SCH opinons on the change

[Kabzy]

You mean the pet that fires of embrace so we have a benefic 2 size heal

Scholar has been a job for years now, do people still not realise the Faeries potencies are not the same as ours?!

It has a completely different formula and Embrace is only marginally better than a Regen tick.

[giantslayer]

EOS to .. yea i leave it to fate after i mash Whispering Dawn 2 times.

That being said, i am still targeting at the fact that our Faerie needs more improvement. Obey needs to be reiterated into their AI.

PS: i still love my Faeries <3

Main issue with Whispering Dawn is it is on the faerie's GCD. Say faerie just started Embrace. You have to wait 3s for that GCD to be over, then she can start the 2s cast. That puts you anywhere between 2-5s to get WD up.

With the right macro, you can cancel her Embrace and get her immediately started on WD. With a good macro, your worst case scenario is she just finished Embrace and you have to wait 1s for her GCD to refresh. That puts the timeframe at 2-3s to execute instead of 2-5s.

If you are interested, there are details in my guide. I haven't gotten around to doing a SB update yet, but WD hasn't changed.
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/209109-How-To-Train-Your-Faerie-A-Comprehensive-Guide

In regards to the faerie range question, there is not a max range to command faerie. She remains responsive until she unsummons due to distance.

Aetherpact is a little different because it is YOU using an ability that causes the faerie to use an ability, similar to Enkindle. I just tested it and the target of Aetherpact does need to be within 25y of the SCH. Faerie will move to get in range the target and cast Fey Union, same as how Embrace is handled outside faerie range.

[giantslayer]

Overall thoughts on the changes:

Miasma II
Heck yes. I have AOE damage again! I know some people don't like the short range, but it really helps break up the monotony of standing still and Broil spamming. Plus I'm used to it, from doing Miasma II and Blizzard II back in the day.

Aetherflow
This is a huge buff, honestly more than I would have expected before the live letter. This gives us more MP, more lustrates/energy drains, more faerie gauge, and even makes Dissipation better. After two expansions of watching other healers get more oGCD healing resources while we only got more ways to use the same resource pool, we now have an increase to our base resource. I find myself hardly ever lacking Aetherflow when I need it (granted, my playing habits are based on years of the 60s cooldown).

Fey Union
15y range seems about right. While I would prefer deactivation if the target goes out of range, not burning faerie gauge is the next best thing.

Excogitation
Buff is nice. With 45s duration, it is a lot more forgiving. The potency buff removes the issue of it being hard to justify excogitation vs lustrate.

Emergency Tactics
I don't usually use this much, but this is the primary resource we have to mitigate the bad luck of PUGing into a double SCH group, so the shorter cooldown will help there.

Indomitability
I didn't think this needed a buff, but our AOE healing was a bit on the weak side.

Overall, SCH feels a lot more powerful and now feels stronger than Heavensward, rather than weaker.

[Feidam]

Scholar has been a job for years now, do people still not realise the Faeries potencies are not the same as ours?!

It has a completely different formula and Embrace is only marginally better than a Regen tick.

You left off the part of my post that said embrace and physick had to combine to get that level.

[giantslayer]

You left off the part of my post that said embrace and physick had to combine to get that level.

Faerie potency at lvl 60+ is approximately 2/3 of advertised potency. 250 potency Embrace is approximately equivalent to 170 real potency.
400 + 170 = 570.

Back in 2.x, Embrace was a full 300 so Physick + Embrace used to be 700, but after two rounds of nerfs, that is no longer the case.

[Silver-Strider]

Snip

There is all of 2 abilities that affect the SCH's shields, E-Tactics and Deployment tactics. E-Tactics does nothing more than turn Adlo into a Cure 2/Benefic 2. Deployment tactics is literally 1 of the only skills keeping SCH relevant in Raids. It's a great skill but to say that you have a whole kit surrounding shield as a SCH is a very large exaggeration.

It's funny that you say to look at the whole kit but completely ignore the fact that AST's toolkit can extends the duration of Spear. Even with the RNG elements of AST's toolkit, Spear will see more uptime on an AST than SCH can ever hope to maintain on Chain Stratagem because AST's toolkit enables that sort of interaction. It's very possible to get 2 AoE Spears within the 2 minute CD of Chain Stratagem thus allowing for Spear to easily surpass what Chain Stratagem offers.

