If I was on the development team, this is what I would have done for SCH

[VanilleFang]

Thank God you're not on the dev team.

[RajaVamberaux]

OP you've laid out these changes you'd like to see made to Scholar but no where do you justify why they're necessary.

What do you think is wrong with Scholar as-is? The job is exactly like it was in HW except better. And more balanced with the other healers (meaning not overpowered).

You have a lot of explaining to do before going off on these diatribes every other week.

[Aetherstar]

I've only recently played SCH at 70 in savage raids, but I guess I'm missing a few key things about the class' toolkit that claim to make SCH supposedly "okay" or "balanced" compared to the other 2 healers. I'm mostly going on the thought process of how the other 2 healers (WHM/AST) can easily take a main heal role but SCH's seem to struggle in that role or was never really intended to take the main heal role. If they were ever able to or they actually can right now, then I clearly have been out of the loop and need to see how pros can make it work. I just feel that there's clunky aspects to its key mechanics right now to let SCH play as smoothly as the other two.

[Teraluna]

I've only recently played SCH at 70 in savage raids, but I guess I'm missing a few key things about the class' toolkit that claim to make SCH supposedly "okay" or "balanced" compared to the other 2 healers. I'm mostly going on the thought process of how the other 2 healers (WHM/AST) can easily take a main heal role but SCH's seem to struggle in that role or was never really intended to take the main heal role. If they were ever able to or they actually can right now, then I clearly have been out of the loop and need to see how pros can make it work. I just feel that there's clunky aspects to its key mechanics right now to let SCH play as smoothly as the other two.

I'm sure all three healing classes are intended to be main healers. Also in an ideal world they would each compliment the other in a raid environment.

But the decision to make the Ast with a mix and match of whm and sch abilities has clouded the waters.
Now, groups will forever be judging which is the better two to have in the raid. An originally weaker Ast meant it was left out. It was strengthened and put pressure on the whm class. With the 4.0 changes, sch is perceived as third in line.

And this is the fundamental part - Perceptions. Once a class is seen as taking a hit, it can take some time, and some headline buffs, to change the perception and desirability of it.

But that is the situation the devs have put themselves in by having the Ast with overlapping skills (or in fact direct copies in some cases).

The original two - whm & sch - worked well due to their differences. A third healing class should have been substantially different again, maybe a melee mace and shield healing class (still hoping for this by the way).

But now we'll forever be faced with juggling buffs & nerfs on the three healers in ongoing attempts to get them near perfectly equal and desirable in the players' eyes.

[Fernosaur]

It's hard to justify SCH DPS in even high-end content except v4S when a WHM can brute force most of the healing on its own.

Not everyone and their mothers are doing solo healing runs, and even in those neither SCH or WHM have a place bc NoctAST sweeps the ground with every other healing job when it comes to solo healing.

In standard healer comps, though? You need a SCH if you want any ounce of efficiency. Sure, WHM+NoctAST have some good value for progression and mitigation, but SCH+AST/WHM is so much more healing efficient than any other pairing because SCH's main contribution is still the same as it was in HW: It can heal through a lot of heavy damage, both raidwide and single target, without spending any GCD, MP, or even a personal action.

This is exacerbated even more when paired with AST because of the high healing potency of Earthy Star. These two jobs together can heal most fights without using much GCD healing at all, outside of refreshing Aspected Benefic, one or two Aspected Helios, and using Adlo for Deployments or Succor for incoming big hits. The rest is easly handled by Indomitability, Embrace, Fey Union, Whispering Dawn, Collective Unconscious and Earthly Star.

Seriously, buffing SCH any further at this point outside of some QoL changes (making Dissipation useable) will just break the healers again and send WHM to the ditch once more. As it is rn, WHM has retained a healthy reputation that it is okay and can compete with SCH and AST, but who knows for how long that's going to keep on.

[Ftail]

There are only two problems I have with SCH for savage raiding, the first problem: PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD FIX THE FAIRY AI... If my fairy is on obey, I should have 100% complete control over it. I shouldn't have to wait till it finishes what it's doing for me to tell it to cast Whispering Dawn.

The second problem I have is during savage raid and the other healer fucks up a mechanic and dies. If I'm lucky enough to have indom up at that point I can usually prevent the raid from wiping, even if it is up I can only cast indom a single time and I better pray more raid AOE doesn't come out because succor is just a complete joke of an aoe healing spell. A single example of this would be V1 Savage, the other healer fucks up and dies and the boss is casting back to back chernobyl/roars that requires extremely heavy healing. SCH is the one class that doesn't have an, "OH SHIT THE OTHER HEALER IS DEAD!!!" Emergency Spam button.

[Aetherstar]

The second problem I have is during savage raid and the other healer fucks up a mechanic and dies. If I'm lucky enough to have indom up at that point I can usually prevent the raid from wiping...

SCH is the one class that doesn't have an, "OH SHIT THE OTHER HEALER IS DEAD!!!" Emergency Spam button.

Yes, thank you for this post. The fairy AI is absolute garbage for sure and to quote Sebazy, trying to cast Whispering Dawn is like a coin toss every single time when you need it the most. What gives me issues when I play SCH is if the co-healer screws up in Savage content and dies. In this scenario, I have to hardcore clench because I feel that SCH has no proper repeatable heavy healing spells for the party. I always hope that I didn't use Indom before or WD actually activates early enough that its tics mitigate the next raid buster.

[technole]

You have Emergency and Deployment, one of which is far superior to the other healers on surviving gut punchers in-a-pinch. Heavy AoE mechanics that actually don't require full HP to survive because of that skill. Ensure Eos placed correctly (Largesse-Adlo), Deploy to the party off of her, survive the big hit and then do everything else later. Plus you still have Largesse up for whatever else you need to heal. You are not OOL after Indom or ET. Don't forget on-demand, no channel-required 10% Sacred Soil that everyone likes to claim is useless (it's not in O4S). It's really about using what skills you have.

[Fernosaur]

You have Emergency and Deployment, one of which is far superior to the other healers on surviving gut punchers in-a-pinch.

Exactly. Charybdis + Roar is very easy to solo "heal" for SCH because you can just Deploy and laugh at the incoming roar. One ET Succor is usually enough to survive if you do Deploy, and IIRC there's no real danger in the form of raidwide hits right after so you have plenty of time to think of your next move to top the party off.

If anything, I think Charybdis > Twin Bolt is harder to manage alone in an emergency (read: you're not prepared for the other healer dying before it and don't have necessary CDs available), but if the tanks are good you really shouldn't. I've been in both situations before when the other healer died before both Charyb > Roar and Twin Bolt, and managed pretty well even though I had very little resources left.