Easy fix for Scholar in 7.0

[Iedarus]

Remove Seraph, Dissipation, Protraction and Fey Blessing. These buttons are underwhelming and the last three are just outright bad.

Replace them with Shadow Flare, Miasma II (15 second duration along with another sub-30 second duration for Biolysis to further veer away from Broil spam), Bane and Tri Disaster Rouse. With how many dots are being removed from other jobs to avoid server overload, I think it should be safe to return some of them to Scholar.

Give Energy Drain the Fester mechanic for a little more job personality. Restore HP if target has Bio and restore MP if target has Miasma. Double potency for one DoT and triple potency for both DoTs.

Return Quickened Aetherflow to compensate for Aetherflow loss of Dissipation.

Give Ruin II a makeover because maaaaaaan does it need one.

Some new abilities for Selene would also be cool but baby steps.

[Nizzi]

I'd say Seraph doesn't even need to be deleted, just change it into Rouse so there's no longer the weird fairy ability lockout. This can even keep Consolation as a thing too, but man I still have no idea why they decided to make the fairy have an entirely separate entity that causes ghosting and locks you out of stuff like Fey Blessing and Fey Union... what was the reasoning?

If Dissipation had to go, I'd like to see it be replaced with both Quickened Aetherflow (since the lost Aetherflow from Dissipation adds up) as a trait and then a DoT like Miasma or something too.
Really the only thing though I disagree with is Tri-Disaster, because DoT maintenance is ruined if you have a button that applies your DoTs for you. At that point, there's no difference between having 1 DoT or multiple if the management is just in one button; this is also why BRD's DoTs are boring because they're both refreshed with Iron Jaws and then you never hit their actual buttons again. It's also why I think ShB SMN was not a "DoT job" because Miasma III and Bio III were both on 30s timers, both the same potency, and were only hardcasted once every 2 minutes in the rotation and were otherwise just reapplied with Tri-Disaster. True DoT management should be on different timers to keep you paying attention and aware of where they're at while you're handling other things, in my opinion.

I like the idea of giving Energy Drain the old Fester mechanic though, it'd be cool if maybe instead of just a flat potency gain it was something like "If Bio is active, Energy Drain restores HP, if Bio & Miasma are active, Energy Drain restores HP and MP"

[Iedarus]

I'd say Seraph doesn't even need to be deleted, just change it into Rouse so there's no longer the weird fairy ability lockout. This can even keep Consolation as a thing too, but man I still have no idea why they decided to make the fairy have an entirely separate entity that causes ghosting and locks you out of stuff like Fey Blessing and Fey Union... what was the reasoning?

If Dissipation had to go, I'd like to see it be replaced with both Quickened Aetherflow (since the lost Aetherflow from Dissipation adds up) as a trait and then a DoT like Miasma or something too.
Really the only thing though I disagree with is Tri-Disaster, because DoT maintenance is ruined if you have a button that applies your DoTs for you. At that point, there's no difference between having 1 DoT or multiple if the management is just in one button; this is also why BRD's DoTs are boring because they're both refreshed with Iron Jaws and then you never hit their actual buttons again. It's also why I think ShB SMN was not a "DoT job" because Miasma III and Bio III were both on 30s timers, both the same potency, and were only hardcasted once every 2 minutes in the rotation and were otherwise just reapplied with Tri-Disaster. True DoT management should be on different timers to keep you paying attention and aware of where they're at while you're handling other things, in my opinion.

I like the idea of giving Energy Drain the old Fester mechanic though, it'd be cool if maybe instead of just a flat potency gain it was something like "If Bio is active, Energy Drain restores HP, if Bio & Miasma are active, Energy Drain restores HP and MP"

Well for Bard, Iron Jaws rewards you with higher DPS for timing it correctly so there is skill expression, there. Tri Disaster had a 50 second CD I believe so it was Tri --> Hardcast DoTs --> Tri --> Rinse and repeat. I can still see where you're coming from, here since simply having to hardcast dots would do better to save us from Broil spam (maybe with shortened durations of 15 seconds so we use them more). Having Rouse in place of Tri Disaster/Seraph would be a solid option if we wanted the fairy to truly feel impactful, again.

I would also like quickened Aetherflow since it would actually help Scholar a lot in the event they have to sacrifice Energy Drain for more healing. That 20% chance would be just enough to discourage Scholar from simply spamming Energy Drain, too.

[VentVanitas]

I would 100% be down for Quickened Aetherflow to come back, no idea why it was removed in the first place.

[ForsakenRoe]

If Quickened Aetherflow came back, Aetherflow would be restored every 45s instead of 60s, which would mean SCH doesn't burst at 2min anymore. 'We can't have that!' says SE. Unless they don't look at Aetherflow as a damage resource, but a healing resource, in which case... maybe?

