Thread: 5.3 Wishlist

The minimum I'd want:
SCH: Energy Drain Changed to an instant Spell with 350 potency (Since Seraph and Recitation require 2 weave slots to actually execute)
WHM: Presence of Mind Changed to 120s cooldown (To better align with raid buffs)
AST: Lightspeed has 2 charges and Play/Minor Arcana restores 500mp (to allow flexible usage of Lightspeed and to bring AST's MP restoration closer in line with WHM/SCH)

Further small improvements I'd like to see before 6.0:
SCH:
Ruin1/Broil Cast time reduced to 2.3s. Recast still 2.5, of course. This would put their base mana consumption at the same as AST while only slightly affecting weaving/clipping.
Fairy goes to Heel if you're too far away instead of disappearing
Seraph is a buff to Eos/Selene instead of replacing them (so that Orders don't disappear when they do)
WHM:
Stone/Glare Cast time reduced to 2.3s. Same reasons as SCH.
Assize becoming a Spell maybe? Its potency increased to suit, of course. I don't play this job outside of dungeons and people always complain about not enough movement on WHM as well as having to weave a 45s recast with only Dia and Lilies.
AST:
AST's issues are part of the fundimental way that it plays in comparison to the other healers (free healing actions, vastly more target selection), and won't be fixed in a small tweak or patch.

What I expect:
SCH: Nothing
WHM: Nothing
AST: Nothing
Square are either happy with the way that things are for healers, or don't want to make a change that would make things worse

Originally Posted by IllyaPrisma

The top speed clear for TEA is AST + WHM. The top speed clear for Shiva is also AST + WHM. And for top percentiles on Shiva, SCH is nearly 1000 DPS behind WHM. WHM being only 230 DPS behind AST. I don't know where you are getting your info...

Ah yes, the old "I'm going to throw statistics out the window and make my sample size '1' " argument.

I'm getting my info from FF logs. I just use a larger sample size instead of cherry picking only 1 log (logs that are typically under highly contrived, exceptional circumstances, no less).

I'll make it easy for you:

Flat out saying that SCH + AST has superior DPS is wrong though, as it fails to beat AST + WHM at the most efficient play level. And as for AST, it is the most unpopular choice among healers by quite a large percentage. Whenever AST is considered undesirable by the community, SE has historically buffed the job to the point of ruining healer balance for the remainder of that Expansion. This happened with 20% Balance, and again with the reduced cast time of Malefic. There will be some unnecessary buff to AST in an attempt to make it more appealing, and the vicious cycle will continue.

Originally Posted by IllyaPrisma

Flat out saying that SCH + AST has superior DPS is wrong though, as it fails to beat AST + WHM at the most efficient play level

You mean... It fails to beat AST+WHM in two specific log files.

Generally, AST+SCH does have the edge in DPS. It is small, but it is there and perceptible and applicable to tens of thousands of people instead of 2 statics/16 people.

However, nitpicking this isn't the point. If you say things like SCH and AST and healers generally need some QoL, more interesting DPS rotations, AST needs card usability QoL - all of that, I will somewhat agree with you.

In terms of power/strength, however, the healers are relatively balanced. We're in a meta where you can play any healer and not get locked out of the vast, vast majority of statics nor virtually any PF.

SCH+AST does have the slight edge outside of those 2 logs, but even if you want to argue this point, SCH+AST and WHM+AST are very, very close and this is a good thing - it enables the aforementioned "play any healer" meta. If SE messes with that by hard buffing SCH/AST (And they might, due to lower player counts and that we're at the point in the patch cycle when they traditionally do) - the "play any healer" meta will be toast.