Scholar Feedback

[EllieShadeflare]

Call me crazy, but blowing your Aetherflow stacks before you had it available again was the norm in AR and HW, what's different in SB?

In ARR and in HW, we had good barriers and a mostly competent fairy who could patch up our problems in between. In Stormblood, you're almost railroaded into choosing between further mitigation, heals or damage because our barriers are garbage in comparison to Astrologian and our Fairy apparently got brain damage.

It's far more punishing to whiff an Aetherflow stack now that it ever had been.

[NobleWinter]

Here are the skill changes I would love to see:

Bane:
Ability
10 Sec Recast

The spread and damage drop off would remain the same except the 15% chance to renew the duration timers would be replaced by a 5% chance to hit an enemy with full potency instead. Having a few extra seconds on one enemy is useless when you are just going to cast Bane again and clip the extra time accidentally.

Deployment Tactics:
Ability
60 Sec Recast
Duration 10 Sec

Your next single target spell on self or party member will have its effect shared with all party members within 25 yalms.

So Phsyick now becomes a low cost AoE heal to offset the high cost of Succor and Adloquium while Adloquium now distributes both the Galvanized Shield and its initial heal amount as well. Fishing for CritLo Deployment is no longer possible but that happened with its MP cost already.


Emergency Tactics:
Ability
30 Sec Recast
Duration 10 Sec

Replaces next Galvanize effect with healing equal to the amount the barrier would restore and reduces cast time for next Adloquium or Succor by 50% to offset the animation lock.

Dissipation:
Ability
300 Sec Recast

Order currently summoned Fairy away to rest for 20 seconds resetting all Fairy Action timers. Also grants one Aetherflow Stack for each Pet Action that does not need to be reset up to 3 maximum.

This would require more planning but it would allow you to get more use out of your fairy at the expense of sending it away for 20 seconds. It also means the number of Aetherflow Stacks you get is dependant on how many abilities your fairy has used so most likely you wouldnt get 3. I dont think the healing boost is necessary either to compensate for having your fairy abilities reset.

War Economy:
Trait Level 52 ACN-SMN-SCH
While engaged in combat each cast of Physick on self or party member that doesn't over heal will increase the healing potency of Physick by 15 up to a maximum potency of 550. Effect is lost once battle ends.

This would allow the Scholar to become more effective over the course of a battle and help Summoners equally. Simply spamming Physick wouldnt activate the trait but proper usage would be rewarded. It would take 10 cast to reach full potency.

Selene
Fey Caress:
Lv 1 Spell
2 Sec Cast Time
3 Sec Recast Time
Removes one Detrimental Status Effect from a single party member.
Additional Effect: Restores Health
Heal Potency 150

Fey Awakening:
Lv 1 Ability
120 Sec Cool Down
Revives a single party member to a weakened state

Clamouring Dusk:
Lv 20 Spell
2.5 Second Cast
60 second Recast
Heals all party members within 25 yalms.
Heal Potency 300

Fey Wind:
Lv 40 Ability
20 Sec Duration
60 Sec Cool Down
30 Yalm Range
Increases Action Speed for Self and Party Members by 5% for 20 seconds.

This makes Selene a Support Fairy that requires the scholar to proactively heal more due to half potency "Embrace" equivalent but removes detrimental status effects reliably and can also revive KO'ed party members occasionally while providing a slight raid wide speed buff. Also offers an AoE burst heal that coincides with Rouse making this fairy a real contender for the enormous healing capacity of Eos. The War Economy Trait would allow a Scholar who is healing more to keep up with the lowered heal rate of this Fairy.

[Shihen]

Just a wishlist that's probably terribly imbalanced.

• Physick

  Additional Effect: 15% chance that next Adloquium MP cost is reduced by 50%.

• New Trait: Aether Attunement

  Transforms Energy Drain into Aether Conversion.

• New Ability: Aether Conversion

  Transforms the next Adloquium or Succor recovery effect into a barrier which nullifies damage equaling the amount of HP restored.

  Additional Effect: Increases potency of the next Broil by 25%.

  Additional Effect: Reduces the MP cost of the next spell by 25%.

• Adloquium

  Cure potency increased to 600.

  MP cost reduced to 1200.

  No longer shields the target.

• Succor

  Cure potency increased to 250.

  No longer shields the target.

• Sacred Soil

  Additional Effect: 20% chance that next Succor will cost no MP.

  New Effect: Reduces the MP cost of the next Succor by 50%.