BTW, while we're on the topic, is there like... any lore on why Seraph is a thing? Or more accurately, is there any lore that says it's another form of Lily, the fairy we summon? Because to my knowledge, there's not, it's a seperate entity, in which case, why can't we have Eos/Selene stay out and just have 'Summon Seraph' as a second fairy-being that comes out as a CD? That way, while it'd be kind of a janky hack workaround, we'd retain access to Fey Blessing, Union, Dissipation, etc. Can keep all of the Fairy skills (W.Dawn, Fey Illum) originating from the standard fairy, the Seraph versions are functionally identical anyway, just have the original fairy use them (no ghosting accidents) and not Seraph (so you can't get double Whispering Dawn out). Then change Seraph's Veil from 'some heal and some shield' to 'all shield', since standard Embrace will still be happening. Consolation still originates from Seraph as you'd expect. You could even have like, 'Fey Union does the tether from Eos/Selene, and forces Seraph to focus Veil casting on that target'. So not a tether from Seraph, but a command to focus on one person (presumably the tank), while still being able to interrupt her Veil spam with a Consolation cast.

Also it'd be very cool and 'identity' to have two fairy helpers out on the field as our 'super mode'

[ty_taurus]

If Quickened Aetherflow came back, Aetherflow would be restored every 45s instead of 60s, which would mean SCH doesn't burst at 2min anymore. 'We can't have that!' says SE. Unless they don't look at Aetherflow as a damage resource, but a healing resource, in which case... maybe?

BTW, while we're on the topic, is there like... any lore on why Seraph is a thing? Or more accurately, is there any lore that says it's another form of Lily, the fairy we summon? Because to my knowledge, there's not, it's a seperate entity, in which case, why can't we have Eos/Selene stay out and just have 'Summon Seraph' as a second fairy-being that comes out as a CD? That way, while it'd be kind of a janky hack workaround, we'd retain access to Fey Blessing, Union, Dissipation, etc. Can keep all of the Fairy skills (W.Dawn, Fey Illum) originating from the standard fairy, the Seraph versions are functionally identical anyway, just have the original fairy use them (no ghosting accidents) and not Seraph (so you can't get double Whispering Dawn out). Then change Seraph's Veil from 'some heal and some shield' to 'all shield', since standard Embrace will still be happening. Consolation still originates from Seraph as you'd expect. You could even have like, 'Fey Union does the tether from Eos/Selene, and forces Seraph to focus Veil casting on that target'. So not a tether from Seraph, but a command to focus on one person (presumably the tank), while still being able to interrupt her Veil spam with a Consolation cast.

Also it'd be very cool and 'identity' to have two fairy helpers out on the field as our 'super mode'

On the topic of burst windows, we'll have to wait and see what happens come 7.0. I realize we as healers are quite jaded at the treatment of our role over the last 6 years or so, but the burst meta thing is a big discussion point not only within a narrow crowd, but is also largely criticized by virtually every media tour attendee level content creator, at least from what I've seen. EW's stagnant state is something I imagine the team is aware of, but can't really speak on until change is set in stone. Sure the PLD rework was all about making PLD work within the burst meta, but changing that is likely not something they have the resources for prior to 7.0, so it's probably more of a temporary solution. I won't say with confidence that the team will respond in a way that will be better or worse, but I find it hard to believe that they won't respond in some fashion. I genuinely believe 7.0 is going to be a different landscape somehow. Time will only tell what that spells for job design as a whole, as well as the healers.

As for Seraph, I think there's a coding issue with having more than one pet at a time. It's an issue that Yoshida would probably describe as "impossible" but is actually doable if they put in the work to fix it. I think this is key to making Carbuncle more than just window dressing on SMN, but I have no clue what the best way to handle it on SCH is. It's such a prominent asset that was created that I can't see them taking it away no matter the circumstances. I think that decision also would be received poorly by the general audience for SCH.

Perhaps it should be more like SMN's Ifrit/Garuda/Titan where Seraph shows up, performs an attack, and then vanishes, leaving you with 2 charges of Consolation for the SCH to use across that 2 minute window until her next summon as a DPS resource.

[SenzorialBoundries]

i dont care what they do to scholar anymore as long as they make it braindead. I have reached a point where i actively avoid party finders that have a scholar in it because 9 out of 10times they are borderline griefing.

[FairyDJ]

Seraph would have more meaning if skills like Fey Illumination and Whispering Dawn got buffs too. But they only get pretty icons so pressing a button for Seraph just to only get consolation is pretty meaningless. I use Dissipation in content when I want the extra energy drain stacks but nothing outside of that. Fey Blessing is really pointless, I use indom before Fey Blessing and Fey Blessing is a free skill. I think Protraction is a really solid skill. It doesn't feel like that now because we are at an item level where some skills don't feel the same as they did when we were initially running with them. But the number of times Protraction has added to shielding is incredible. I feel like expedient needs more of a rework then protraction. I also love to see quickened aetherflow. or something that reworks the aether stacks.

[Iedarus]

i dont care what they do to scholar anymore as long as they make it braindead. I have reached a point where i actively avoid party finders that have a scholar in it because 9 out of 10times they are borderline griefing.

Nice b8 m8

[RyuDragnier]

The more I look at Seraph, the more it feels like it was originally supposed to be a permanent upgrade to the fairy. Why give upgraded looks to Fey Illumination and Whispering Dawn with no buffs to them if Seraph was always just going to be a temporary thing? Doesn't make sense unless originally they planned for Eos/Selene to permanently become Seraph at level 80+.