To healers enjoying 5.0: a gil for your thoughts?

[Lynesse]

I l-o-v-e SCH.

I told my friends that it might be my favorite MMO design ever.

It flows perfectly. We don't have an Aetherflow dump, and if we had Energy Drain, it might be a bit more fun, but it doesn't matter to me too much.

Bio + Swiftcast + Fey Illumination -> Broil + Aetherflow + Chain Stratagem -> Broil spam, and using Ruin II to weave heals feels so good to me. Art of War is pretty, and being able to weave is perfect. Timing Lucid to manage my MP does add a little something.

With SCH in this state, I feel like I'm having my cake and eating it too. I can adapt to what's changing while keeping up my DPS, and all with a pretty wide margin of error.

It becomes a game of, "Can I avoid using Ruin II? Do I have another option somewhere? Can I wait for Bio?" If I can't avoid using Ruin II, it doesn't break up my rhythm, so I feel rewarded for making the choice that benefits my party instead of my DPS.

Unlike old WHM, which forced me to clip.

I feel like there are now three levels of SCH play.

The baseline of using your abilities as you need them, which would result in clipping.

Then you have a higher level of play that involves riding the GCD and weaving with Ruin II.

And then you have the highest level of play, which is all about riding the GCD really hard and minimizing your use of Ruin II as much as possible.

It looks simple and boring on paper, but putting everything together in a way that maximizes my DPS makes me feel like I'm a masterful artist.

[Mikaeus_The_Lunarch]

I l-o-v-e SCH.
.

careful you don't get run over by the SCH mafia. but i agree wholeheartedly

[Lynesse]

careful you don't get run over by the SCH mafia. but i agree wholeheartedly

I understand their concerns. Energy Drain could add something, but my honest opinion? I like sitting on Aetherflow. I know that's a big no-no, but it was only a big no-no because not spending excess Aetherflow was a DPS loss.

But now it's like I end up with one extra Aetherflow, and it comes at no cost. It's a big ol' buff to me.

[Silver-Strider]

Other than a few nitpicks, I don't really have much to complain about.

I haven't really had any MP issues so far on SCH and Art of War isn't as bad as people claim it to be. Sure, its more expensive than Holy/Gravity but since its instant cast, I can weave some oGCD in between without issue so I view it as a plus rather than minus. As for my nitpicks;
I would like Energy Drain back as an Aetherflow dump since spamming Lustrate to get rid of them feels awful.I would also like for Aetherflow to be usable outside of combat again since its really bothersome trying to put an Excog before a large pull now and have Lustrate on standby for when a Tank is squishy. Finally, LET ME SEE EOS!!!!! I lose sight of her so often that I can't tell her location for her skills and its really made using skills like Whispering Dawn a bit of a hassle.

My WHM is having a ball with the Afflatus Spells. Sure, they're on the GCD but damn if it doesn't make healing those big pulls pretty much effortless when you have some nice instant cast spells ready to fire off. Not to mention the fact moving is now a non-issue for me since I can heal everyone at once without trying to crutch on Assize alone. My only issue really is with PI being really lack luster now that its just a boost to my other AoE heal rather than being something I could stock up and save for an upcoming hit instead.

Haven't tried AST yet but I was never really big on them or their whole card mechanics so I'm neutral to it all right now.

[Lynesse]

Yeah, letting us see Eos would be great. That was an odd change.

Excog + Sacred Soil leaves us with one Aetherflow. That's Lustrate for later in the fight. After this is when we have a surplus of Aetherflow. But it doesn't bother me too much. I don't spam Lustrate to get rid of it just because Aetherflow is off cooldown. Aetherflow being off cooldown just means I have 3 more Aetherflow for when I need them.

This may feel odd in anything you have on farm, but in DF, it means you're never bottlenecked by Aetherflow because people are standing in everything.

[althenawhm]

[QUOTE=Lynesse;5047937But now it's like I end up with one extra Aetherflow, and it comes at no cost. It's a big ol' buff to me.[/QUOTE]

No, there is a cost, you are missing out on faery gauge.

[Clicked]

SCH is only 67 but so far it feels pretty good. I don't play healers for complex dps rotations anyhow. DPS have that. I kind of prefer the simpler rotation in between heals. Makes it more easy to monitor everything else in combat.

Soloing does suck though...

[Jerichai]

I l-o-v-e SCH.

Snip

SCH literally had all these things before the expansion...just with more interesting decision making on facets like Aetherflow or being able to use Dissipation as a soft DPS cooldown when healing was not a factor to give a couple of examples. Not to mention more DPS spells to break up the monotony that is currently the "spam broil" phase.

Like nothing you just suggested couldn't be done or considered prior to the expansion...it's all just become more bland...

[kartana]

AST: Feels pretty good, the System is fun because you can even Stack the DMG Buff.

What does this mean? Stack how exactly? Can someone give an example?

[Lynesse]

No, there is a cost, you are missing out on faery gauge.

Trust me, by the time you need the Faerie Gauge, it's maxed. You don't have to rush those 10 Aetherflow abilities. This also doesn't impact your DPS.

SCH literally had all these things before the expansion...just with more interesting decision making on facets like Aetherflow or being able to use Dissipation as a soft DPS cooldown when healing was not a factor to give a couple of examples. Not to mention more DPS spells to break up the monotony that is currently the "spam broil" phase.

Like nothing you just suggested couldn't be done or considered prior to the expansion...it's all just become more bland...

We used Miasma II to weave, not Ruin II. So no, it didn't work the same.

Miasma II was clunky and tacked on -- literally tacked on, in fact -- and it forced the player to reposition when they needed to use it, which was awkward when you were dodging mechanics, and only acceptable when something was on farm.

I'd say that the DPS abilities in Stormblood made SCH's raid opener more interesting, but that's it.

Rouse was just kind of there. Bane was very poorly programmed, where if you used it too soon after Bio II, it didn't apply the effect. Shadow Flare was a ground AoE in a game that lacks certain QoL elements of other games.

Stormblood SCH wasn't that great to me. It was broken at launch, and they fixed it somewhat thoughtlessly. We were spamming a DoT in AoE pulls -- part of the clunk is because it was rewarding us for what should have been considered bad practice, so it felt wrong to me.

I'm not trying to be confrontational. I'm not trying to say you're wrong. SCH had a nice rhythm, and I empathize with people who miss that extra layer of complexity. I just feel like the new SCH still has that same rhythm, we only weave different skills now, and admittedly, there's less to weave overall.

But what is there is a very solid, deliberate design.