Try to predict Nerf/Buff/QoL of 4.2 Healer Edition

[Maltothoris]

And thus we have the problem with how SE does Noct Astro. Back before 3.3, there were only 2 logs of A8S with Whm/noct astro since it was pathetic compared to whm/sc and astro/sch. Come 3.3, we see what SE started to view it. SCH would be more flexible (deploy tactics, emergency tactics, fairy buffs) while Noct Astro would get stronger shield to make up for this lack of options(when aspected helios got buffed from 100 to 120 percent and making it stronger than succor by 15 percent much like how it is now). Next, comes patch 3.4, where they buffed the shielding of the noct astro up the wazoo, the noct stance getting up from 5 to 10 percent, 130 to 170 for aspected benefic and 120 to 150 for aspected helios plus the cards buffs which kinda render it moot though. 4.0 they make aspected benefic about 37 percent stronger with the change in shielding and aspected helios being 43 percent stronger before the buff to succor brought it down to 15 percent. Edited for limit.

As we can see, what SE's problem is with Noct Astro is that they only buff shield potency. They don't try to make it different to play, they don't add effects to the shields themselves. cards don't get any bonus under noct etc etc. Their go-to solution for noct astro is to make their shields stronger and nothing else.

[Caduagm]

- What I have often read the last few days. Is the idea that the pvp Synastry could come to PvE.



The percentage should then be redefined and can not stay at 40% if the cooldown is shortened. But it could be a nice QoL change.

Don't think synastry should be changed, since it is the only ability that can "compete" with Benediction.
That would be awful in cases like when DRK uses Living dead. Instead of using one Benefic 2 and Dignity to put them at 100%HP we would have to cast it twice.
Although, I wouldn't disagree that that change would be good for most of the tank busters (specially if you don't have a DRK).

[Grimoire-M]

I'd say nerf AST's shields to be weaker than SCH's, but let Time Dilation/Celestial Opposition increase their strength. CO would be 50% for the whole party (effectively turning it into Deployment Tactics), TD 50% for one target. In order to stay relatively balanced with SCH, AST's Noct Helios' shield potency would be reduced to 130%, while Noct Benefic would remain unchanged. However, in order to prevent people stacking these cooldowns to create a ridiculous 1.3k potency Noct Benefic shield, these spells would overwrite the old shield with a new "overshield" buff with the increased potency, that could not be buffed further.

[Kabzy]

-Snip-

1) That all sounded confusing AF, to me at least.
2) The only shield that would be spread or made more powerful would be their ST one, like Adloquium. So if that wasn't nerfed, you're still ending up with ridiculously OP shields.
3) As has been mentioned before, it's not really the shielding aspect of the job that is hindering it.

[Tridus]

Why would you want to give AST Deployment Tactics? I don't see the upside of making the healers even more similar than they already are.

[Fyce]

The only issue I have currently with healers is Sacred Soil still being the most underwhelming and niche Aetherflow related skill for SCH.
It consumes a stack, is not compatible with Shadowflare, its additional effect is pretty useless because of its randomness, 10% damage reduction is simply not enough to be worth it for most situations, and it may take up to three seconds to get applied if you weren't lucky with server ticks.

I'd like it to be useful in more situations. I don't know, give a free Succor 100% of the time and slap a +10% healing received on the buff it grants to people inside and it'd make it a great competitor to Indom from time to time.

[NobleWinter]

Sacred Soil does seem really underwhelming as a way to use an Aetherflow stack but it has a really short 30 sec recast time which means it gets a lot of mileage. If it included a healing buff to spell based magic it would tip the scales too far. SCH already have Fey Illumination and Dissipation that can increase their healing potency along with Largesse as a roll action. One of those 2 native skills has to go if Sacred Soil gets a healing buff. Fey Illumination already benefits both healers equally and any DPS or Tank that can cast a healing spell too. If Scared Soil did that as well it would be almost game breaking. I would gladly sacrifice the healing buff in Dissipation tho. I would love to see the fairy fall asleep for 30 seconds in exchange for 3 additional Aetherflow Stacks every 180 seconds. Then the fairy could wake up if it takes damage or Esuna is used and also not need to be resummoned either. Everyone would use Dissipation then.

[Tridus]

I use Sacred Soil a fair bit. It's pretty handy to stop a lot of damage when you know big damage is incoming, and has helped me save people in stuff like Rabanastre who started getting vuln up stacks and would have otherwise died. It'd be very easy to overbuff it, especially when SCH is already so good.

I'd be very surprised if they did that in 4.2.

[Fyce]

I use Sacred Soil a fair bit. It's pretty handy to stop a lot of damage when you know big damage is incoming, and has helped me save people in stuff like Rabanastre who started getting vuln up stacks and would have otherwise died. It'd be very easy to overbuff it, especially when SCH is already so good.

I'd be very surprised if they did that in 4.2.

On a 20k AoE damage (which is pretty common), Sacred Soil will cut 2k per player. That's 5x lower than what Indomitability would give back. So if you know that your party will survive the hit, there is absolutly no reason to use Sacred Soil. And if you know that you need mitigation, then unbuffed Succor will shields players for about 4.5k (and heal them for roughly 7 to 8% of their total health if they happen to have missing HP), so more than two times what Sacred Soil will give you.

The real situations when Sacred Soil is really useful are when multiple big hits are incoming. The multiple Dimentional waves in V3S (during the Iron Giant/Ninjas) for example, or for attacks like Amalgest in V4S. But even then, when you compare Sacred Soil to utility like Reprisal and Feint/Addle, the amount of downsides Sacred Soil has is mind blowing. Besides, these situations are pretty rare all things considered.

I know that the intended way to use it is not really to choose between it and other tools, but rather using everything at the same time, but it's still quite depressing to think that the "protective healer" has arguably the worst tool for that particular aspect of mitigation.

Don't get me wrong. I know that they won't change it any time soon. Which is a shame because it's a skill that looks, sounds and feels awesome when using it. And I'd love to see it used more often, like all other Aetherflow related skills.

[basketofseals]

On a 20k AoE damage (which is pretty common), Sacred Soil will cut 2k per player. That's 5x lower than what Indomitability would give back. So if you know that your party will survive the hit, there is absolutly no reason to use Sacred Soil. And if you know that you need mitigation, then unbuffed Succor will shields players for about 4.5k (and heal them for roughly 7 to 8% of their total health if they happen to have missing HP), so more than two times what Sacred Soil will give you.

The point of Sacred Soil is that you can live when you otherwise couldn't. When your group has vulnerability stacks because you're learning the content and a big AoE is coming out, saving your aetherflow for an indom when said AoE is going to knock you and your co-healer out of the ring. It's a progression tool. It's niche. That doesn't make it bad though.