Scholar notes from E3 build - Titania Fight

[Deceptus]

TL : DR Scholar’s complexity has been thrown out the window, but from what I’ve experienced, there’s still a Scholar in there.

Not my work. All bolding is emphasis mine.

Source:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme..._the_trial_of/

Before I get into my experience with having played Scholar in the trial of Titania, let me first share that I’ve been maining Scholar since the days of Heavensward. I’ve used Scholar for content as it was current including Extreme and Savage. I had the opportunity to play the trial several times with various group compositions over a two-day period (Tuesday and Wednesday). It should also be noted that the Jobs available in the trial were all set to Level 73 with an iLevel of 399. This means I was not able to access Recitation, the Enhanced Sacred Soil effect of Regen or any fairy actions obtained after Fey Union. I did have access to Broil III and Biolysis. I was also informed by an employee working at the booth on my second day of playing the trial that Materia VI was melded to the gear of all available Jobs as well as raid food being added in the inventory due to the extremely low clear rates on Day One compared to past E3 Battle Challenges.

To touch on it briefly, the biggest issue groups were having with the trial would be the add phase. The debate of what add would receive the LB3 was a continuous topic amongst those in line as well as deciding what order to take down the adds since each one had a different action. The groups that were successful in clearing included people who actually played FFXIV but also understood that DPS was crucial. This is because the add phase features a harsher DPS check compared to previous challenges from past E3s, which in my opinion was pretty brutal for an event accessible to 70,000 attendees, many of whom have never played FFXIV let alone knew the difference between selecting Titania and a party member.

After comparing my notes, the potency values and tooltips for Scholar are exactly the same from what was shared during the Media Event that occurred last month with the exception of Indomitability which has seen a reduction in heal potency from 500 to 400 as of the E3 trial. Everything else, exactly the same.

“But I’m not concerned so much with the numbers as I am in how Scholar FEELS to play!”

To put it simply, Scholar feels very basic on the aspect of diversity in damage output. If you’re a Scholar main, everything you’ve known for your rotation is essentially Broil now with a busted Aetherflow situation. As I became familiar with the trial such as where healing was required and when particular mechanics would occur, I found myself puzzled by exactly how the FFXIV team thought it was necessary to remove Energy Drain. In very similar situations throughout my runs, I found myself utilizing stacks for less than effective results. When Aetherflow would be coming off its cooldown, I still had one or two stacks with Indom on CD or Excog already on the MT but no major damage coming out for a bit so I was struggling with not wanting to sit on Aetherflow but realizing that I would be overhealing. I found myself throwing out an unnecessary Lustrate or Sacred Soil which felt awkward just so I could refresh Aetherflow on time to gain that 10% MP back from Broiling as much as I was. It wasn’t until experiencing all of this right then and there that I now understand why the Quickened Aetherflow trait has been removed for Shadowbringers because Scholars would then be struggling to find effective uses for three stacks of heal-based actions every 45 seconds.

“Will overhealing be an issue at launch for Scholar?”

Absolutely, especially since the stacks are only ever tied to healing actions now. For my very first couple of runs in the trial, I kept mentally preparing for Energy Drain to expend my extra stack or two only then to quickly realize, OH RIGHT, Energy Drain is not here. Energy Drain has been so embedded into our muscle memory for using unneeded stacks because Scholars never really anticipated using all three stacks for healing, so the fact that each and every stack will be utilized strictly for healing purposes is difficult to plan through since Scholar is a part of a heal when needed type of situation. Even though Lucid Dreaming is on a cooldown timer of 60 seconds for Shadowbringers I still felt handicapped from not having Energy Drain to get back MP, especially when using Art of War for adds. An action that uses 800MP for a one-time AOE hit is a bit much for a 10,000 MP set. At least Miasma II has damage over time even for its high MP cost that isn’t restricted to a 10K limit.

“ARE HEALERS JUST HEALING NOW?”

Prior to experiencing the trial, when the Job changes were revealed for Scholar, I assumed that healers in general were going to see a major increase in healing duties since so many actions tied to damage output were removed. It only makes sense right? Not really. During my clear runs for Titania, my co-healers were pushing out as much damage as I was as if we were running a Stormblood trial, and the issues we had with low MP, if it came up especially for Astrologian, I noticed were from damage output and not because of healing. The trial of Titania plays exactly how FFXIV’s battle content has always been formulated for the normal version of trials.

“So then why the cuts to the dots?”

If the trial of Titania is setting the tone for the content we will get in Shadowbringers, or at the very least, act as the median on the entire scale of ShB battle content, a logical conclusion I feel that is valid to address is that the FFXIV team has gutted Scholar to accommodate the fact that the battle encounter formula cannot be made any more complex than it has been in order to make the content more accessible for FFXIV players. Basically, Scholar had to take four steps back since it would have been overpowered going into Shadowbringers to fit this very restrictive battle equation. Meaning, if the FFXIV team simply transferred over the Scholar of Stormblood into Shadowbringers, offering the same level of difficulty in battle encounters more or less, there would be a lack of challenge while utilizing an even more overpowered Healer Job. This is assuming that the trial of Titania, which featured many similar mechanics to what we are very familiar with already, will set the tone of what FFXIV’s battle formula has always been which is to push out as much DPS as possible to meet the check and heal as needed.

“Are the changes enough to make me want to drop Scholar for another Job?”