RNG cards that are instant and responsive with several courses of interaction vs a fairy that
1) Can be killed, either due to enemies or because of Dissipation
2) Will not instantly execute a command over it's Embrace auto attack, resulting in time wasted repeated hitting the same command over again in hopes that it will finally go thru.

[Feidam]

The Ast buffs do out out pace that of the scholar. But personal dps wise the scholar out paces the Ast. Is it a perfect wash in the end no, but balance will never be perfect. We just need to get it close.

Deployment tactics is a shining skill for the scholar, but I believe after 4.05 the scholar is being done an injustice if you think that is the only reason that they are brought to raids.

[Silver-Strider]

Snip.

What is it with people and selective reading on these forums? I said 1 of the only skills, not that it was the only skill. There is a grand total of 4 things a SCH brings to raids.

Chain Stratagem
Deployment Tactics
Fey Covenant
Sacred Soil

Going by this, I think it's fair to say that SCH would be a mitigation based healer. The rest of SCH's toolkit is largely irrelevant as it's the basic toolkit of all other healers as well, just with different potency/CDs/etc.

Now, I already admitted that Deployment Tactics was one of SCH's best skills. Regardless of whether or not the Adlo Crits, it still provides a shield for everyone and when coupled with Fey Covenant/Sacred Soil, provides more mitigation than all other healers. It's a proactive healer that shines by reducing damage before it happens but is a little lacking in the AoE department, with Succor being a very weak shield and heal, Indom being locked behind Aetherstacks and has a 30 second CD between each use and Whispering Dawn being on a minute long CD. That isn't to say they can't heal thru AoE situations but they are harder pressed than WHM or AST to do so. E-Tactics does help in the AoE department as well by providing Succor with more healing factor as opposed to just a heal and shield and realistically the shield from Succor is fairly minute and easily removed by any minor attack that you're probably better off using it with E-Tactics for a more substantial heal after the initial hit anyways.

That said however, I do feel SCH's identity as a mitigation healer is being somewhat infringed upon by AST. Their faster, stronger, cheaper shields are just more favorable in many situations than SCH's own shielding abilities and that doesn't feel right. AST is the best buff class in the game and offers a good middle ground as a healer between WHM and SCH but the problem is that AST's shields are often times stronger than SCH's own. Not just in potency but in MP efficiency as well as cast times. I honestly feel SE got turned around and should have increased the cost of AST's shield since it has so many advantages over SCH's own. The new Spear is also a slap in the face to SCH as it copied Chain Stratagem and gave it an upgrade on several fronts. AST's toolkit is designed with their cards in mind to extend the duration of cards for longer and despite the fact Chain Stratagem does have an advantage in solo fights, add phases obscure its usefulness somewhat as now DPS have to focus elsewhere, which could lead Spear to be superior in those situations. I won't put much mention Bole because while it does provide mitigation, it's seldom used as other cards are more favored and only used when you couldn't get anything better on your draws.

If SCH's identity as a mitigation healer is to be maintained, I feel that they should be given more tools to aid in that endeavor while also putting a greater emphasize on shields, rather than away from shields and more focus on their Aetherflow stacks which is currently the direction the class is taking. I also feel AST needs to be reevaluated because it's ever growing toolkit is just becoming too big for it's own good if it's infringing this greatly into SCH's identity.

[Supersun]

Honestly I think they are shifting Scholar away from a mitigation healer to a free HoT healer.

[MsTanya]

A little perspective on deploy. Adlo at ilvl 318 does 5500 roughly non crit non buffed in most cases this is what you will deploy unless you fish for crits or stack every healing buff in the game up for one single mechanic. From my experience though most heavy damage now comes out much more often than 120 seconds so it only gives you a small window of breathing room and only if its heavily catered to by an entire raid. Fishing for crits isn't really a thing anymore so lets just say most deploys are 5500-8300 if you largesse+dissipate. Noct AH in the same gear same weapon tier is a 3300 aoe heal and 5000 shield for equal mp as one single adlo cast, think about that for a second. You're getting an equal shield to a regular adlo plus 3300 healing party wide, equal in shield+heal potency to just the shield alone of a deployed largesse+disspated adlo. Yes those crit catered to adlos can be godly but the consistency and power of AH isn't to be underestimated.