Fluid Aura Ideas (as well as Other DPS Skills) for WHM in 6.0

[currentlemon]

With 6.0 around the corner and that big announcement showcase coming this Friday, I want to discuss some ideas for WHM's Fluid Aura skill. I know this topic has been beaten over several times already, but I think this should be done again since the new expansion is right around the corner. I still have some hope that Yoshi-P and SE will realize their mistake for oversimplifying healers (and tanks too) this expansion and reverse their course like they did with previous jobs in past expansions, i.e. HW Bard.

So for Fluid Aura I already posted these ideas in several old posts, but I'll post them again regardless. The skill needs to be part of WHM's DPS toolkit. I doubt anyone has it on their hotbars as the only reason you need the skills was for a Conjurer's job quest back in the early levels.

Here is a simple way to make Fluid Aura a reliable DPS skill for WHM. Pretty basic and boring, but it's a start.

At level 25, the Conjurer will receive a trait (Water Mastery) that turns Fluid Aura into a Water based DPS skill. The Binds Target effect will be completely removed, but the skill will turn into the following:

Water II (Name a work in progress)
Deals Water Damage with a potency of 240.
An Instant Cast ability with a Cooldown of 30 seconds
The trait and the skill itself will be earned through a class quest.

This is the easiest solution to fix Fluid Aura. Nothing flashy and somewhat boring, but Fluid Aura will finally be dragged out of our skill list and placed on our Hotbar at last.

Here are some more traits that upgrade Fluid Aura as you level.

Level 54: Water Mastery II
Upgrades Water II to Water III
Potency is increased to 280.

Level 64: Water Mastery III
Upgrades Water III to Water IV
Potency is increased to 320.

Level 74: Water Master IV
Upgrades Water IV to a new Light based DPS skill (Light based because of the way 5.0's story plays out).
Potency is increased to 340.

Level 82(84?): Water Master V
Upgrades the new Light based DPS skill to Flood (or Water V)
Potency is increased to 360.

Again, this is a pretty basic solution to solve Fluid Aura but it is decent. I have way more suggestions to solve this problem, such as syncing Stone/Glare and Fluid Aura into a 1-2 spell combo. But I'll post that at another time after some thinking.


And let's not forget, Aero III needs to make a comeback. God I miss that skill.

[Recon1o6]

While I have posted this almost exact idea before as well, I would prefer fluid aura be water 1 and not an ogcd attack

I believe that healers and tanks should not have such a damage penalty just because they are healers and tanks. This means that each of them should have their own identity and rotation.
The way I see whm's rotation, it should be raw power as its identity in dps to contrast with the sch identity of dots for days

Stone should eventually upgrade to quake with a flat 10 potency boost to each level

All water spells are instant cast gcd spells. They are activated after proccing with Stone 1/2/3/4/glare. % chance of proccing is 25, 40, 50, 70, 100

Water 1: potency 180
Water 2: potency 240
Water 3: potency 300
Water 4: potency 350
Flood: potency 500

Meanwhile Aero would look like this. Aero 1,2,4 would be one line and 3/tornado would be separate line.

Aero 1: Potency 40 duration 18 (240 total)
Aero 2: Potency 70 duration 18 (390 total)
Aero 4: Potency 90 duration 18 (540 total)

Aero 3: Potency 60 duration 24 (480 total)
Tornado: Potency 125 duration 24(1000 total)

This would turn the whm rotation into Tornado>Aero 4>Quake>Flood^ogcd window OR Quake>Quake

I personally find that glare/dia should be relegated to being a small burst rather than our normal whm attacks triggered by a 60s ogcd that costs a lily. Blm gets to keep their elements despite ice being the element closest to light so having the first flooded with light being the reason whm is stuck losing their conjury identity is stupid

Fluid aura should be changed into well..an aura. Perhaps one that makes all spells instant cast for a short while for party members... though that might be too strong. Just something thats an actual aura or shield or what have you.

