Can we delete Seraph, Dissipation, Excog and Sacred Soil? Some ideas on top of it...

[Silver-Strider]

Do you really care about your personal parse in prog, or is SCH performing badly because of ED?

Prog is a different story entirely. I will do what I have to in order to get the clear but that still doesn't change the fact that once a fight is learned, SCH is still the only healer paying a tax while still performing their job.

[Renathras]

Seriously, the first two contribute nothing to job design and lock us out of other parts of our kit, the third hogs Recitation and Soil is just a rehashed Asylum. Keep Seraph on the LB to make her more special. Deleting Excog could also open up uses for Lustrate and Indom, especially so if they were removed from the Aetherflow gauge and just given two shared charges or something. Also, replacing Sacred Soil with a 15% damage debuff (deployable) Virus would do wonders for class design. That lost potency of the Soil regen could simply be added to other heal abilities as needed.

Wait, what?

Recitation is often used on Adlo then Deployed, not just Excog.

Sacred Soil came first, and was - legitimately - the reason I leveled SCH in ARR, because WHM was my first Job to level and I saw this other healer that could create a defensive barrier kind of like Louis does in the opening cutscene. I wanted that, even in a weaker form. Asylum came later, and has no damage reduction (it increases healing done to people inside it instead). The two aren't at all alike and Sacred Soil remains one of my favorite and most used buttons to this day. And you're talking about replacing it with something that yo say would do the same thing. How is that an improvement in any way? I love SS, I kinda just tolerate Asylum. Despite the name, Asylum is not defensive in any way.

Seraph is also really nice. I use her more rarely, but she's powerful when used correctly.

Excogitation is one of SCH's single most powerful abilities - WITHOUT Recitation. I use it in dungeons all the time on the tank so I can focus DPSing for a while because I know it will keep them safe.

Dissipation, on the other hand, I DO agree with you. I literally removed the button from my bars and am still angry from when it wouldn't resummon Eos at the end of it. I hate that ability so much, it goes against both SCH's kit and class fantasy, and yet you have to use it if you want to do optimal damage rotations. So much ugh. THAT ability I'd be more than happy with it either being removed or it being some lower level Seraph that upgrades into Seraph later.

That extra space

What? What "extra space"? SCH already is suffering from button bloat and needs to have 2-4 less abilities than it has now.

would make room for Miasma and two (maybe three) Aetherflow damaging abilities that correlate to dots while making Energy Drain the Aetherflow generator.

Ah, your true motivation revealed. Yet another "I want more DPS buttons" post? Ugh, cringe. I do agree the PvP Deploy was a stroke of genius, though. The Job was not "meant to be" a "dot based tactician".

Crazy idea: Rework Recitation so it turns Adlo and Succor into instant cast oGCDs. That way Scholar is no longer punished for using their shields.

I actually kinda like this idea though, not gonna lie...

[Nizzi]

Ah, your true motivation revealed. Yet another "I want more DPS buttons" post? Ugh, cringe. I do agree the PvP Deploy was a stroke of genius, though. The Job was not "meant to be" a "dot based tactician".

Cringe indeed, perfectly describes how I feel about your desire with making sure the "Scholar" remains braindead and boring. No no, you LOVE the "simple" rotation, the Scholar is very smart by only needing to track 1 30s DoT like every other healer! Please, give Scholar more bloated and superfluous oGCD heals! The job was meant to be a Scholar but I suppose that's why you love its current lobotomized state, because now you can finally embrace the job fantasy.

[IkaraGreydancer]

You also don't need all those healing tools and could just Cure 1 Spam your way thru the entire game but we both know that would be inefficient and that's really the problem with it. Healers have enough DPS tax as is with our GCD heals, do we really need DPS tax on our oGCDs as well?

You can get through the entire game spamming Cure 1? I don't think that's even remotely close to being true

[Renathras]

Cringe indeed, perfectly describes how I feel about your desire with making sure the "Scholar" remains braindead and boring.

Ah, I see. Unable to argue a point you default to personal attacks.

And not even good ones: I've said before (since you act like you've read my other posts, you should know this) that I think the healers having varied rotations should be a thing, just leave one as is right now. SINCE YOU DIDN'T ASK BUT YOU ASSUMED, I'll tell you my ideal:

WHM: Replace Aero/Dia with something like Ruin 2 for a movement tool, remove the DoT entirely.

SCH: Add Miasma and Poison as two more DoT spell lines. Add Bane (spread) and Fester (damage based on active DoTs). Have Art of War inflict a DoT and either a Heavy or a Slow (heavy might make tank positioning more annoying for them) [EDIT: In other words, old Miasma 2 just with another name and some tactical effect, as befits a SCH]. Remove Energy Drain, have Lustrate upgrade to be a heal + shield (so you can burn excess AF stacks on it and the shield will actually be useful, something akin to "Divine Benison, the Aetherflow ability"), give Sacred Soil a Shadow Flare effect. I think collectively that would work well. Remove Dissipation, having it instead be some lower level ability to be a proto-Seraph that upgrades to Seraph at 80. Maybe something like "for the next 20 seconds, boosts the potency of all Eos's spells or adds a shield for 50% of the amount healed, something like that. Either scrap Faerie Gauge or...make it actually useful. I was hoping they'd remove the CD for Fey Blessing and make it just cost 30 gauge, since that way I could use it for burst AOE healing...but instead they kept the dumb CD. I'd either reverse that or just delete Gauge and make Fey Union just a powerful HoT like the one SMNs get when Phoenix is out that you can just fire off on the tank and forget about it.

AST: I don't play AST, so don't really know. Maybe leave it as it is now. IF Aero/Dia stays the way it is now, we can work AST into some kind of 1-2-3 rotation instead with their DoT either removed or as an extra ability on the side.

