How Energy Drain and Aetherflow healing should work.

[Gemina]

TL;DR - SCH gets Ruin IV-esque stacks for current non-damaging Aetherflow abilities.
Balance dependent on how many maximum stacks you allow. Probably 6 or 9.



I was talking to a friend and trying to decide whether to go AST or SCH for Ucob considering that we only had access to our level 70 kit.

After spit balling for a few minutes and comparing kits I realized once again (even though I thought I knew how bad it was) how punished SCH is for using their healing/support Aetherflow skills.

I stopped here, because I want to break something down for you. At least from how I see things.

"Punished" boils down to having to use GCDs on non-offensive skills. SCH being the primary barrier healer of the group suffers the most from this as both Galvanize and Catalyze status effects are tied to GCDs. By having the 'penalty' of using GCDs for support instead of damage taken away (very similar to WHM lily mechanic), you are basically asking for even more DPS uptime on SCH. This basically tacks on 300pot damage to the enemy each time the SCH uses a barrier. You need to understand that this makes SCH ridiculously OP, or they would have to make pot adjustments on their other skills to compensate; OR they disseminate those high potency increases for SCH among all the other jobs making them wonder why some of their skills had a bit of potency shaved off of them.

Ideally, the green-DPS SCH would love to spend all their aetherflow skills on Energy Drain, and when you cross this line you're basically making them a watered down SMN with the ability to ST/AoE Earthern Ward on demand. You probably can see where I am going to go with this.

Proceeding onward, Savage/Ultimate peeps would have to crunch hard numbers for you comparing SS to CO. For me, the fact that I can place SS wherever I want while on the move completely trumps any potency advantages CO has over SS. There are also intangible factors at play. As an example, most players see a beneficial bubble and think, "standing in this = good"; in contrast, not all players are aware of the residual effects of CO, and if you truly want to optimize CO, all players have to be in its radius when you fire it off.

Not everything is as it appears on paper. If you spend a good portion of time playing both AST and SCH, these things will make themselves known to you, and you can truly decide which one your playstyle favors. And that is really what it comes down to. Things like SS vs CO isn't going to make or break or party comp, and are supposed to compliment each other during an encounter. SCH shields are THE PERFECT example of how healer GCDs should be used. They feel really powerful and beneficial, so you don't really give a thought about the loss to DPS.

Free healing is actually a problem, and a big one at that. It, along with the lack of DPS skills are the two biggest contributors to healer boredom. SCH isn't getting Ruin IV; see above comment about the watered down SMN.

[Nethereal]

I stopped here, because I want to break something down for you. At least from how I see things.

"Punished" boils down to having to use GCDs on non-offensive skills. SCH being the primary barrier healer of the group suffers the most from this as both Galvanize and Catalyze status effects are tied to GCDs.

While this is true I consider this to simply be a part of every class being "punished" for using anything that isn't a dps skill when not during down it's not something specific to any one class or healer. What I'm specifically talking about is that every use of Aetherflow on anything that isn't ED is a 150 potency dps loss that cannot be recovered. Using Lilies when you would have to GCD heal is a DPS GAIN of 225 if you reach misery. If you're weaving properly you'll have 200 potency from ruin 2 but you still lost 150 potency from not using ED.

Now you might think these situations are exactly the same, they're not simply because properly using ED is always a DPS GAIN where as Lilies are in terms of being a dps skill is a DPS Loss.
You can completely ignore Lilies and not lose any dps whatsoever, the same is not true for Aetherflow healing and ED.
The only time Lilies are a complete DPS GAIN is when used during complete down time, however if you would have had to GCD on anything besides Glare or Dia they're a DPS GAIN because you would have lost the 225 potency provided by the Lily. Which would have been completely lost just like ED potency if you were to use it on something else. Though even then they're still different in that Aetherflow and ED you want to have on CD as fast as possible so you can fit as many EDs into the fight as possible where as for Lilies you only want to be able to fit as many Miseries in the fight as to how many Lilies you used. E.G. in a vacuum for DPS you would never Lily (unless there was a point in time where the target becomes untargetable), the opposite is true for Aetherflow and ED.

Now lets compare the situations as a SCH if I were to GCD heal I would lose 280 potency from not using broil and 117 potency from ED clipping the broil, a total of 397 potency. WHM gained 225 potency from GCD healing and SCH lost 280 without the broil, 397 with an ED. Lets say I ruin 2 instead of broil and then weave a oGCD heal instead of a GCD heal. That's still a 80 potency loss just from not using broil and a 197 potency loss if you add the ED. So unless I'm using aetherflow on anything except ED I'm being punished for oGCD healing and that's with using ruin 2 and not clipping.

To clarify using a Lily over Glare is a 75 potency loss, using anything besides ED during ruin 2 is a 230 potency loss. 150 for not using ED and 80 for using ruin 2. If you were to GCD it would be a 280 without ED and 397 with ED.
Also because Lilies are a GCD they're a good way to not clip your oGCDs. They are fundamentally different in that one is a gain and the other is mitigation of sorts.