That’s a question I can’t answer for you as you’ll need to actually get a feel for it to see what I am trying to convey here in this post. For myself, the answer is no. I am open to trying out other Jobs eventually because I have experienced almost all of them to 70, but I plan to stay with Scholar even if the damage output is boring because I do enjoy the Job and frankly I don’t trust some of y’all in the healer role. Maybe as we progress through the MSQ and unlock the Raids and Extremes, we will be healing a bit more then we are use to already for that content? It’s possible, but I really don’t feel we are going full-on healing mode from what I’ve experienced with Titania. I just don’t see that happening.

Hopefully this post helps some of you who play as Scholar to understand the general situation of things going into Shadowbringers. I understand it’s discouraging/upsetting/annoying/etc to have actions removed that you’ve grown accustomed to for quite some time, but this is the reality of it. I have to trust the FFXIV team this time around that if they removed so many actions from Scholar only to add them all right back in, that would have been a waste of energy and time when adjusting all the Jobs collectively that I feel they don’t really have the luxury to afford that. If I could ask for one action back, hands down I would like Energy Drain to return or some equivalent to it but we have to wait and see. Overall, Scholar’s complexity has been thrown out the window, but from what I’ve experienced, there’s still a Scholar in there.

[Deceptus]

The trial of Titania plays exactly how FFXIV’s battle content has always been formulated for the normal version of trials. . .

A logical conclusion I feel that is valid to address is that the FFXIV team has gutted Scholar to accommodate the fact that the battle encounter formula cannot be made any more complex than it has been in order to make the content more accessible for FFXIV players.

This is EXACTLY what experienced healers were worried about.

[Sebazy]

It's almost as if we predicted this =(

On the brightside, they did state they would be aiming for UCOB difficulty with the next Ultimate tier, so hopefully Savage trends upwards as well.

[fantasticm]

This is EXACTLY what experienced healers were worried about.

Yeah, to the surprise of no one... or at least very few. While I admire the optimism of people who had faith that SE would keep to their word on that front, I think history tells us a sudden difficulty curve wouldn't fly for the majority of players. The new raid could potentially see a significantly higher difficulty, but it would surprise me, especially now.

As for the lack of Energy Drain, I suspect it will make a return in some form. The awkward forcing of a skill just to refresh, the obvious lack of a way to dump a stack offensively (which WHM now has): something that egregious should be noticed even by casual players, or even SE themselves (assuming anyone in SE plays SCH anymore). How it returns, would be the question. Could be ED as it was, Bane, something new entirely like consuming stacks for extra MP, or even - try not to laugh - making Ruin II require a stack. But I'd trust SE to take the easiest and straightforward path.

Sadly, the lack of ED might not have been so missed if healing had gotten much harder. Aetherflow stacks might've been a valuable resource, as opposed to something that begs to be disposed of. I would have been excited to play Scholar despite the unpalatable damage changes if it were healing intensive. Sorry to hear it.

[Deceptus]

But I'd trust SE to take the easiest and straightforward path.

I'm not such an optimist. I've seen something that should have been so easy and SE makes the most convoluted system they can (Glamour dresser among others)

[Yuyuka3]

the obvious lack of a way to dump a stack offensively (which WHM now has)

That's not really the case for WHM at all I think. You have to actively GCD heal to even build that stack, so unless that GCD healing is needed, you won't see a blood lily all that often. Which is kinda my fear, the Lilies being only slightly less useless than they are now since it won't pay off to use Misery every 90 seconds due to it being a DPS loss if you aim for it. Now if Misery was a regular lily skill, then you would be correct.

[LegoTechnic]

That's not really the case for WHM at all I think. You have to actively GCD heal to even build that stack, so unless that GCD healing is needed, you won't see a blood lily all that often. Which is kinda my fear, the Lilies being only slightly less useless than they are now since it won't pay off to use Misery every 90 seconds due to it being a DPS loss if you aim for it. Now if Misery was a regular lily skill, then you would be correct.

From my understanding the best analog for Blood Lily is something like SMN's current Dreadwyrm trance, where you use three lilies and the blood lily "blooms", allowing you to use Afflatus Misery. Thus the most you can do it is every minute and a half after you've accumulated 3 lilies (one every 30 seconds), and I think you have to have spent them as well. Lily charges themselves can only be used for healing.

At least I think that's how MTQ explained it.

[fantasticm]

That's not really the case for WHM at all I think. You have to actively GCD heal to even build that stack, so unless that GCD healing is needed, you won't see a blood lily all that often. Which is kinda my fear, the Lilies being only slightly less useless than they are now since it won't pay off to use Misery every 90 seconds due to it being a DPS loss if you aim for it. Now if Misery was a regular lily skill, then you would be correct.

Yeah, but it's something to make their job a little more... exciting. Honestly at this point I am just resigned to SCH superiority no matter what SE imposes upon them, and that WHM will just be forever cucked. It's incredible that SE was able to suck all the fun out of SCH and it's STILL stupidly OP. If they're going to be The Gods of Healing they should at least be complicated to play.

But I'm not here to bitch about WHM, this news is bad for all of us. Same ol stuff, only now with less tools than we had, janky adjustments... First time in a long time I've been excited to play a non-healer job out the gate. I'm sad...

[Gaethan_Tessula]

Wow, you mean they didn't increase required healing uptime to something approaching Ultimate in casual content?

You mean they didn't change the entire healing paradigm to triage and long term resource management, a change which would be one of the biggest sea changes since 1.X?

You mean there isn't going to be an increase in incoming damage to replace lost DPS and support capacities, or justify redundant healing buttons?

Simply shocking, who could have foretold this? If only we had released tooltips, two expansions of prior experience, and critical thinking skills to predict this outcome...

Is it time to start arguing we haven't seen what it's like at level 80 yet?

[Dyvid]

Well to be fair, isn't this basically just Titania Story Mode? The real test is going to be EX @ 80.