SGE: Rework its damage kit to be something more akin to RDM's without the melee component. Something like a 1-2, 1-3, 1-2, 1-3 kit that builds to letting it use a heavy hitter (Toxicon/ranged Eukrasia Plegma or something) at the end. These abilities do damage, so Kardia swapping while keeping DPS uptime will be its primary method of healing (its heals are a bit weaker than SCH's). Could also give it a healing tool that makes Kardia AOE for the 10 sec or so duration for when it needs to do AOE healing. [EDIT: Basically, for anyone that ever played RIFT, I'm thinking something like a Chloromancer. For anyone playing WoW since Warlords or so, a Disc Priest; Job that has a light-ish DPS kit on par with the easier DPS of the game, heals largely by dealing damage, but has some weaker heals on the side for emergencies or spot healing.]

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NOW, tell me again how I want scholar to "lobotomized", I believe, was your word?

Or do you care to take your unfounded slander back now?

.

EDIT: Oh, and I'll say yet again - just because YOU find something boring does not mean it is boring. Many other people find things enjoyable or engaging that YOU may find boring, and things you find enjoyable and engaging, THEY may find boring (I find DoTs to be the most braindead type of damage spell/ability in any and all MMOs. "Oooohhh! Look at me! I can press ONE-ADDITIONAL-BUTTON once per 30 seconds! Aren't I awesome! Give me a gold star!!!" But I also know SOME PEOPLE love DoTs and DON'T find them boring, so I want them to exist for those people to enjoy those playstyles. Because I'm not a jerk and want everyone to have something they enjoy. Go figure. I do mind DoTs a lot less when they at least have interesting interactions like old Bane and Fester.)

[Nizzi]

SCH: Add Miasma and Poison as two more DoT spell lines. Add Bane (spread) and Fester (damage based on active DoTs). Have Art of War inflict a DoT and either a Heavy or a Slow (heavy might make tank positioning more annoying for them) [EDIT: In other words, old Miasma 2 just with another name and some tactical effect, as befits a SCH]. Remove Energy Drain, have Lustrate upgrade to be a heal + shield (so you can burn excess AF stacks on it and the shield will actually be useful, something akin to "Divine Benison, the Aetherflow ability"), give Sacred Soil a Shadow Flare effect. I think collectively that would work well. Remove Dissipation, having it instead be some lower level ability to be a proto-Seraph that upgrades to Seraph at 80. Maybe something like "for the next 20 seconds, boosts the potency of all Eos's spells or adds a shield for 50% of the amount healed, something like that. Either scrap Faerie Gauge or...make it actually useful. I was hoping they'd remove the CD for Fey Blessing and make it just cost 30 gauge, since that way I could use it for burst AOE healing...but instead they kept the dumb CD. I'd either reverse that or just delete Gauge and make Fey Union just a powerful HoT like the one SMNs get when Phoenix is out that you can just fire off on the tank and forget about it.

Renathras-sama, I kneel...

[Renathras]

Renathras-sama, I kneel...

Fair enough.

As I say all the time, my ideal solution IS one that addresses everyone and all the perspectives at play. Some people like simple. WHM being as-is is probably fine for that. I played old SCH. It had a lot of clunk since a lot of it was tacked on ARC abilities (which were tacked on for SMN to have buttons to push since ARR SMN was otherwise Ruinspam), but if the Job was DESIGNED for that, it would be fantastic and make sense. SGE as a Chloromancer just seems the part to me, since it functions the same way healing by dealing damage, so it needs to actually have a damage rotation and really lean into that. And AST...I know too little about, but placing it in the "happy medium" to allow it to still have space for Card weaving and playing Yugioh while being a smidge more complex than WHM makes the most sense to me.

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But I don't know if anyone would agree with my ideal solution...at least it's good to see you like the SMN proposal.

[NobleWinter]

The initial introduction of Scholar in ARR felt really fun to me and the new overpowered abilities they added in Heavensward were even more fun. Scholar truly felt like an Arcanist who found a Nymian Tacticians Soul Crystal with a Sentiment Fairy Construct inside and decided to use both to turn the tide of battle. For any healer in the entire history of FFXIV doing damage has always been a primary role. We spent the most time healing in ARR and even that wasn't a full time job. Scholar having a lot of dots, Bane, two separate and distinct fairies and loads of support tools was awesome. I'm not sure what the intention was then or is now but it felt better to me personally when Scholar had more of a DPS focus. It flowed better with the pace of combat because it had just enough buttons for the way you spent your time.

[Alpheus]

You know there's an issue when the AST is more tactically inclined in it's kit (and the interactions therein) than SCH's is, the Job that is supposed to be a tactician. I don't have any faith in them to make SCH interesting aside from taking a sledgehammer to the whole thing but I do know that they know how to make pet glams, and if it's remotely possible to glam my fairy into a book I am more than ok with being a bookworm mountain dew mage with the current kit as it stands now, but y'know as a last resort.

[VentVanitas]

The initial introduction of Scholar in ARR felt really fun to me and the new overpowered abilities they added in Heavensward were even more fun. Scholar truly felt like an Arcanist who found a Nymian Tacticians Soul Crystal with a Sentiment Fairy Construct inside and decided to use both to turn the tide of battle.

This is why I fell in love with SCH from Stormblood. You were more than just a healer with a Faerie. You were a tactician, an Arcanist that had to improvise and adapt by gaining a new partner. (That's right, PARTNER. When the Faerie did something and felt like an actual companion) It was one of the few class to job evolutions that felt natural and wasn't completely abandoned the second you get your Soul Crystal.