SCH needs some nerfs

[Kurando]

Remember that when SB dropped SCH suffered from quite a few issues, and since then they've been given constant adjustments and buffs to bring them up to an acceptable pick. AST had also had several changes throughout the patches, but the only problem we have is that WHM has barely been touched. So yeah it's great to help the other healers as they did actually need it, but WHM was left dead in the tracks.

Give WHM more attention and readjust/fix several things and we won't need to nerf the other healers at all. Chances are though, at this rate it'll be the next expac before WHM gets amended.

[Risvertasashi]

Remember that when SB dropped SCH suffered from quite a few issues, and since then they've been given constant adjustments and buffs to bring them up to an acceptable pick.

I'm not sure that SCH ever was weak. A lot of this happened before the raids were even released.

I suspect it was a knee-jerk to a few potency drops, coupled with playing in levelling dungeons where both tanks and healers tended to be much less geared - which people aren't used to at the end of an expansion.

There was the perception of being weak though, and people continued asking for SCH buffs even when it had reestablished itself in the Stormblood raid meta.

[Kurando]

snip

Well I'm not suggesting SCH was ever weak per say, but it did need some adjustments and some changes did actually happen after the raids were released. When you have enough players complaining and SE acting on them quite quickly, then clearly there must of been something wrong to begin with. I mean we have regular threads/debates about WHM but SE still isn't doing much to it, so either WHM isn't it dire need of anything or SCH/AST needed them much more.

[Risvertasashi]

I mean we have regular threads/debates about WHM but SE still isn't doing much to it, so either WHM isn't it dire need of anything or SCH/AST needed them much more.

SE's balancing decisions are a mystery. They don't tell us why they do the things they do. It is true that a strong community reaction can force their hand, but they clearly don't mind catapulting certain classes into must-pick status (WAR for tanks, SCH for healers, etc etc). They (substantially) buffed AST when it was already meta.

It's not really fair to say "they must have needed it" when there's rather large piles of evidence that they didn't. Or in the case of early-SB SCH, simply no evidence. Yeah, a few skills were questionable then. But now SCH is once more, the god-healer must pick for... the whole expansion.

[Heliantheae]

Essentially the only time SCH is disadvantaged in any way is in prolonged AoE healing situations which honestly should be taken care of more by their regen-healer partner anyway.

So what you're saying is, they should buff Whispering Dawn to catch up with Medica II.

Remember that when SB dropped SCH suffered from quite a few issues, and since then they've been given constant adjustments and buffs to bring them up to an acceptable pick.

Oh man, Fey Union was almost unusable at launch. And Excog was just a stronger Lustrate. Two of our three new skills were just bad.

[technole]

Scholar is fine, if anything they need to re-think White Mage, or should I say Whine Mage because that is what the majority seem to be doing. WHM does nothing better than AST/SCH for Alphascape.

So what you're saying is, they should buff Whispering Dawn to catch up with Medica II.

Yet Whispering Dawn was already nerfed several patches ago. I felt they had that in the cards for awhile now but waited until they got the instant buffs for all the jobs to go-ahead with the nerf.

Oh man, Fey Union was almost unusable at launch. And Excog was just a stronger Lustrate. Two of our three new skills were just bad.

It was usable and Excog was great, just the timer had to go.

[Anselmet]

Honestly square needs to think of a new healing role that isn't regens or shields. They need a fourth healer that can synergize well and bring something else to the table that will pull away from sch desirability. They also need to give whm more raid utility other than big heals. But then again, maybe this is all by design. Perhaps square wants whm to be a progression class at this rate.

[NobleWinter]

I had to work really hard to wrap my mind around how a healer could function outside of the regen/shield healing toolset we are used to. The only thing I could imagine is a healer that revolved around debuffs. They would lessen the outgoing damage from a boss or mob and create the illusion of healing by negating the incoming damage itself. It wouldn't be a "shield" for the party so much as poison for enemies. I think it would be neat to see a healing class like that because their skillset wouldn't have any issues with buffs for the party that can overwrite the cohealer.

[number473]

I had to work really hard to wrap my mind around how a healer could function outside of the regen/shield healing toolset we are used to.

This is honestly such an outdated concept that I don't know how anyone is even still clinging to it. Yes you do need shields to mitigate tank busters and so on, but these are hardly the defining characteristics of these classes. Everyone also seems to forget that WHM has consistently had a shield since the beginning of ARR.

[Brightamethyst]

Honestly square needs to think of a new healing role that isn't regens or shields.

You say that like it's so easy, but what do you suggest? Damage and healing are pretty straight forward. You either prevent the damage from happening in the first place (shields), or heal it back up after the fact (cures, regens.) What's the third option?