SCH Art of War feels bad to use

Seeing the dark cloud appear when you cast Bane and then seeing all your DoTs apply to the enemies was incredibly satisfying. I get that they want to bring all the healers more in line with each other, so if they don't want to give us Bane and our DoTs back then fine, whatever, but the replacement should feel just as satisfying if not more so...

Except what we got was Art of War which, when compared to its counterparts Gravity and Holy, it looks boring and lackluster and is just no fun to see and no fun to use. I really feel like it needs a visual rework to bring it more in line with either Gravity/Holy, or even Biolysis and Broil III which look amazing.

Holy physically hurts my eyes, I really hate looking at it. It's like i'm staring at a flash bang go off.

There's nothing wrong with Art of War, and it's functionally not really any different than spamming Miasma II, which is what you typically did after Bane anyway.

It's regrettable that it's the only thing we can do, but that's what we have to work with. If anything it may be too subtle, because its graphic really doesn't stand out compared to other abilities, which is kind of disappointing.

Graphically, it is pretty lackluster.
Would've preferred they kept Miasma 2's animation for it instead.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LegoTechnic

There's nothing wrong with Art of War, and it's functionally not really any different than spamming Miasma II, which is what you typically did after Bane anyway.

It's regrettable that it's the only thing we can do, but that's what we have to work with. If anything it may be too subtle, because its graphic really doesn't stand out compared to other abilities, which is kind of disappointing.

---

Yea I'm totally fine with the functionality, like i said it's in line with the other healers. I'm purely talking about the visuals here

I really do miss our AoE being DoT based, something I always thought gave us a lot freedom for heals as needed and the dot explosion was really satisfying. Tactical ground slap doesn't feel like anything and tbh I'd rather have a cast time then sitting in the middle of a pack of mobs. At least a couple times i didn't notice an AoE in a dense pack.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Huntakinte

SCH Art of War feels bad to use

---

Understatement of the year.
&
Why would you spam Miasma II ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Naychan

Why would you spam Miasma II ?

---

Because it dealt 100 potency on application and if there were three or more mobs, your DoTs were bane'd, and you didn't need to heal, then what else would you do?

Guess that makes sense just never thought of doing it like that.

I feel like Art of War would be alright to use if it didn't have such a boring animation. SCH animations are usually based on geometric shapes being put in front of us (Broil, Physick, More) so just tapping the ground and having a really generic animation come out feels terrible. I also preferred when we had Bane and Miasma since using DoTs for our AOE rotation felt a lot more unique. It was also fun since I could basically just get my DPS out of the way and get back to healing if necessary. The one thing I do like about it is that I can stay targeting the tank, which means its easier to turn back to it and throw out a Lustrate, Excog, or Adlo when necessary.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LegoTechnic

Because it dealt 100 potency on application and if there were three or more mobs, your DoTs were bane'd, and you didn't need to heal, then what else would you do?

---

Start helping that basic DPS who doesn't know how to AoE with Broil II while Miasma II ticked down, and re-apply as needed. That's what I started doing towards the end of Stormblood.

Yeah i miss bane. Art of war looks like it should have a cast time. How youre able to kneel and palm the floor and keep moving is weird. Also, seraph doesnt fit into sch thematically.

I also preferred the older red broils...

Well it only costs 600 MP now so if there were any mp issues before they should be gone now.

I actually like AoW. As just the animation, it's a neat replacement to Miasma 2; but not Miasma 2, Bane, AND Shadowflare. That's why their AoE is nowhere near as satisfying as it once was.

Hopefully when 5.1 rolls around they get something back, but I feel they need both an aetherflow dump skill, and an AoE answer to Assize and Earthly Star.

I just dont like that you need to be at melee range to do your AoE as a healer... It is just not safe in big puls with loads of AoEs
Holy and Gravity are ranged, not sure why we have to be that close...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hysterior

I just dont like that you need to be at melee range to do your AoE as a healer... It is just not safe in big puls with loads of AoEs
Holy and Gravity are ranged, not sure why we have to be that close...

---

Holy is not ranged. AST is the only healer who gets to drop nova bombs from afar.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hysterior

I just dont like that you need to be at melee range to do your AoE as a healer... It is just not safe in big puls with loads of AoEs
Holy and Gravity are ranged, not sure why we have to be that close...

---

Holy isn't ranged. It's just like AoW, but with a 8y radius, compare to AoW where it's 5y.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kishtola

Holy isn't ranged. It's just like AoW, but with a 8y radius, compare to AoW where it's 5y.

---

AoW is also instant. Makes positioning for best use much easier. That's why it has a lower radius. Can also do AoW driveby nukes when trash spams markers, which would push a WHM out of range. We get to just drop the bomb and run.

The new MP costs being reduced to match Holy for AoW and Gravity means they at least believe as we do, that Holy is the standard not the exception.

By a pack of enemies, I can't even tell in the visual chaos if my AoW went off other than watching my MP decrease. After leveling WHM and AST whose AoE attacks visually feel satisfying and hold some oomph both in attack effect and character animations, going back to SCH feels even more lackluster. Having my character kneel down into the crowd, disappearing in the mass of mobs, then stand back up, usually not even seeing the bland blue circle flash on the ground, it feels like I'm doing nothing. I understand, though don't agree with, taking away our larger set of abilities, but at least give us something equally satisfying and informative in visuals to what was removed.

