SCH Aetherflow Changes

[adamswagem]

Honestly, the only problem with Aetherflow in its current state is its ties to the Fairy Gauge.

No that definitely is not the only problem but it is one of them. It being in combat only is just goofy, and as OP said you very frequently find yourself having a stack to use but no reason to use it. I do like your solution about having an ability that lowers CDs at the cost of fairy but I doubt they would implement that. Maybe a shield ability at the cost of aether so it doesnt feel terrible when you have aetherflow up off CD, with a stack to use and nothing to heal. We need some sort of aetherflow dump ASAP

[Sylve]

No that definitely is not the only problem but it is one of them. It being in combat only is just goofy, and as OP said you very frequently find yourself having a stack to use but no reason to use it. I do like your solution about having an ability that lowers CDs at the cost of fairy but I doubt they would implement that. Maybe a shield ability at the cost of aether so it doesnt feel terrible when you have aetherflow up off CD, with a stack to use and nothing to heal. We need some sort of aetherflow dump ASAP

Thing is, I shouldn't have to ever feel like I need to "burn" resources to get another resource. Making Aetherflow charges have a passive effect (FG Generation) and an active effect (Any AF Action) makes it so holding the AF cooldown is a tactical decision. FG generation for holding it vs "burning" it to use AF again.
Then by tacking on a bonus spell for cooldown reduction based off the FG, We could literally hold Charges to generate FG to spend on Cooldown Reduction to throw a faster Chain Strat/Seraph/Recitation/Indom etc, or spend those AF stacks for instant FG to recast AF for MP.

To reiterate, we currently feel pressured to "Waste" an aetherflow stack on an unnecessary Heal when AF is off Cooldown, or "waste" unused AF charges to put AF back on Cooldown(+MP). Since the reason it feels like a waste is because an unused AF stack doesn't generate FG, combined with just not enough things that interact with said FG, what we need is to address both problems at once.
IE, something beneficial for holding onto an AF stack despite AF being ready and then something to spend excess FG on so overcapping it doesn't feel so crap.