Quote Originally Posted by MoroMurasaki View Post
Welp, I think this is a good thread to come back from my vacation with.

I'm not going to say that there aren't problems in the relationship between WHM and AST, there are. If AST is sitting at 100% (a good place in balance) WHM is around 80%... but that difference is eclipsed by SCH being at 150%.
  1. Chain Stratagem is consistent, strong and synergizes amazingly with the crit-meta.
  2. Critlo/spreadlo are the strongest shields you can have and have only benefited from the role action changes in 4.4 - they can now be deployed off of a WAR with Convo and Minne on by a SCH using Largesse and neither of those classes sacrifices anything to do so.
  3. Indom is perhaps the single best heal in the game. It costs almost nothing, is more flexible than ES by a mile and is instant.
  4. Their pDPS is ridiculous by comparison and they have unlimited weaving opportunities with basically no need to clip.

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.

This is not balance within the healer community. No one healer should provide the best pDPS and (more often than not) rDPS while also having such a flexible defensive kit that can easily be tweaked to handle almost any situation.

Thoughts?
1. If not already (which is damn near impossible to tell without dozens of pure samples recorded in tests specifically for this), Critical Hit and Direct Hit stats ought to diminish in the same way that Skill Speed and Spell Speed have, providing the same relative value increase between their increased damage multiplier chance and damage multiplier bonus such that 2000 of either stat still gives the same raw damage, so to speak, whether stacked atop Litany, Chain Strat, and/or Battle Voice, respectively.

2. Agreed, and I'm not certain what the best solution, or even path thereto, ought be. Should we, for instance, remove the crit bonus on Adloquiem, letting the crit itself be enough -- curtailing maximum power while also diminishing the need to fish for crits? Should we remove critical hits from Adlo entirely, instead uniquely having spell power increase based on crit chance and multiplier for a guaranteed bonus? Should we apply a taper (e.g. Bane-like) penalty to the spread but reduce the cooldown and allow it to stack with Succor to a maximum of 300 shield potency (easier with the last change suggested removing RNG from shield power)?

3. It is. And yet, even as someone who doesn't especially like playing SCH, I'd be loathe to lose it or see it meaningfully nerfed. I'd sooner just see Plenary Indulgence not be shit.

4. I feel like this has to be taken with a grain of salt. A SCH's pDPS should not be seen alone so long as they are not the preferred "GCD healer" in their pairing, as that will skew the results in their favor. Instead, you have to look at the comps, or at least healer pairs, that include a SCH vs. those that do not. With change #1, this would already be moved significantly towards balance with AST. Buffs to WHM would then likely allow for perhaps the tightest balance we've yet seen.

Ideally, I would hope all three healers will see significant changes in 5.0 to allow for more of their own cohesive identities each, especially AST in terms of identity and WHM it terms of cohesion. I'm curious what just slightly 'out of the box' changes they could use to bring SCH a bit more in line without sacrificing its flavor, though. Perhaps they could double down on the Fey Link mechanics and pet responsiveness, but cause all pet actions to consume mana (unless afforded by gauge) as not to leave such a large HPS completely free or unchecked nor nerf SCH personal throughput to compensate when that tool would be underutilized?