AST (and DRG) had their improvements pushed to 7.0 PLD are getting theirs in 6.3

[Nizzi]

We already have a movement option in ruin II. Why do we need a dps neutral (and sometime, but most times it's not really free) movement tool?
I love SCH. It's the only job I'm even decent at. But I think adding energy drain back was a mistake vs. slightly reworking the job. But I guess that was never really on the table.

SCH is the only healer that has no way to move outside of its 30s DoT refresh and weave windows without losing DPS. Why wouldn't Scholar need a lossless movement tool when you consider that this is what Miasma II+Energy Drain used to be in Stormblood and what Ruin II + Energy Drain was in Shadowbringers? It's not even an argument of "every other healer has this, so we need it too," it's an argument of "Scholar has always had this up until this expansion, because the developers did not think about what 1.5s cast times would do to the entirety of Scholar's kit."
As it stands, Ruin II is not a strength of Scholar, it is a weakness in its current iteration. Energy Drain was added back because it was necessary for Scholar to be able to heal at all without losing DPS in Shadowbringers. As it stands though, the 1.5s cast times have eliminated the necessity of Ruin II and Energy Drain within Scholar's kit, and yet they still remain.

The most annoying part is that it's not even really a hard fix, and there's multiple ways to go about it. For example:
Delete Energy Drain, and give Aetherflow a "further Ruin" trait that gives 3 stacks of Ruin IV that cost 1 stack of Aetherflow each, and use it in the same way ShB SMN held Ruin IV stacks - transform Ruin II into Ruin IV when you have them. This eliminates a button and doesn't get rid of Ruin II's "uniqueness" as an on demand mobility tool at a DPS loss. Make SCH's Ruin IV 100 potency over Broil IV so it still retains some aspect of DPS optimization with stacks too. This frees up a button for Scholar as well, while admittedly making Ruin II a bit more restrictive.

Change Energy Drain into an instant cast GCD that is DPS neutral to Ruin and all Broil upgrades. This way Energy Drain exists as a stack dump, exists as a DPS neutral movement tool and the amount of keybinds stays the same.

Energy Drain used to have a 3 second CD as well, but they changed it to 1s one in EW, likely out of the assumption that Scholar players just really love using their healing resources for damage. And while this isn't entirely incorrect as the DPS optimization aspect of Energy Drain is enjoyable, it's just another sign that they do not understand Scholar's healing priority and how Scholar wants to play optimally.