SE, what is the vision and identity of Scholars?

[LegoTechnic]

I mentioned this in the SCH mega thread, but I think SCH's identity now is the "flexible" healer. SCH has on-demand shields and passive healing (the fairy) which the other two don't. To really make it feel like the flexible healer that SCH wants to be, I think Emergency Tactics needs to become a toggle buff rather than a one-time cooldown. This solves quite a few of SCH's healing problems. The other thing I would do is add the 50 lost potency on Embrace back to Physick. I would make some adjustments to the fairies to better define themselves as the "healing" and "support" pets they claim to be. I would like to see Dissipation instead be a fairy swap to have better control of your pet and what buffs you send out/need without using too many resources. Fey's Union is still hard to fix because it really doesn't give SCH anything unique.

I'm just going to point out that I don't support some of these suggestions. SCH was designed as an original class idea and had its own identity and playstyle throughout both ARR and HW, whereas the first two of your fixes literally break down to "make them play more like a WHM" with a "WHM-mode" to turn Succor and Adlo into Medica and Cure II, and of less concern adjusting Physick to the same potency as the new Cure. We would literally have the same base toolkits as WHMs this way with a slow-response fairy rather than the lily system, and that's not what I want to see at all. I would ask for less homogenization, not more of it as that drastically diminishes class individuality.

Dissipation being a fairy swap is interesting but not really useful, though I do agree they need to be adjusted, in particular Selene.

[Deceptus]

SCH's are and have been a jack of all trades healer

That is literally AST. . .

They do both things, shield and regen.

[Risvertasashi]

That is literally AST. . .

They do both things, shield and regen.

Well, there is a nuance. SCH has a powerful AOE regen without needing to give up its shields. Caveat is you can only use it once a minute.

[inhaledcorn]

Well, there is a nuance. SCH has a powerful AOE regen without needing to give up its shields. Caveat is you can only use it once a minute.

To add to that, AST can't be both at the same time. It needs to choose to either be Regen heals or Shields and loses complete access to the other heal (except in Celestial Opposition).

[MAD_ARCHITECT]

You may be right but the current play style doesn't support a strategist type job. In fact it favors a use your atherflows before you atherflow cool down timer is up job... Without these mana returns aldo and succor become nearly unworkable and will kill your mana in a heartbeat.

SCH has always been about the wise timing and appropriate management of Aetherflow skills woven through with the rest. Blowing through three Lustrates right after putting AF on cooldown is a quick ticket to a wipe when an emergency arises. You need to use your other tools in between your uses of Aetherflow in order to ration them out over the cooldown time--but those other tools aren't, and shouldn't, be so good that Aetherflow abilities just become a very nice, very possibly OP, bonus. Not running out of mana vs not running out of instant Aetherflow heals at a critical time is the very razor's edge on which the job is balanced.

Do we need buffs to this approach to healing to help us out? Certainly, particularly on the mitigation side of things--and DPS, which is just one more way to control the battlefield, would be a very welcome addition, too, especially since the class is designed to give us a lot of time to deal damage.

All of that just to say: I still don't think the job is having an identity crisis. That's not the root of the problem. We're still tacticians. We're just a little crippled in comparison to our competitors, who don't have to do much tactician-ing at all to get the same results. It feels like our high skill ceiling is still there, but the reward for reaching it is gone in the name of balance, and the easier healing jobs are able to perform as well as we do for less effort, while also having skills that are more functional, nicer to look at, and easier to use. That is the real problem here.

[Shai]

In other threads, I have been defending SCH because people are being a bit dramatic, but honestly...


I've been wondering this same question myself. Scholar feels lost and it's partially why the job just doesn't feel fun anymore. From a Lore standpoint, Scholars should be tacticians. They are the team mates who study the battle plans and formations and make calculated decisions that affect the outcome of the battle. This was true before Astrologian when we were clearly the mitigation healer. Throwing down an Adloquium before every Mountain Buster in Titan Extreme, fending off Paralysis on every Prey marker in Turn 10 of Coil, these were tactical decisions that changed the flow of battle based on your personal understanding of that battle. Switching in and out of DPS mode and knowing when to heal or buff all contributed to a sense of tactical awareness that simply wasn't truly necessary on White Mage. White Mage was not nearly as tactical - yes it could DPS dance - but it's sole purpose was to make sure that no one died by pure force of healing power house.

