Questions/Tips for Scholar - in general 4.0 and progressing to endgame content?

[FalalaMaru]

Hi, first off I would like to state that I am by no means any pro sch but I would like to offer some of my experiences to answer those question.

Is Fey Union even viable? Given that it fails to be boosted by anything at all and I read something about embrace potency in the same timeframe being better is there a reason to even use it, or is the top-level skill that I just got going to go to waste?

Yes, granted it's not an almighty lvl 70 skill one would expect but it is viable. The way I see it is that you can use it as a constant flow of physick spam while you yourself are free to be more mobile, this only really shines in dungeons/raids where moving and positioning to stay alive is prioritized as the fairy seems to be immune to mechanics. Also a great help when you know huge raid wide aoe dmg is going to go out and both you and co-healer are going to be spending 1-2 gcds to heal the pt up.

Other than Lucid Dreaming or a dedicated manabattery on your team, what else can I do as a scholar to work on MP management? Sometimes between DPSing and throwing GCD heals when necessary I just wind up struggling in the lower portion of my bar, especially when solo healing 4-mans. I'm really feeling the Aetherflow nerf with this one, as I never noticed such a struggle when I used to play casually pre-4.0.

From my own experience, my mp could drop as low as 10% in 4 man's but usually the group of mobs dies at this point and I was also using Miasma II as soon as the dot finishes so I could've save more mp if needed. I feel the only time where you're really strapped for mp even with lucid dreaming is if you overused adloquim too much. Despite what people say, physick + embrace is actually pretty damn viable in 4 mans to keep the tank alive should it come to that. Using your aetherflow aggressively on skills like lustrate, excog, energy drain even is encouraged now with quickened aetherflow. That being said it's still on you to manage these. You should be able to refresh your aetherflow stacks between each pull, if not in the middle of one.

In 8 mans I've never really felt like my mp was too little. I think as sch you have to be a little bit selfish when it comes to healing. This isn't to say that you shouldn't be doing any and letting your poor co-healer solo everything for you, but instead know how much healing is needed through each raid wide aoe. If your co-healers Medika II + Assize is enough to heal through it, then you can just sit back and continue to dps, if it isn't then throw out a succor if you don't need immediate heals, a lustrate if you do.

Going into raid content, is there really a place to just... start? Do I find a group to run coils with or do I just jump into Omega progression, and how do I even start that? Any tips for a first-time scholar who will probably wind up as an off-healer?

Unfortunately there aren't that many people who are doing older raids like coil or alexander anymore and even if they are, they're doing it unsynced which kind of defeats the purpose of getting raid experience. I started with omega 1-4 then slowly but surely pugged my way into omega 1-4 savage. I'm now practicing on o4s despite still being on my 1st sub payment since I started the game, an achievement definitely but I'm no way close to seasoned raiders. In the end I think it all comes down to having the right mentality and being able to find a group that would be willing to pick you up. Of course you should do everything in your own time to polish what you can before joining these statics.

Hope I was able to help you with your sch!