You are basically asking for even more DPS uptime on SCH. This basically tacks on 300pot damage to the enemy each time the SCH uses a barrier. You need to understand that this makes SCH ridiculously OP, or they would have to make pot adjustments on their other skills to compensate; OR they disseminate those high potency increases for SCH among all the other jobs making them wonder why some of their skills had a bit of potency shaved off of them.

Actually what this does is exactly the same as Lilies. Where as Lilies give back dps for GCDs this new method would simply not punish you for healing, though effectively it does give back dps the same way lilies do.

Say if you were to use a Lily instead of GCD heal you would gain 225 potency. If you were to use an Aetherflow ability not ED you would lose 150. This gives back the 150 potency lost.
You could nerf the damage ED(probably down to 100) does since that damage is no longer completely lost but honestly even if you didn't nerf the damage it wouldn't make SCH OP at all. While it might pull away from AST more in personal dps it still wouldn't beat WHM just come closer to it. And if you're wondering if that would put AST in an awkward position, it wouldn't they have the highest rDPS.

you're basically making them a watered down SMN with the ability to ST/AoE Earthern Ward on demand. You probably can see where I am going to go with this.

Not really, no. They're the same coin each preoccupying a different side. The fact they're similar does not mean one is the other or vice versa. They're specializations of the
same class, similarities should not be something uncommon.

Proceeding onward, Savage/Ultimate peeps would have to crunch hard numbers for you comparing SS to CO. For me, the fact that I can place SS wherever I want while on the move completely trumps any potency advantages CO has over SS.
There are also intangible factors at play. As an example, most players see a beneficial bubble and think, "standing in this = good"; in contrast, not all players are aware of the residual effects of CO, and if you truly want to optimize CO, all players have to be in its radius when you fire it off.

A valid point. They're two sides to the same coin, one is stationary and has range versatility except you're punished for using it. The other close range with player mobility and completely free. As for the radius it's not much different from using a cure 3. Nor do people need to understand what it does as long as they get hit by it.

Not everything is as it appears on paper. If you spend a good portion of time playing both AST and SCH, these things will make themselves known to you, and you can truly decide which one your playstyle favors.
And that is really what it comes down to. Things like SS vs CO isn't going to make or break or party comp, and are supposed to compliment each other during an encounter.

I play all 3 healers and having cleared the tier on AST I much prefer the free heals compared to punished heals and the reliably stronger shields versus the sometimes stronger shields tied to a 90 sec cd versus a 60 second one. That and like you said with SS, being able to shield while on the move at all times(Nocturnal Aspected Benefic) and having more potency than SCH (without a crit) is nice.

SCH shields are THE PERFECT example of how healer GCDs should be used. They feel really powerful and beneficial, so you don't really give a thought about the loss to DPS.

Free healing is actually a problem, and a big one at that. It, along with the lack of DPS skills are the two biggest contributors to healer boredom. SCH isn't getting Ruin IV; see above comment about the watered down SMN.

The fact Nocturnal Aspect Helios is stronger than Succor irks me quite a bit. Shields in general feel powerful and beneficial especially now that it's showed how much shielding is actually given.

[Gemina]

While this is true I consider this to simply be a part of every class being "punished" for using anything that isn't a dps skill when not during down it's not something specific to any one class or healer. What I'm specifically talking about is that every use of Aetherflow on anything that isn't ED is a 150 potency dps loss that cannot be recovered. Using Lilies when you would have to GCD heal is a DPS GAIN of 225 if you reach misery. If you're weaving properly you'll have 200 potency from ruin 2 but you still lost 150 potency from not using ED.

Now you might think these situations are exactly the same, they're not simply because properly using ED is always a DPS GAIN where as Lilies are in terms of being a dps skill is a DPS Loss.
You can completely ignore Lilies and not lose any dps whatsoever, the same is not true for Aetherflow healing and ED.
The only time Lilies are a complete DPS GAIN is when used during complete down time, however if you would have had to GCD on anything besides Glare or Dia they're a DPS GAIN because you would have lost the 225 potency provided by the Lily. Which would have been completely lost just like ED potency if you were to use it on something else. Though even then they're still different in that Aetherflow and ED you want to have on CD as fast as possible so you can fit as many EDs into the fight as possible where as for Lilies you only want to be able to fit as many Miseries in the fight as to how many Lilies you used. E.G. in a vacuum for DPS you would never Lily (unless there was a point in time where the target becomes untargetable), the opposite is true for Aetherflow and ED.

Aetherflow is not nor ever was intended to be a DPS tool for SCH. This is a very distinct difference between them and SMN. Energy Drain is a dump skill, or free DPS for the SCH. Even if healer DMG was factored into savage/ultimate clears, they would not be able to use the DMG provided from ED.

I only brought up WHM lilies to express a return for lost dmg due to GCD usage. Fact of the matter is the two mechanics function very differently even though both are used for instant healing. You can never lose DPS from aetherflow expenditure on other skills because ED is free DPS. You just won't gain any of that DPS. Another matter altogether is you are a healer first. Always. This means any and all your resources are prioritized based on needed heals. If this is a problem for you, this role will never provide you with fulfillment especially with the direction the devs are and have been going with them.

