SCH needs some nerfs

[Exiled_Tonberry]

U-Uh I just started..... maining sch....... But there seems to be a huge war over it...... it also sounds like if I don’t use my fairy, then it will make people less upset because a lot of people complain the fairy is unfair.

This is a...really odd way of looking at things (no offense intended).
Sure healer balance is out of whack, but it doesn't/shouldn't fall to you to handicap yourself for no reason.

[Exiled_Tonberry]

The ideal time to release balance changes is actually when nothing is at stake, as opposed to the day of a new tier or Ultimate release. .

I have to disagree with this. I mean, the buff is coming at a point where all the hardest content in the game has long since been cleared and the expansion is about to hit which will change things anyway.
I don't want WHM changes just to feel special for a patch. I want changes so we're overall more balanced compared to the other healers.

I'm not going to argue against the upcoming buffs of course, but it feels like they're just throwing us a bone to lessen the damage. I would have much rather them leave us alone so our weakenesss and what needs to be done could be made more apparent for 5.0 rather than give us a bandaid only to switch things back later and cause more issues.

[Lyth]

You've seen how conservative SE is with their balance adjustments. WAR/SCH/BRD has been dominant for nearly six years now, simply because the devs are afraid of making drastic changes. If you read the pre-Stormblood interviews, this was supposed to be the magical expansion release which fixed all those problems. Yes, we know that WAR and SCH are too versatile and have guaranteed slots. We'll do something about it, we promise. We all know how that worked out.

You were never going to fix healer and tank balance problems in a single expansion update. It's only going to happen iteratively. And it's only going to happen if the playerbase continues to make it clear that change is long overdue.

[Maltothoris]

Lol even the developers themselves just said that the potencies https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...shida_summary/

"This implies that machinists, monks and white mages will get buffs for 4.5 as a band aid, but they will be nerfed in 5.0 when they balance everything around the level 80 abilities)"

Edit: I knew it wasn't going to be anything that changes the systems of how the jobs were. From the sounds of it, all their ogcds are probably getting buffed by like 20 percents and whatever gcds they can get away with too. The only content this would probably effect would be the ultimates since those are going to stay relevant until the end of the expansion (still need to get around to beating one them since i got 50 percent at least with both of them) So I wonder how many WHM are going to be like, oh sweet all these buffs are great and whatnot and then come 5.0 and they see these new potencies dumbed down to their original numbers.

Edit: I'll admit I sound very pessimistic regarding but I think I should come clean. I started off as a WHM all the way back towards the end of 2.1 before Second Coil came. It took me a while to finally raid but I was able to do so. When HW came out, there was the stigma surrounding the Astro and steered away from it came to lvling it around 3.1 after it get its major buffs in 3.07. Of course stigma takes a long time to go away. It took having to make the Ast techically better than WHM in terms of regens and better than SCH in terms of shields for to finally be considered which was a farcry from their original goal of having to be inferior but having the cards. Then of course, we have the infamous balance change in when made Balance the only card that mattered. I didn't lose faith in their balancing with SB, I lost it with HW. And as the interview states, once ShB comes around, these changes are going to get reverted back to make way for the new abilites and traits. So only the future knows what's in store.

[HyperiusUltima]

My only wish is that SE decides to learn from their mistakes they've made in Heavensward AND this expansion.

1) Indirectly buffing jobs to fix most minor(and some major) issues without reparation for job balance
2) Buffing AST *AGAIN* to be stronger than WHM all-around(3.4 Heavensward anyone? Not as bad, but...)
3) Spreading Abilities for balance without compensation and fixes(There has not been ONE White Mage fix or balance update outside the Lily issue)

In regards to SCH though, I think Miasma II coming back was the only thing that SCH needed to keep. They more or less didn't need an extra 100 potency on their Indomitability to be able to AoE heal exactly if not better than a WHM.

[Ceasaria]

The only skill which needs nerf is adlo "crit effect".
It's not normal to be able to skip an entire mecanic or several.
It's like a mini Invincible for the all team or a quick LB3 tank.

[Exiled_Tonberry]

3) Spreading Abilities for balance without compensation and fixes(There has not been ONE White Mage fix or balance update outside the Lily issue)

Someone made a list of all the changes the healers got in SB.

The SCH and AST list of changes is enormous and meaningful.
WHM has 2 lines, 1 for Plenary indulgence changes, and another for taking Divine Bension off the Lily system.
I didn't even remember this, but the AST trait for Lightspeed was actually similar to WHMs useless lily trait that lowers CDs whe you heal critical HP.
They fixed ASTs trait and left WHMs alone...

It's almost funny how WHM just seems to be overall neglected.

