Miasma II: A skill reborn right

[Fernosaur]

The problems are twofold:
First, Miasma II is horribly inefficient for MP. I ran some numbers of Damage-Per-Minute:MP ratios for various numbers of enemies and gave up after I hit 50. It's that bad. We already have problems with MP efficiency, and this doesn't help.
Second, the 5y radius. Add 15y range to our AoE heals. That's 20y. We aren't going to be getting those max-range folks parked out at 25y from the boss without moving, and that costs time.

While it isn't incredibly MP efficient to spam it, you have that option for pulls, and if you can't waste the MP, you just let the DoTs tick and use other spells. Miasma II is a very powerful healer AoE spell (not counting abilities), perhaps only comparable to Holy bc of the later's much bigger range and Stun effect, which is still the most powerful AoE for trash imo. It's instant, costs less MP than the other two, and is versatile thanks to the DoT.

Holy and Gravity's damage scaling make it so after 4 targets they both deal the same damage as Miasma II's initial hit, but AST and WHM don't have the option of waiting 4 GCDS to let an "extra" Holy/Gravity tick on the enemy while they tend to the tank or just DPS other mobs down with more efficient MP consumption. On top of this, while Bane's damage is not super significant, you have between 20 to 70 potency dots ticking on every enemy, plus the 50 potency ticks from Shadow Flare. It's very respectable AoE damage.

I don't see how anyone would think this spell is bad, tbh. Also, the new traited Aetherflow will definitely help with MP efficiency, and a lot at that, since it will be used 150% more times in any given instance.

I'm not a big fan of using it in single target raid encounters save for a few times unless you can totally spare the MP, but otherwise the new weaving opportunity which can basically be used at any point and still be a DPS gain over Ruin II is very welcome! The spell alone fixed some of my biggest gripes with how SCH ended up in SB, so I'm glad it was added.

[Rawrz]

Which can basically be used at any point and still be a DPS gain over Ruin II is very welcome! The spell alone fixed some of my biggest gripes with how SCH ended up in SB, so I'm glad it was added.

We think too much alike sometimes Fern xD

I caught the rdm fever, but I'll level sch now. Maybe enjoy it.

[Fernosaur]

We think too much alike sometimes Fern xD

I caught the rdm fever, but I'll level sch now. Maybe enjoy it.

Dude! I was actually thinking of coming back to the forum to tell you about my first raid night as SCH. I ended up raiding on SCH temporarily because one of our healers is having issues and won't be able to make it for a while, so I'm covering for them while another friend subs me as OT.

Edit: Holy shit super long rambling incoming! Read in if you wanna see some SCH positivity for a change.

Once we were done, I kept thinking about you cause I really, really felt SCH is a lot like old SCH now. Miasma II is... dude, THE WEAVES! It definitely is the new Aero/Bio, lmao. You will definitely have some MP issues if you abuse it too much, but with a ranged DPS using Refresh whenever needed this isn't even a real problem. It even helps them manage their enmity lmao.

The new Aetherflow trait is INSANE. I honestly felt a bit overwhelmed at first cause I kept seeing Aetherflow ready while I was sitting on one or two stacks due to old habits from progression. It seriously adresses some of the bigger MP issues that came with the high MP costs, and our gated utility being more readily available is wonderful. Likewise, while I still think the Indom buff was super unnecessary, it is definitely noticeable and I won't complain one bit.

Chain Stratagem and Cleric Stance (I just noticed they both have the same acronym so when I next say CS I'm referring to Stratagem) are also more or less interesting, since you have a little burst phase now, and timing CS with raid buffs is fun and something SCH didn't really get to do during prog before bc lol Selene.

Excogitation isn't super amazing, but it's a very potent burst heal and it's reeeaally good for scripted mechanics. For Twin Bolts in particular it sees a lot of use, since I can top the OT off without even actually having to worry about when I need to weave in spells. I just preemptively put Excog on him whenever I have to do Bio II, and then use Fey Union to top him off, letting the WHM top the MT off with a single Cure II and going back to DPSing. I found this is an extremely efficient way of handling tank busters, since the same could be done even in a situation in which only one tank is hit. Honestly, I think SCH is gonna be the de-facto healer for busters, since with those two skills in conjunction the other healer doesn't even need to worry about precasting.

Another thing about Excog which was useful to me during raid was that, if you know someone's gonna need a big heal in the next 45 seconds (which is honestly a massive time frame in this game) and Aetherflow is about to go on CD, you can use Excog on them and have a mechanic covered almost a minute in advance, and getting back some MP and resources. You could argue that that use of Excog could have been an Energy Drain and it'd be the same case, but in this way Excog actually helps you cover for possible mistakes. If you end up using the next Aetherflow on ED anyways? No loss. But if someone else fucks up and ends up eating your stacks to cover for mistakes, then you covered the mechanic with Excog and still had stacks to deal with surprises. Also, even if it is you who fucks up and you die, Excog remains as a buff so you'll even heal from the grave, lmao.

On the same note, I think people don't give enough credit to Fey Union. The response time is super garbage, but as with a lot of the more powerful fairy skills (looking at you, WD), it's just a matter of knowing the fight and trying to preemptively time it to the best of your ability, taking this delay in consideration. It would be great if it could be more reactionary, but being so used to WD's delay, I didn't find myself too bothered by this except in a couple of situations in which it was really bad. Fortunately, since I never really thought of it as an on-demand emergency ability, it didn't matter much that it was late. It's literally an Embrace on steroids to top someone off with relative speed without wasting GCDs. This is pretty welcome after the Embrace nerf. Again, more healing efficiency.

Anyways, I'm just rambling now. I only came here to encourage you to try SCH out again. I think you definitely will not be disappointed. There are a couple things I still miss from the old times, but I don't long for HW Scholar with sadness anymore. It's more like rose-tinted nostalgia now, hahaha. Even in dungeons! I had originally levelled WHM as my healer for doing roulettes and whatnot, but with Miasma II and Excog buffs, I think both of them are equally enjoyable and powerful. I'm really really happy.

[BlueMageQuina]

Radius is too small. Either raise the radius or the DOT duration to make it worth my time. I shouldn't have to run up to each enemy individually to use it /exaggeration and if I were to do that, the damage should last a while.

[Riyshn]

Radius is too small. Either raise the radius or the DOT duration to make it worth my time. I shouldn't have to run up to each enemy individually to use it /exaggeration and if I were to do that, the damage should last a while.

You people saying this realize that it's really just a superior version of the Blizzard II we've been using up until SB, right? No one ever complained about that being a 5y PBAoE. They even cost about the same relative MP, in proportion to our MP pools.