• Deployment Tactics

  Galvanize effect cannot exceed 30% of target's maximum health.

• Emergency Tactics

  Transforms the next Galvanize status into HP recovery equaling the amount of damage reduction intended for the barrier.

  Increases the potency of the next Aetherflow action by 20%.

• Removed: Dissipation
• New Ability: Fey Blessing

  Orders the current faerie to watch over a targeted area, granting a blessing to all party members within it.

  (Eos) Blessing of the Dawn: heals for the duration.

  Cure Potency: 200.

  (Selene) Blessing of the Dusk: Increases attack speed by 5% for the duration.

  Faerie Gauge is depleted while blessing is active.

  Only one Faerie Gauge ability can be active at a time.

• Fey Union

  Startup animation speed increased.

• Silent Dawn

  Silences target for 1s.

  New Effect: Increases target's magic vulnerability by 5%.

  Recast time increased to 120s.

• Fey Caress

  AI: Will no longer attempt to remove irremovable status effects.

• Removed: Fey Wind
• New ability: Fey Warmth

  Shields all nearby party members for 5% of max health.

[Jollyy5]

I play SCH occasionally, with an unhealthy mentality of considering myself a green DPS which used to work to an extent in ARR and HW, but now it's just boring and unrewarding.

I also don't like it when I have to try and manage DoTs on multiple enemies during bigger pulls while juggling between DPS and healing, getting rewarded with 2,5k DPS at best, while a WHM can just casually saunter over the mobs after casting Regen, and Holy spam for 4k+ DPS while not having to worry about healing due to stunlocking, as well as Assize and Benediction.


If they only just removed the Aetherflow requirement on Bane, and otherwise kept it as is, it would really help since I wouldn't have to worry about not having stacks for emergency healing anymore.

[inhaledcorn]

/snip

I don't know about a lot of your list (I do like the idea of making Adlo/succor straight heals, but iffy on the idea of changing Energy Drain. I had a similar idea of taking the shield effect of the spell and putting it on an ability, but it was through use of the Tactics abilities, not Energy Drain.)

• Removed: Dissipation
• New Ability: Fey Blessing

  Orders the current faerie to watch over a targeted area, granting a blessing to all party members within it.

  (Eos) Blessing of the Dawn: heals for the duration.

  Cure Potency: 200.

  (Selene) Blessing of the Dusk: Increases attack speed by 5% for the duration.

  Faerie Gauge is depleted while blessing is active.

  Only one Faerie Gauge ability can be active at a time.

But, this? This I like. My only problem is that Scholar lacks a free fairy switch to make that idea work.

[inhaledcorn]

Here are the skill changes I would love to see:

Bane:
Ability
10 Sec Recast

The spread and damage drop off would remain the same except the 15% chance to renew the duration timers would be replaced by a 5% chance to hit an enemy with full potency instead. Having a few extra seconds on one enemy is useless when you are just going to cast Bane again and clip the extra time accidentally.

I am 100% on board for this. This is a fantastic idea.

Deployment Tactics:
Ability
60 Sec Recast
Duration 10 Sec

Your next single target spell on self or party member will have its effect shared with all party members within 25 yalms.

So Physick now becomes a low cost AoE heal to offset the high cost of Succor and Adloquium while Adloquium now distributes both the Galvanized Shield and its initial heal amount as well. Fishing for CritLo Deployment is no longer possible but that happened with its MP cost already.

I don't know if I'm 100% on board, but I wouldn't be upset by the change. Anything to reduce the cost of Adlo because of the outside chance of getting such a strong shield is a good thing.

Emergency Tactics:
Ability
30 Sec Recast
Duration 10 Sec

Replaces next Galvanize effect with healing equal to the amount the barrier would restore and reduces cast time for next Adloquium or Succor by 50% to offset the animation lock.

I'm not sure about putting the cooldown timer back to 30s, but, instead of reduced cast time, why not instant? I don't think it would break your next Adlo/Succor.

Dissipation:
Ability
300 Sec Recast

Order currently summoned Fairy away to rest for 20 seconds resetting all Fairy Action timers. Also grants one Aetherflow Stack for each Pet Action that does not need to be reset up to 3 maximum.

This would require more planning but it would allow you to get more use out of your fairy at the expense of sending it away for 20 seconds. It also means the number of Aetherflow Stacks you get is dependant on how many abilities your fairy has used so most likely you wouldnt get 3. I dont think the healing boost is necessary either to compensate for having your fairy abilities reset.