Now lets compare the situations as a SCH if I were to GCD heal I would lose 280 potency from not using broil and 117 potency from ED clipping the broil, a total of 397 potency. WHM gained 225 potency from GCD healing and SCH lost 280 without the broil, 397 with an ED. Lets say I ruin 2 instead of broil and then weave a oGCD heal instead of a GCD heal. That's still a 80 potency loss just from not using broil and a 197 potency loss if you add the ED. So unless I'm using aetherflow on anything except ED I'm being punished for oGCD healing and that's with using ruin 2 and not clipping.

To clarify using a Lily over Glare is a 75 potency loss, using anything besides ED during ruin 2 is a 230 potency loss. 150 for not using ED and 80 for using ruin 2. If you were to GCD it would be a 280 without ED and 397 with ED.
Also because Lilies are a GCD they're a good way to not clip your oGCDs. They are fundamentally different in that one is a gain and the other is mitigation of sorts.

You can certainly make a case in terms of comparable DPS to other healers. I did point out that SCH is very GCD dependant on their shields. If there is an imbalance, they would have to look at pot increases for Broil, or perhaps even returning Shadowflare to us to compensate. But such a corrective adjustment won't happen through ED because it is an aetherflow skill.

Actually what this does is exactly the same as Lilies. Where as Lilies give back dps for GCDs this new method would simply not punish you for healing, though effectively it does give back dps the same way lilies do.

Say if you were to use a Lily instead of GCD heal you would gain 225 potency. If you were to use an Aetherflow ability not ED you would lose 150. This gives back the 150 potency lost.
You could nerf the damage ED(probably down to 100) does since that damage is no longer completely lost but honestly even if you didn't nerf the damage it wouldn't make SCH OP at all. While it might pull away from AST more in personal dps it still wouldn't beat WHM just come closer to it. And if you're wondering if that would put AST in an awkward position, it wouldn't they have the highest rDPS.

No. Because lilies are on the GCD. SCH never has to sacrifice a Broil cast to use an aetherflow skill. I don't even know you're getting Broil being clipped by ED as it is ogcd. You clip your Broils by using Ruin 2 or Biolysis, which can be negated if you can also weave ED. These are all DPS gains for the SCH and help to keep their DPS comparable to WHM and AST. Especially if the SCH has well-timed Ruin 2s by using them when they know the boss is going to transition, or otherwise know there is no avoiding a GCD loss and squeeze in the extra 200 pot before it happens. SCH is the only healer currently capable of doing this consistently without overwriting an active DoT.

Not really, no. They're the same coin each preoccupying a different side. The fact they're similar does not mean one is the other or vice versa. They're specializations of the
same class, similarities should not be something uncommon.

Their similarities should end at the level each receives their soulstone. I cannot express how important it is that each of their respective aetherflow skills reflect their roles in a party. As another poster stated, we are lucky to even have ED. The only reason why we do is because it was necessary to give us a dump skill, and dmg is the default choice. I wouldn't even get used to the DMG it causes now, because SE could take that away entirely and make it a hard MP restore skill.

I play all 3 healers and having cleared the tier on AST I much prefer the free heals compared to punished heals and the reliably stronger shields versus the sometimes stronger shields tied to a 90 sec cd versus a 60 second one. That and like you said with SS, being able to shield while on the move at all times(Nocturnal Aspected Benefic) and having more potency than SCH (without a crit) is nice.



The fact Nocturnal Aspect Helios is stronger than Succor irks me quite a bit. Shields in general feel powerful and beneficial especially now that it's showed how much shielding is actually given.

AST isn't exempt from "punished heals" either. In fact their APM is so ridiculously high that it is outright impossible for them to avoid it. Aspected skills are still on the GCD, and Helios still has to be casted or use up an ability to reduce the cast time.

It really boils down to you preferring AST, and if this is the case, then use AST. They need the support actually as many find the job atrocious to play ATM.

[Nethereal]

I might post a more detailed response later in the day.

While ED was intended as a dump skill for aetherflow not using ED is a complete dps loss, this is a fact not opinion. There's a reason dissipation is part of your opener, because it's a dps gain. If you find this to be a problem then it's honestly probably SE's fault for making the issue.
It's definitely not free if you have to choose one way or the other, it goes against the very definition of the word. Free dps would be attaching a DoT on Sacred Soil. And not gaining any of that dps is what's called a dps loss.
TBH I liked it more when ED was gone. It let me use my aetherflow for healing and not feel punished. Granted not having a dump was fairly annoying but it was meh.

This is probably my fault for not clarifying it enough but SCH is a healer specific case when I talk about being punished for healing due to how aetherflow interacts. When I talk about being punished I mean SCH, specifically aetherflow oGCD healing. It is the only healer that actively loses dps for properly using healing oGCDs.
Every healer has to be "punished" for GCD healing not much to talk about there. Though I'm finding SCH to be a little more fun so I'm still not decided.