SCH in 3.0. Some thoughts while healing A3S.

[Remilia_Nightfall]

Hey all.

It is quite rare for me to start a thread like this one.
However, this time I would like to share my opinion on the state of the SCH job in Alexander savage.

My static has been trying to down A3S for some time now. We are currently at last phase, with quite a few hours of practice under our belt.

I have been a full time SCH since 2.0 was released, and always cleared endgame content before nerfs happened. I always believed SCH to be a very versatile and fun job.

However, now that I am in A3S, I am starting to doubt myself.

While SCH got some nifty new tools, hardly anyone of them seem to be particularly relevant.

In progression content, what matters is "reliability". This is one of the reasons AST is not viable. Fights are all scripted, and groups need to find strategies that work well most of the time in order to reach the latest part of the fights in order to practice them. There is no room for "luck" - consistency is key.

SCH has always been rather rng-based, since its best tool has always been Adloquium, an awesome spell which sadly becomes stupidly MP inefficient when it does not crit.
And this brings me to my next point. Where has our beloved crit gone? SE probably believed that stacking secondary stats too much would allow players to cheese through content, and this is why they streamlined the whole system by severely reducing the importance of those stats. Way easier to balance stuff, this way.
However, now Adlo is a much less useful tool than before. Solo healing is much more of a problem, as well as dpsing. WHM, on the other hand, is now able to do pretty much as much dps as a SCH (if not more, during burst dps checks...hello, Living Limb), by exploiting Presence of Mind. Funnily enough, WHM seems to also be able to solo heal tanks more efficiently due to MP saving procs, as if Adlo does not crit, the SCH runs dry quite soon. Aetherflow stacks are needed for Indomitability and Lustrate when solo healing, so no Energy Drain to get some MP back.

In addition to this, Embrace got a huge stealth nerf which further diminishes the efficiency of SCH tank (and spot) healing.

Of course I am not saying it is not viable, far from it. However, I would say that WHM might come up on top at the end of the day, in terms of overall capabilities.

This is the opposite of 2.0, pretty much.

Thoughts?

[Rewind]

Hey all.

Solo healing is much more of a problem, as well as dpsing. WHM, on the other hand, is now able to do pretty much as much dps as a SCH (if not more, during burst dps checks...hello, Living Limb), by exploiting Presence of Mind. Funnily enough, WHM seems to also be able to solo heal tanks more efficiently due to MP saving procs, as if Adlo does not crit, the SCH runs dry quite soon. Aetherflow stacks are needed for Indomitability and Lustrate when solo healing, so no Energy Drain to get some MP back.

Not sure what type of magical WHM you are playing with but whilst WHM has some decent 'burst' its sustained DPS is very very poor in comparison to SCH. SCH DPS is far, far, far superior to WHM DPS as WHM DPS is very cluncky and always has a chance to miss. SCH mana regeneration is far superior to WHM as well with energy drain and aertherflow.

I'd argue that SCH should only being Indomitability as a last resort (desperation type heal)?

Adlo is much more mana intensive but I guess it just means you'll have to rely on other things like physick+embrace combo

[Spoekes]

The only thing that has changed is your Pie and crit rating.
Adlo is just the same skill as on level 50 in terms of mana-efficiency/potency, and you did not start level 50 with 30% crit and 5k mana.
imo it's very comparable. The favor shifted to SCH over the curse of ARR and that's simply because of gear.

Sorry this sounds like SCH 101, but Adlo should not be your go-to healing spell anyway, and it sounds like you are kind of overusing AND "relying" on crits, correct me if I'm wrong.

Adloquim crits have been RNG based, and when they did you could make the best out of the big shield, add damage, heal someone else, what ever,
but saying "Scholar has always been a RNG class" =

The current nerf to the fairy (on which they said is for the far future when gear inflates *facepalm*) is annoying and should just be undone and redone when the gear has actually inflated....

[Remilia_Nightfall]

snip

Note that my post comes from experiencing A3S. While there is a tight overall dps check, I am still to reach that point.
Burst dps check-wise, WHM with PoM wrecks a SCH.

Also, while SCH mp regeneration might be better, MP consumption is also much higher.

Did you try to solo heal the hands phase in A3S without using Adlo and both tanks in dps stance?

[Remilia_Nightfall]

snip

Changing crit rate changes Adlo. No two ways around it. And no matter what one can say, Adlo is SCH main tool. Main does not mean "spammable", please do not misunderstand.

Again, physicks and fairy are not nearly enough to solo heal both tanks on A3S. If they dont have each and Adlo up for every bitchslap, it's going to be painful.

[Spoekes]

Note that my post comes from experiencing A3S. While there is a tight overall dps check, I am still to reach that point.
Burst dps check-wise, WHM with PoM wrecks a SCH.

Also, while SCH mp regeneration might be better, MP consumption is also much higher.

Did you try to solo heal the hands phase in A3S without using Adlo and both tanks in dps stance?

This sounds like a situation in which you MUST go oom, singleheal with tanks in dps stance in that situation, not running dry in the current state of gear progression would be kind of meh don't you think?

Changing crit rate changes Adlo. No two ways around it. And no matter what one can say, Adlo is SCH main tool. Main does not mean "spammable", please do not misunderstand.

Again, physicks and fairy are not nearly enough to solo heal both tanks on A3S. If they dont have each and Adlo up for every bitchslap, it's going to be painful.

Just take a look on what crit rating you started with when you first entered Binding Coil Turn 3.
I'm totally on your side that crit rate alters adlo, but you just have to take gear progression into consideration.

I can't comment on the AS3 "single heal dps stance tanks"-thing with personal experience, but like really what do you expect??
This sounds like the one perfect reasonable situation where you are supposed to be struggling currently and not some kind of balancing issue.

[Remilia_Nightfall]

This sounds like a situation in which you MUST go oom, singleheal with tanks in dps stance in that situation, not running dry in the current state of gear progression would be kind of meh don't you think?

Point is, i can see my WHM partner being able to spam way more heals and top tanks off due to Freecure procs, for example.

Please try to understand all the points I have made in my oroginal post.
Again, these are comments after healing A3S.

Anyway, it is not only a matter of amount of crit rating. It is the fact that SE diminished the importance of secondary stat altogether. Comparing numbers to pre-3.0 is meaningless.

[Rewind]

Did you try to solo heal the hands phase in A3S without using Adlo and both tanks in dps stance?

Usually I'm the one solo healing as WHM, but it isn't that bad? You'd probably need to save 2-3 lustrates for that phase, have fairy healing one tank, yourself physick the other and use lustrate to top the spike damage? Your WHM should assist with regen + tetra when needed. Maybe its less of an issue re; your solo healing and more of an issue regarding other players low DPS not meeting the check? I know it's extremely tight but idk...maybe there are other issues?

Sure, WHM does good burst DPS for 15 seconds but then that's it - of course in hand phase it's useful but for the overall fight and rest of savage SCH DPS>>>>>>>>>WHM DPS

[PetiteMalFleur]

Burst dps check-wise, WHM with PoM wrecks a SCH.

Also, while SCH mp regeneration might be better, MP consumption is also much higher.

Did you try to solo heal the hands phase in A3S without using Adlo and both tanks in dps stance?

Scholar burst dps is just as good as whm. Have your whm solo heal equal concentration and your mana issues will disappear. This is one one place I've found a good use for dissipation.

[Remilia_Nightfall]

snip

I fear you are severely overestimating the fairy.

Anyway, my comments are mainly about A3S and specifically the burst dps checks. Please remember that. By burst checks i mean the hands and the adds in the following phase (where dots are not exactly great).