Eugh. This just sounds even worse than the current Dissipation. Sure, you get 3 Aetherflow for just blowing all of your fairy's cooldowns but, this is 100% at odds with the proposed changes you have for Selene below. We still get 3 Aetherflow now, and people still don't use it because it shoots our healing potential in the foot. This shoots our healing potential in the foot and doesn't give us a boost.

War Economy:
Trait Level 52 ACN-SMN-SCH
While engaged in combat each cast of Physick on self or party member that doesn't over heal will increase the healing potency of Physick by 15 up to a maximum potency of 550. Effect is lost once battle ends.

This would allow the Scholar to become more effective over the course of a battle and help Summoners equally. Simply spamming Physick wouldnt activate the trait but proper usage would be rewarded. It would take 10 cast to reach full potency.

This trait is baaaad. It's useless in dungeons since it resets after every battle. Summoner shouldn't ever heal 15 times, and the Potency is too low for them to capitalize on it anyway. Besides, I don't think a Scholar would use Physick 15 times either.

Selene
Fey Caress:
Lv 1 Spell
2 Sec Cast Time
3 Sec Recast Time
Removes one Detrimental Status Effect from a single party member.
Additional Effect: Restores Health
Heal Potency 150

I can't agree taking away some of Selene's healing potency just to give her a spammable Esuna that she will try to use on everything that has a debuff whether it can be cleansed or not. She's already unfavored since her support is weak in comparison to Eos's healing.

Fey Awakening:
Lv 1 Ability
120 Sec Cool Down
Revives a single party member to a weakened state

NO, just... so much noooooooo. The last thing that should exist is Raise ability. You can make the argument for the Esuna spell since SCH formerly couldn't get it until 40, but there is no need for this.

Clamouring Dusk:
Lv 20 Spell
2.5 Second Cast
60 second Recast
Heals all party members within 25 yalms.
Heal Potency 300

Fey Wind:
Lv 40 Ability
20 Sec Duration
60 Sec Cool Down
30 Yalm Range
Increases Action Speed for Self and Party Members by 5% for 20 seconds.

And, these are fine.

[NobleWinter]

Eugh. This just sounds even worse than the current Dissipation. Sure, you get 3 Aetherflow for just blowing all of your fairy's cooldowns but, this is 100% at odds with the proposed changes you have for Selene below. We still get 3 Aetherflow now, and people still don't use it because it shoots our healing potential in the foot. This shoots our healing potential in the foot and doesn't give us a boost.

To clarify, a Scholar would only receive Aetherflow for the fairy abilities that HAVENT been used. So if you used Dissipation but Whispering Dawn was not on cool down you would get an Aether Stack. This proposed Dissipation isnt for getting Aether Stacks. Its meant to be used immediately after blowing through your fairy abilities so you would ideally use Whispering Dawn and Fey Illumination together and then Dissipate your fairy so that you can resummon Eos with all her abilities reset with 10 seconds to spare before Whispering Dawn has ended. You dont need additional Aether Stacks or more potent healing if you use this skill correctly.

This trait is baaaad. It's useless in dungeons since it resets after every battle. Summoner shouldn't ever heal 15 times, and the Potency is too low for them to capitalize on it anyway. Besides, I don't think a Scholar would use Physick 15 times either.

This trait may seem useless but objectively it is because the SCH skill set is already numerically balanced to handle small pulls in dungeons. Physick would only grow in situations that demand it like when a tank pulls a mob so large you blow through lustrates and are forced to alternate Adlo and Physick or during long end game encounters where mana efficiency is more important. This trait isnt meant to break healer balance but give the Scholar an effective answer to the cost imbalance of Adlo and Succor during the encounters where it counts most. Summoners are also the only DPS with a reliable heal that can be spammed and this allows them to grow more effective if a healer dies and they are the only source of healing for the party. It isnt meant to overwhelm game balance for Summoners or Scholars in normal content. WHM and AST have Cure2 and Benefic2 they can spam and this would help Physick bridge the gap in crisis.

I can't agree taking away some of Selene's healing potency just to give her a spammable Esuna that she will try to use on everything that has a debuff whether it can be cleansed or not. She's already unfavored since her support is weak in comparison to Eos's healing.

NO, just... so much noooooooo. The last thing that should exist is Raise ability. You can make the argument for the Esuna spell since SCH formerly couldn't get it until 40, but there is no need for this.

