A (Probably Terrible) Idea to Help SCH class identity

[Liam_Harper]

Oh indeed, definitely not disagreeing or using bad AST's as an example, We're on the same page that a good AST can cover the bulk of the healing and class design should be based around playing the class properly.

Now this is the part of healing as WHM or SCH, Heck WHM + SCH especially, that I dislike so much. It's not a game of managing your DPS tools to freely heal, but a constant DPS loss that someone has to bite the bullet for.
WHM has no free healing outside of Dia refreshes (of which Assize takes a weave slot in half of), since Afflatus is a built-in damage loss, but Asylum, Tetra, and Bene are all immediately strong and useful.
It blows my mind that it's optimal to just ignore a job's main mechanic

SCH has access to free weave slots (3 per minute plus Dissipation, which is also your movement), but the only skills that can be freely used are Embrace/Seraphic Veil (Unconrollable 105p/280p) Whispering Dawn (580p), Fey Blessing (245p), and Fey Union (280p/tick). Compare that to AST's free everything
'Oh but Yusi you also have Seraph's Consolation and Recitation too' Those both require 2 energy drains to use! 3 for both Consolation stacks! A 2 minute cooldown and all 3 aetherflow stacks used on uncontrollable single-target heals and 840p worth of healing and shielding.

Don't disagree there either. I honestly don't have a definite answer to how to fix it or improve it while having no negative impact in other parts of gameplay, class identity or homogenizing, but the discussion is quite interesting. How would you fix that issue with WhM/ScH yourself?

[YusiKha]

How would you fix that issue with WhM/ScH yourself?

At the very minimum
SCH: Add a new spell, called Vitriol (to fit with SCH's spell names having conversational double-meanings)
Vitriol would be an instant-cast targetted AoE (think BLM freeze) that deals 350p over 24s. It would require a Dark Humour stack to be cast.
Dark Humour would be accumulated by consuming Aetherflow aside from Energy Drain (so every healing AF, but no recitation). Casting Aetherflow would remove existing stacks of Dark Humour.
Dark Humour would overwrite the spent AF on the gauge, as shown in this sloppy mockup:


The purpose is to reward the cast of an AF heal with a damaging effect that cannot be spammed. You're be encouraged to chain Dark Humour stacks via Vitriol + AF Heal, while still needing to dump excess aetherflow with Energy Drain (since Vitriol is only once per 24s). Biolysis + Energy Drain is still a DPS gain though.

WHM: Decrease Afflatus Misery's blood lily requirement to 2 (You'll still be able to bank 3)
This means that it is now equivelant to the 3 glares lost to cast it, and WHM players can rejoyce.
Assize changed to an instant-cast 1.5s GCD (think MCH Heat Blast) with 2 charges.

The Misery change is how it should have been from the start - you get an efficient-but-low-potency heal every 30s, and the skill comes planning uses ahead so you can use multiple Raptures alongside Plenary. It also increases WHM's movement by a whopping 1/3 GCD per minute
The Assize change would pack even more unique traits into the skill, partly because I think it would be hilarious, partly because I think that giving WHM more mini-movement&on-demand weaving tools would help them, but not take away from it being the least mobile healer. Also the charges mean that you can save assize for damage, instead of saving damage for assize - I'd be easily persuaded against the charges though, if people feel like assize's static-ness is core to the class.
A 1.5s GCD would reduce its effective potency by 33.3p, but I think the extra damage gained from Misery's change, as well as no longer needing to weave half of your assizes with Afflatus skills, would more than make up for the loss.

[LariaKirin]

At the very minimum
SCH: Add a new spell, called Vitriol (to fit with SCH's spell names having conversational double-meanings)
Vitriol would be an instant-cast targetted AoE (think BLM freeze) that deals 350p over 24s. It would require a Dark Humour stack to be cast.
Dark Humour would be accumulated by consuming Aetherflow aside from Energy Drain (so every healing AF, but no recitation). Casting Aetherflow would remove existing stacks of Dark Humour.
Dark Humour would overwrite the spent AF on the gauge, as shown in this sloppy mockup:


The purpose is to reward the cast of an AF heal with a damaging effect that cannot be spammed. You're be encouraged to chain Dark Humour stacks via Vitriol + AF Heal, while still needing to dump excess aetherflow with Energy Drain (since Vitriol is only once per 24s). Biolysis + Energy Drain is still a DPS gain though.

Cool idea, but the reward is too high given the example potency.

Let's take a window of 2 minutes (6 Aetherflow) as an example, because it aligns well with everything. And three scenarios:

1) All ED
You'd get a total of 6x150 = 900 potency. This requires that you dedicate every single swiftcast to creating a weave window for the EDs you can't weave with Biolysis.

2) Mixed
4x ED + 2x dot = 4x150 + 2x70 = 740 potency. You weave 4 ED with Biolysis and you use 2 Aetherflow heals.

3) All dot
1x ED + 5x dot = 1x150 + 5x70 = 500 potency. You weave 1 ED at some point and you use 5 Aetherflow heals.

Between 2 and 3 you have different combinations on the number of EDs and number of dots. That is, you lose 80 potency, but you gain mobility + an Aetherflow heal + a double weave window.

I'd put it at 280 potency as a maximum, in order to preserve the 150 potency opportunity cost on Aetherflow heals. Maybe less considering the mobility + double weave window.

[YusiKha]

Cool idea, but the reward is too high given the example potency. ... I'd put it at 280 potency as a maximum, in order to preserve the 150 potency opportunity cost on Aetherflow heals. Maybe less considering the mobility + double weave window.

The entire point of Vitriol was to remove Energy Drain's opportunity cost, allowing SCH access to half of its healing kit without giving up a sizable amount of potency. The potency is not up for debate.
The ability to double-weave with it is also necessary, since SCH has more weaving with fewer weave slots than WHM. White Mage. White-lowest CPM job-mage. SCH needs this. This or Energy Drain becoming a GCD.

If there's anything that I could be persuaded to nerf about Vitriol, it would be the the availability of use - the DoT's duration.
I went with 24s because that's what Miasma 1 was. It was more of a 'fond nostalgia' choice than a decision founded upon balance. I assumed that the 80 potency loss for using Vitriol over Bio/Swift + ED would be enough de-incentivising overfrequent usage, or the fact that efficient usage wouldn't be on cooldown but rather saved for movement would be a second limiting factor.
But if you're so sure that it needs nerfing, then it's availability that needs looking at, not the core SCH issues that it fixes.

If the DoT duration was increased to something like 42s or 45s, the availability of aetherflow heal slots would be decreased as well. It'd mean that people can't just spam out Soil every 30s, or if they do use it on cooldown they'd lose future Aetherflow heals or have to bite a lost Vitriol in the Aetherflow reset.