The Bottom Feeders: Moves You Never Use and Why (Ver. 2)

[DarkmoonVael]

I don't think anyone was claiming it adds to damage of spells abilities, only that you get extra Aetherflow stacks = extra Energy Drains.

It would be great if it would add to MND instead of healing magic potency so that it would affect damage in Cleric Stance, though.

I remember the Devs saying that dissipation had last minute nerfs before the release of Heavensward due to it being far too powerful. I kind of suspect that in its original intended form it effected damage dealt as well by the SCH. If that was the case it would have been awesome .

[RadiantRay]

cure 3 stuff

Cure 3 in thordan is kind of meh to me and if you're co-healing (let's say later phases like phase 9) your cure 3 isn't hitting the tank, he needs heals too. What makes cure 3 inefficient even with the cure 3 proc is that if it doesn't hit everyone you have to waste mp healing that guy you misssed with a follow up cure. After a Dragon's Rage you just medica 2 and by the time the boss even thinks about hitting your dps they're full from the regen. Best part is that Medica 2 is not likely to miss anyone

Cure 3 has it's uses and it's very powerful I know that but I almost never find a situation where it's better to use it instead of my entire hotbar other better more efficient spells

[Kabzy]

I remember the Devs saying that dissipation had last minute nerfs before the release of Heavensward due to it being far too powerful. I kind of suspect that in its original intended form it effected damage dealt as well by the SCH. If that was the case it would have been awesome .

I can't remember exactly where I read it, but I'm pretty sure they said they tested Dissipation at a 50% healing boost before. Or something like that, so it was basically just nerfed potency wise.

And yes, as a SCH main I think I use Dissipation the least. It has saved two runs for me though, but that's only 2 in this entire time the expansion has been out. ;p

[Blueyes]

For Astrologian, my biggest gripes are with Malefic and Stella. I'm not sure why they took a spell that's already situational at best (Stone, after learning Stone II) and split it into two spells with equal or worse situational value. I understand that SE seems to have an obsession with giving all ranged classes a way to apply the Heavy effect at a low level so I'll give them that, but when you realize that Malefic could have been the spell with Heavy, suddenly Stella is free to be made into something entirely different.

Personally I would like to see Stella made into a spell or ability used for the purpose of applying an AoE DoT, thus making Astrologian no longer the only job in the game incapable of dealing AoE damage by level 50. There are a few ways this could be done.

• Deals damage with a potency of 30 to target and all enemies near it. 20 potency/30 second DoT (230 total potency)
• Spreads a target's Combust and Combust II to nearby enemies at 40% potency (231 total potency after subtracting 45 from time spent on DoT application assuming Com II > Com > Stella)

Between the two I prefer the latter. It takes more thought to use and scales with level in an interesting way. If either of these seem "too strong" for what an Astrologian should be capable of doing, there's also the possibility of changing Stella into an ability and slapping a 60 second timer on it to prevent continuous application. I don't know if SE cares about feedback of this type, but I just see so much potential in what Stella could have been had they just put Heavy on Malefic.

[AzureFlare]

stuff

Don't take my Heavy on Stella away, how am I supposed to troll people in PvP now!? The laser of doom is so much more.. doomy!

On a more serious note: yeah Stella feels like an afterthought.

[Phileas]

The problem i have with energy drain is that it is accuracy reliant and with no acc gear for healers it can miss and waste a stack i could save for emergency heals. i will use energy drain if my aetherflow timer is up and i can just burn my remaining stacks.

[Mitysolde]

Don't take my Heavy on Stella away, how am I supposed to troll people in PvP now!? The laser of doom is so much more.. doomy!

On a more serious note: yeah Stella feels like an afterthought.

I also only use Stella in PVP, to either slow down one of the melees trying (failing) to kill me as I run away from them, or as a sort of "heavy inducing homing beacon" to my team to help them pick off a straggler, since it does have that delightful laser-like quallity. Other than that I don't even use it in appropriate low level content, which is sad.

I also don't find myself using Malefic I much, even though it is more "efficient". But I think someone else already commented on the obsoleting nature of healer DPS abilities.

[Shikiseki]

Most of the Healer spells I never use are usually the ones that are just too situational I guess:


-WHM-

- Presence of Mind - I know it's quite the strong cooldown but I'm not sure if it's the huge cooldown that I just like to use Divine Seal more often than this. For me, this skill is a last resort, even after Benediction. Which is strange cause I use lightspeed quite often (it's probably the reduced MP cost).

- Curaga - Very situational but quite powerful when you know the incoming damage is higher than your regular medica can top off or if you quickly need to top off the party cause you know another big hit will strike right after. Although this spell is further pushed away due to Assize. It doesn't help that the MP cost is extremely high.

- Repose - As many others mentioned, could have had more uses if it'd be aoe but most monsters either get immediately woken up again by some ground aoe or they overwhelm you before you can cast it. Good for soloing if you get overwhelmed.


- SCH -
I do use most of its attacks frequently but..

- Dissipation - While it can potentially save the raid, it feels like it's so out of sync with all the other spells you have. It just could have been a lot better and more fitting to the Scholar job.

- Fey Illumination - Absurdly strong so I never really have the need for it most of the time. (Cause Eos is already pretty overkill for most content). Was a godsend spell during the days of solo healing Titan ex though.

- Silent Dawn - Ironically, most useful at 24-man raids where just noone bothers to silence that one raid wide aoe >_>.


- AST -

- Stella - Good to heavy enemies with it but I always forget that I actually have that spell...

- Nocturnal Sect - *sigh* it's just it seems so out of flow with the rest of the toolkit, considering you can extend your regens with your abilities. I feel like it'd need a passive to have decreased MP costs by x% or something.

[VanilleFang]

snip

PoM has seen a lot of use out of me because of Holy spam. And Stone II spam on easy bosses.

[_slowpoke_]

- Presence of Mind - I know it's quite the strong cooldown but I'm not sure if it's the huge cooldown that I just like to use Divine Seal more often than this. For me, this skill is a last resort, even after Benediction.

PoM is not an emergency button. Much less than Benediction is. At least in endgame content. All my usage of PoM - as well as most other CDs - in Savage is pre-planned for specific mechanics or specific points in the fight. For instance, in A1S, I will always use PoM during the first and third Prey/Plasma (with the second getting Hallowed by my tank).

And outside of endgame content, it's a free DPS increase which I use fairly frequently both during bosses as well as during trash pulls (<3 Holy spam).

IMO it's a waste to delegate skills as "emergency cooldowns". It leads to them almost never getting used (because you will always think that you might need them later).