Selene will still prioritize the lowest target so spamming her Caress will default to a posioned person once their health drops sufficiently if other debuffs are also on the party. Selene is only used when less healing is necessary in the first place though so giving her a reduced potency shouldn't matter. Her ability to raise and cleanse makes her a true support because the Scholar wont waste the MP or time required to do these tasks. It means Swift Cast can be used for healing and not rezzing. For a Healer I think this would be the perfect support pet.

[inhaledcorn]

To clarify, a Scholar would only receive Aetherflow for the fairy abilities that HAVENT been used. So if you used Dissipation but Whispering Dawn was not on cool down you would get an Aether Stack. This proposed Dissipation isnt for getting Aether Stacks. Its meant to be used immediately after blowing through your fairy abilities so you would ideally use Whispering Dawn and Fey Illumination together and then Dissipate your fairy so that you can resummon Eos with all her abilities reset with 10 seconds to spare before Whispering Dawn has ended. You dont need additional Aether Stacks or more potent healing if you use this skill correctly.

You also forget that, again, the fairy is a large portion of our healing potential. That's why Dissipation gives the Largesse effect - it's supposed to offset the loss of the fairy (and even then, it really doesn't). With this change, sure, you reset the fairy abilities and get Aetherflow for each ability used, but you have no healing boost to offset the loss of the fairy, so now the SCH has to play the game for 20s severely gimped instead of 30s mostly gimped.

This trait may seem useless but objectively it is because the SCH skill set is already numerically balanced to handle small pulls in dungeons. Physick would only grow in situations that demand it like when a tank pulls a mob so large you blow through lustrates and are forced to alternate Adlo and Physick or during long end game encounters where mana efficiency is more important. This trait isnt meant to break healer balance but give the Scholar an effective answer to the cost imbalance of Adlo and Succor during the encounters where it counts most. Summoners are also the only DPS with a reliable heal that can be spammed and this allows them to grow more effective if a healer dies and they are the only source of healing for the party. It isnt meant to overwhelm game balance for Summoners or Scholars in normal content. WHM and AST have Cure2 and Benefic2 they can spam and this would help Physick bridge the gap in crisis.

You're describing Aetherpact/Fey's Union. It's an ability that's built up over time to be used in certain situations, only it doesn't reset after every battle, instead it resets when changing instances or after a raid/ex encounter fight.

Selene will still prioritize the lowest target so spamming her Caress will default to a posioned person once their health drops sufficiently if other debuffs are also on the party. Selene is only used when less healing is necessary in the first place though so giving her a reduced potency shouldn't matter. Her ability to raise and cleanse makes her a true support because the Scholar wont waste the MP or time required to do these tasks. It means Swift Cast can be used for healing and not rezzing. For a Healer I think this would be the perfect support pet.

Or Eos will just power through the poison, and targets won't get low enough to heal Slow and Doom and what have you.

If you give Selene a Raise ability, you will force SCHs to take Selene and nothing else because that will be what the meta demands. All of SCHs skills will then be rebalanced around the idea that SCH does have an instant raise on one of their fairies and suffer everywhere else accordingly (RDM seems to have this same problem). SCHs who "don't bother" with raising are bad SCHs, and, even now, all healers don't like hitting the raise button, especially if there's a SMN or RDM in the group. You want to take away even more of that responsibility? This ability has no place in the game.

[NorthernLadMSP]

I find it fabulously amusing when I see comments about how amazing SCH shields were in ARR and HW, but somehow now they're "total garbage."

[inhaledcorn]

I find it fabulously amusing when I see comments about how amazing SCH shields were in ARR and HW, but somehow now they're "total garbage."

You also have to realize how things were.

In ARR, there was no other shield healer. SCH was the only one, so, yeah, they were "awesome" by default.

In HW, it's a multi-sided thing that "mad our shields awesome". Our MP efficiency was amazing because Aetherflow instantly restored 20% MP on every press, not 10%, and Adloquium was much cheaper to spam to crit-fish for Deployment Tactics. Embrace was much stronger, allowing the fairy to carry much more of the healing bulk. Cleric Stance was a Mind/Int swap instead of a small, general damage boost, and Healers in general had more DoTs (SCH had the most). SCH could stay in Cleric Stance much longer than the other two healers, making its DPS potential crazy high (which made it very valuable). In addition, AST shields were pathetic, and it lacked any sort of passive healing.