Now, I don't feel particularly tactical. Certainly not as much as before. I don't feel like the DPS dancing healer because I'm easily out DPS'd by any other healer who is actually trying - especially in an AOE situation, there's no contest. I don't feel like the mitigation healer who buffs before big hits to avoid unwanted damage or status effects. I certainly can still do that, but it's dwarfed by Nocturnal Astrologians. I just really don't understand what kind of identity I'm supposed to have with Scholar now. I suppose I "tactically" decide between Excog and Lustrate, but I favor Lustrate 95% of the time. I suppose I "tactically" decide when to use Fey Union or Dissipation - and I do think I use these skills more than the average Scholar I've seen - but neither one of them feel particularly satisfying.

Honestly, I think if I had to admit I'm not going to be the DPS-Hybrid (which I don't understand) or the Mitigation Healer (so be it) then at least make me the Pet Healer, or the Stratagem Healer. If I'm the Pet Healer then give my Pet more unique abilities that I can use more often. The Silence that I can't rely on to actually interrupt a cast is next to useless. If I'm the Stratagem Healer then give me more than just Chain Stratagem and Emergency Tactics, but a wide variety of party-buffing stratagems that I can use tactically to improve certain parts of a raid or pull. I don't know. I just simply feel like SE has lost their way with Scholar. It currently feels like the "Your Not The Healer You Used to Be" job and didn't really get any new distinguishing identity to compensate for its losses.

[Deox]

That is literally AST. . .

They do both things, shield and regen.

False statement , AST Sheild OR Regen. They have to pick an identity

SCH has always been about the wise timing and appropriate management of Aetherflow skills woven through with the rest. Blowing through three Lustrates right after putting AF on cooldown is a quick ticket to a wipe when an emergency arises. You need to use your other tools in between your uses of Aetherflow in order to ration them out over the cooldown time--but those other tools aren't, and shouldn't, be so good that Aetherflow abilities just become a very nice, very possibly OP, bonus. Not running out of mana vs not running out of instant Aetherflow heals at a critical time is the very razor's edge on which the job is balanced.

Do we need buffs to this approach to healing to help us out? Certainly, particularly on the mitigation side of things--and DPS, which is just one more way to control the battlefield, would be a very welcome addition, too, especially since the class is designed to give us a lot of time to deal damage.

All of that just to say: I still don't think the job is having an identity crisis. That's not the root of the problem. We're still tacticians. We're just a little crippled in comparison to our competitors, who don't have to do much tactician-ing at all to get the same results. It feels like our high skill ceiling is still there, but the reward for reaching it is gone in the name of balance, and the easier healing jobs are able to perform as well as we do for less effort, while also having skills that are more functional, nicer to look at, and easier to use. That is the real problem here.

Literally one of the few sane post since 4.0 launched

[LegoTechnic]

To add to that, AST can't be both at the same time. It needs to choose to either be Regen heals or Shields and loses complete access to the other heal (except in Celestial Opposition).

Yes, and SCH have a similar decision. They can either have a regen available, or choose to buff DPS with a minor Arrow card effect. While SCH is able to switch mid-battle for 2400 MP, the abilities share the same cooldown so you can't have both active at the same time or even consecutively unless you have two SCH.

In essence, they're giving up their mini-Arrow card ability for a Regen instead of a Balance, but without all the RNG nonsense involving the "heart of the cards".

[Asuras]

Scholars are strategists that are most effective with planning actions well before the event. I "believe" Alphinaud to be their prominent representative in the MSQ. I don't think there's an identity crisis. I think it's just an issue of execution. I liked to think that pre-Stormblood scholars really excelled when the basics of scripted fights were well known. They will know when to push extra DPS and shield upcoming mechanics. Now I think that is reversed. Scholars seem to be better now early on blind runs. My first Susano EX clear was with 2 Scholars who pretty much carried our sorry butts by spamming Lustrate and Indom between both of their aether stacks. Instant heals on our mass screw-ups saved the day. Now that he's on farm status... well...

[MrAptronym]

I actually came to the forums wondering this. I'm new (I played for a very short time a few years ago) with no endgame experience, I can't add much. I can mention the impressions I had going into the game. I gravitated to scholar when I started playing. My impression was that the scholar was a mitigation specialist who, by using shields and the pet, could free up time to DPS a little. A class that required planning to juggle limited charges, a pet and to time shields well. I figured White Mage was the maximum healing option, and Astrologian was able to fill in either role to a lesser extent while making up for the difference with potent buffs. So: proactive vs. retroactive vs. support specializations.

All of the content up to my level has been really trivial to heal, so differences really haven't come out. I wanted to see what was intended for us but it sounds like scholars are having a bit of an existential crisis right now. Honestly, I want to be the proactive mitigation healer going forward, not the pet healer or the versatile healer. I'm sticking with scholar for now, but it's a bit disheartening to hear that a lot of people view the class differently from how I envisioned.