Art of War needs to upgrade into Miasma II as a one button combo via trait. That way our animation alternates from one to the other as we spam it to make us a bit more visually dynamic without any increase in difficulty. The Dot Timer could be adjusted to six seconds and it would be good to go.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Huntakinte

Yea I'm totally fine with the functionality, like i said it's in line with the other healers. I'm purely talking about the visuals here

---

Visuals and sound mind you. Somehow Art of War is very boring compared to Holy and Gravity.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NobleWinter

Art of War needs to upgrade into Miasma II as a one button combo via trait. That way our animation alternates from one to the other as we spam it to make us a bit more visually dynamic without any increase in difficulty. The Dot Timer could be adjusted to six seconds and it would be good to go.

---

AoW is already the strongest AoE by potency and is now the same MP cost as Holy, and you want to make it even stronger?
The only reason WHMs were pulling higher numbers with it is because they could spam it harder than SCH could. Technically they still can thanks to Thin Air, but generally speaking we're going to get the same number of 150p casts out of AoW that WHM gets out of 140p Holy casts.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sylve

AoW is already the strongest AoE by potency and is now the same MP cost as Holy, and you want to make it even stronger?
The only reason WHMs were pulling higher numbers with it is because they could spam it harder than SCH could. Technically they still can thanks to Thin Air, but generally speaking we're going to get the same number of 150p casts out of AoW that WHM gets out of 140p Holy casts.

---

Holy has a Stun. Shadow Flare is gone from the Scholar toolkit as mitigation so alternating from Art of War to Miasma 2 every other cast seems fine to me. We have to be point blank without the safety of the stun WHM applies. The Potency of Miasma II could be adjusted to not be overwhelming but it would feel better to know I have a dot ticking if I have to swap to panic healing for whatever reason.

You cannot really compare mana costs for WHM and SCH. WHM might as well have no mana at all.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NobleWinter

We have to be point blank without the safety of the stun WHM applies

---

Yeah, and once the stuns wear off WHMs are stuck hardcasting in the middle of mob packs when SCHs can just dance around as they please with insta casts.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NobleWinter

Holy has a Stun. Shadow Flare is gone from the Scholar toolkit as mitigation so alternating from Art of War to Miasma 2 every other cast seems fine to me. We have to be point blank without the safety of the stun WHM applies. The Potency of Miasma II could be adjusted to not be overwhelming but it would feel better to know I have a dot ticking if I have to swap to panic healing for whatever reason.

---

We also have the capacity to drop a 35k~ shield on the Tank. Critlo to start the pull, SS to mitigate the damage (making the shield stronger as a bonus) and then it regens them afterwards. All while the Fairy is healing and I have an Excog on them. The Stuns are useful for the first 7~ seconds of the trash pack, but my mitigation as a SCH works for the whole fight. It balances out.
If anything, I feel bad for AST (My first 80) because we don't have as many safety tools to open up those AoE windows. So AST has the lowest potency AND the least opportunity to use it. Honestly, I'm all for moving Gravity up to 180 potency just so the few they do cast is more meaningful.

I disagree vehemently. You know what actually felt bad to use? Miasma 2. Having to spam it as filler AoE because we had no other option and being forced to waste the dot it provided was awful and felt incredibly awkward.

Visually though I can see the complaint, it is very simplistic. I don't personally mind it though.

I always felt like gravity should have applied some kind of crowd control. It feels weird that a spell called "gravity" doesn't leave a mob with heavy, or slow, or bind. Slow would objectively be the best for damage mitigation but the fact Scholar had that as part of Shadow Flare and Astro didn't was really really awkward from a lore standpoint. Encasing enemies in a field of darkness should have lowered their accuracy by causing blind (even tho I realize that would have stepped on Palladin Flash but CC doesn't stack anyway) while a concentrated burst of gravity would logically make it difficult to move causing slow or heavy. It always felt like a missed opportunity to me for all the healers to have crowd control built into their AoE in a meaningful way. The point remains that Art of War is terrible visually compared to gravity and holy. Miasma 2 doesn't even really stack up well either in my opinion. The animation needs to drop down from above so that you can actually see it in large mobs of enemies. Various green and purple geometric shards of light falling from the sky around the Scholar would have made so much more sense and been more visually impactful.

Art of War is SE basically telling Scholars to pound sand when they want to AoE. Lol

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ariase

Start helping that basic DPS who doesn't know how to AoE with Broil II while Miasma II ticked down, and re-apply as needed. That's what I started doing towards the end of Stormblood.

---

Broil 2 was less potency than the up front potency on Miasma 2 was given multiple targets, so Miasma II was the better option even though it was overwriting the dot each cast. Just because it has a dot doesn't mean it needs to tick out fully before re-applied, since the up front potency was so high. Broil 2 only came out as my filler GCD spell if there were only 1 or 2 targets or if I was starting to run out of MP from the Miasma 2 spam. Art of War and Broil 3 are exactly the same situation now, although Art of War doesn't have the dot, and with the now 600mp cost doesn't cause MP issues as much as it used to.

Also, how are people not seeing Art of War's animation? There's a bright blue circle that can be seen through mobs and players with a big spikes in the middle of it. It's very much reminiscent of the DRK aoe enmity move. When I spam it in packs of mobs I worry that I'm obscuring enemy pbAoE markers since it's so noticeable. The only suggestion I would make would be to have a brighter glow around the Scholar while excecuting it and to have a more impactful sound effect, since that does feel like it could use quite a bit more weight to it. The sound doesn't quite match the vigor that we're pounding the ground with.