here. SMN/SCH are the hardest to play now, because you not only have to manage your own skills, but also your pets which are on a completely different GCD (3 seconds instead of 2.5) in addition to having several place/obey/stead/sic commands at your disposal just to even use your pets effectively and manage movement.

macro's people.... macro's

I personally like to manually control Eos and have all of her abilities on my hot bar. Simply targeting a mob and hitting obey/heel and she'll not only follow you around but you'll have extra healing tools at your disposal. Using something similar to the gambit system seems lazy, and while I can see it working for an ability like whispering dawn I feel like fey illumination and fey covenant are most effective when under your own control. I just can't imagine a gambit system that would ideally know when Eos should buff magic def by 20% and healing potency by 20%. The way Eos is set up right now is perfectly fine, and no having Eos follow the tank does not sound like a good idea.

Also simply putting Eos near the tank and having her use her abilities at will shall definitely work in dungeons but it's not gonna cut it in more difficult fights. A good scholar controls Eos and knows when to use her abilities. Target mob>obey/heel and learn to love it. It may seem clunky at first but it'll greatly improve your healing effectiveness.

I use 'place' but how do you get the fairy to follow the tank?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Avette

Having read your arguments, I have to disagree with making the AI inherently better. Since the last patch, I have been using mouse-over macros with the fairy on Obey->Follow to great effect. Proper micromanagement of the pet is what distinguishes a great scholar from his peers. In more challenging fights like Ifrit Exreme, I make the most out of Eos by manually placing her, shielding her, and commanding Rouse/WD, Fey Illumination, and Fey Covenant as completely unique abilities. Left on autopilot, Eos would blow her load immediately and the healing burden would be dramatically higher. I would prefer this to remain so that scholars will have to play well in order to perform well.

---

she is right, listen to her

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Klandestineone

I use 'place' but how do you get the fairy to follow the tank?

---

this can not be done

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Soulburn32

macro's people.... macro's

---

also true, search the post for macros, it will make your life easier

I have a question, that touches on this. How do you do this for the PS3 with an already full bar. I find it tricky to quickly scroll through the 3 bars available, the third is pet only and the second is for overflow skills. I've heard a lot of discussion of controlling Eos on a PC, but nothing via PS3... So, I'm curious if anyone else has experience with it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ph03n1x13

snip

---

I have multiple bars for different purposes. My first bar is what I call my DPS bar. I put basic healing skills, aetherflow and all my dps skills on it. My next 2 bars are my healing bars. They're essentially identical but one bar has Eos skills on it and the other has Selene skills. There's just no way to fit both of their skills on one bar while keeping all of your own essential sch skills on the same bar. Since the fairies can't be out at the same time anyway, I just made almost identical dedicated bars for each fairy. My last and 4th bar is what I have termed my miscellaneous bar where I put all non essential skills/ items. I put my pet summoning macro on this bar and my obey/ heel macro too. It's a bit annoying to have to switch bars to summon and put my fairy on obey mid battle but it's the price we pay for using a controller I guess.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AldoVonAlexandros

she is right, listen to her



this can not be done



also true, search the post for macros, it will make your life easier

---

It is not entirely true that you cant make Eos/Selene follow a target, however it will be via making them continuously turret heal a target.





Solution for cramped hot bars
macro more than one skill to slot e.g, I have rouse and WD on same slot, Bio and Bio2 etc.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ph03n1x13

I have a question, that touches on this. How do you do this for the PS3 with an already full bar. I find it tricky to quickly scroll through the 3 bars available, the third is pet only and the second is for overflow skills. I've heard a lot of discussion of controlling Eos on a PC, but nothing via PS3... So, I'm curious if anyone else has experience with it.

---

The hot bar for Eos/Healing for me is as follows in a clockwise position from left to right: Rouse/Fey Covenant/Fey Illumination/Whispering Dawn - E4E/Resurrect/Virus/Swift Cast - Aetherflow/Lustrate/Embrace/Sacred Soil - Physick/Succor/Adlo./Leeches. Just hit R1, target your mob, hit obey then heel and you're good to go. An identical setup is used for Selene. Hope this helps.

For people looking for tips on PS3 / Gamepad and how to SCH

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...d-Only-Edition

I have followed this guys advice and can say if you follow what he says and then learn to expand on it SCH on gamepad is just fine and can be played quite well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Soulburn32

For people looking for tips on PS3 / Gamepad and how to SCH

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...d-Only-Edition

I have followed this guys advice and can say if you follow what he says and then learn to expand on it SCH on gamepad is just fine and can be played quite well.

---

Thank you! This is precisely what I'm looking for.