[Crushnight]

Couldn't sleep last night and had loads of healer stuff going through head but some ideas i thought up:

Whm;
Divine Benison - change to grants shield for 15s and provides 15s of 5%,6%,7% and 10% damage up if used with 0,1,2,3 lillies respectfully
Assize - now provides mp = 10% to each player based on their maximum mp
Presence of mind - provides mind increase 1%,2%,3%,5% if used with 0,1,2,3 lillies respectfully
Plenary indulgence - now will heal base potency once timer wares off based on stacks, stacks now reduce dmg recieved by 2%,4% and 6% respectfully

Sch;
Chain stratagem - now increase crit rate by 5% instead
Dissipation - now provides +20% dmg up for sch with 3 aetherflow stacks
Fey union - gauge now doesn't disappear should dissipation be used also tether now provides 2% dmg up to target
Broil 2 - potency uped to 200
miasma 2 - potency of dot reduced 20 now last 15s
Deployment tactics - now spreads 90% of shield radius increase to 15y

Ast;
Diurnal Sect - provides 10% healing potency increase
Nocturnal sect - provides 10% speed increase
Time dilation - gains doubles shield potency of nocturnal field active lowers shield duration by 5s
Celestial opposition - gains increase potency of nocturnal field active by 25%
Spire - now increases direct hit of target by 20% for 15s
malefic 3 - potency reduced to 200
Gravity - now get at lv50
Synastry - now get at lv52

[Mansion]

Whm;
Divine Benison - change to grants shield for 15s and provides 15s of 5%,6%,7% and 10% damage up if used with 0,1,2,3 lillies respectfully
Assize - now provides mp = 10% to each player based on their maximum mp
Presence of mind - provides mind increase 1%,2%,3%,5% if used with 0,1,2,3 lillies respectfully
Plenary indulgence - now will heal base potency once timer wares off based on stacks, stacks now reduce dmg recieved by 2%,4% and 6% respectfully

But you don't address the core problem : lilies. Let's all agree. We're speaking of high end content. So we won't heal with GCD spells.
I would keep divine benison as it is. You can spam it quite frequently, even with no lilies.
Your assize sounds strange to me. We don't need more MP. It's actually one of the best WHM abilities as it is now. Maybe buff its healing/DPS potency.
I like your presence of mind. But you lose what's good in current presence of mind.
So your plenary is a soft excog, with a defense up buff... makes sense in a way. But that does not solve the clipping.

In pure gameplay, White Mage needs :
- Efficient clipping solutions
- New lily system
- Agro management

I'd suggest that as fixing solutions (not long term):
Fluid Aura : 60s CD, halves enmity.
Lilies : each Cure, Cure II, Stone, Aero II (initial damage, not DoT damage) that crits has 50% chance to grant a lily. Lilies work the same way, but Secret of Lilies II removed and changed as "3 lilies : Stone and Aero III cast time reduced from 2.5sec to 1.5 sec) -> ALL HAIL THE CRIT META
Stone and Aero III : cast time 1.5 second (with three lilies)
Aero III : duration 36 seconds (so you can roughly align 2 Aero II on one Aero III)
Presence of mind : I'm having trouble with this one, because there's no need for it if WHM gains on mobility based on my ranting. Maybe just keep it as it is, but reduce CD to 120sec for better alignment. Grants three lilies on use ? Then you have an opener.
Plenary indulgence : Confession now just stack with no timers. Potency to be revised, but this essentially means each GCD AOE heal grants you a future free oGCD heal. I'd steal your idea that confessions also bear a small damage reduction as long as it's active. For balance, I would not stack three degrees of confessions, just make a flat confession buff, granting a free AOE heal of medium potency and passive 3% dmg reduction. Lilies affect Plenary too.
Largesse : no longer a role action. Increase Mind by 10% for 15 seconds.
No major changes on the rest, but I'd buff Asylum and Assize.

This only nerfs SCH by taking out Largesse for the Adlo spread.

[Jinzhu]

I'm glad one of the things I pointed out about WHM ended up being fixed which was Planery. "Planery Indulgence: Another meh skill with Niche uses. It restores the HP of all party members by 150, 300 or 450 potency depending on how many confessions stacks that person has. Party members are granted confession stacks when you heal their HP via Medica, Medica 2 or Cure III. Because you use Medica 2 and sometimes Cure III in group environments this would be an actual good skill if confession stacks didn't last 10s. This gives you realistically no time to even utilize them as they fall off before they are even worthy of doing anything. They should last indefinitely or at least for a longer period of time like 30-60 seconds. Imagine how good this skill would be if you could wait and use your confession stacks and be able to plan them instead of being forced into a chokehold. Another issue with them is that if one person is topped off and has a confession stack and you planned on doing another heal to get 2 confession stacks on the party. That person who is topped off will not get another stack and will actually lose his 1st stack because it doesn't refresh."

So good on them. Assize change is pretty lackluster, doesn't change anything really for their DPS and actually forces them to use it on damage rather than healing more so than ever. You need to use it strictly on CD or you will most likely lose a use. You can't really hold it more than 10 seconds over the course of 4 uses or else you lose that Assize under 3 mins.

Enmity is also changed like 10 patches later than it should've been.