[currentlemon]

snip

I was actually thinking the same thing when it comes to my 1-2 spell combo for Fluid Aura/Water, or at least something similar. The WHM player casts Stone/Glare, and then casts Water/Flood as their next spell. The Water/Flood spell will have a potency bonus if cast after Stone/Quake/Glare. As for Aero 3, I'd love to have that spell back. I'd say have the WHM earn it around level 40, or at least before level 50. Controversial, but I want to have as many spells in the job's toolkit as soon as possible. Then you can add a trait that upgrades it to Tornado around the mid-80s.

Not really sure about the Glare and Dia suggestion. I might have to think about that. Though here's an idea. What about adding Cleric Stance back as a WHM only skill?

[NobleWinter]

Fluid Aura used to deal damage and was clearly meant for crowd control but I would like to see it be a damage mitigation tool for party members or self. Lets say it reduced incoming damage by 15 percent for 7 seconds. It could upgrade to Fluid Armor becoming a damage invuln skill allowing people survive otherwise lethal damage but with a longer cooldown similar to Hallowed Ground and MP Cost like BLM Flare. You sacrifice all your mp and are unable to regain any mp for 20 seconds. At level 58 you get Thin Air so you could keep someone alive and continue to cast for 12 seconds if you have both up. Would this be incredibly game changing? Yes, it would be, and its an identity that would be really fun for WHM to play around. Absolutely no raid buffs but an extra tank invuln is a definite way to make them desirable in high end content. Sacrificing all your mp with Benediction in your pocket and Tetra and Assize and free spells like Rapture and Solace feels like a way to let WHM optimize and pull off incredible saves. I do highly doubt they would allow this skill to interrupt the intent of ultimates and things so I could see them adding it as an upgrade in the new expansion instead for balance.

[pikalovr]

personally i would love to see the reversal effect put onto healers the effect turns healing into damage for x seconds if targeting an enemy of course bene wouldn't work with it and HOTs would just turn into DOTs

[Gemina]

With 6.0 around the corner and that big announcement showcase coming this Friday, I want to discuss some ideas for WHM's Fluid Aura skill. I know this topic has been beaten over several times already, but I think this should be done again since the new expansion is right around the corner. I still have some hope that Yoshi-P and SE will realize their mistake for oversimplifying healers (and tanks too) this expansion and reverse their course like they did with previous jobs in past expansions, i.e. HW Bard.

I would not compare 5.0 healers to bowmage. The latter was a clear mistake, which is why they reverted. The homogenization of healers was necessary to wipe the slate clean. All three of them are very much playable even if you are bored to death doing so. They will not be reverted back to how they were as a result of 5.0 design errors. The only way this would happen is if they were truly broken, and even then, they would probably do something entirely different with them.

That said, adding another DPS skill for healers, or making fluid aura cause damage again has some caveats. If the skill is on the GCD, then it immediately is either DoA, or replaces the current ST skill. I say this in relation to whither the skill is higher or lower potency then the current skill, in this case Glare. The only way to add another DPS skill for healers now is to either fill in a gap, such as AoE DoTs, or it has to interact with another skill in their kit. it can combo off or into Glare; it can be a proc that has a chance to do so during Dia ticks, or when a support or offensive skill crits; something like that. The other possibility I see is something like Misery and Divination which are only available after acquiring the resources to use them, but then the skill is not on demand.

As an ogcd, it is just used on CD. All the time, every time. You can find ways to fit it into the burst windows of the party when they buff each other up, but in order to maximize the damage from such a skill, you simply use it whenever it is available.

Right now, all three healers (in my eyes) are missing AoE variants to their DoTs. It is not fun, nor optimal using GCDs to slap a ST DoT on multiple targets. Actually, it outright sucks. Fluid Aura could be used to fill this gap for WHM. Though if they went down this path, they would likely give WHM another light-based skill instead of updating FA.

If the skill wasn't tied to CNJ and a class quest, it would be in the history books. They have stripped just about everything from it, and is what I consider a 'slot wasting' skill.

[Recon1o6]

snip

Unfortunately, for the majority of players, turning healers into pure healers was a massive mistake which is why we saw no whm's last expansion and very few healers this expansion.

Pressing 2-1-1-1-1-1 constantly when you are doing a fetch quest, fate, or boss fight with a semi competent party from level 4 to level 80 is not fun at all. Using your ogcds on cooldown and you've healed the party outside of floor tanks.

Everyone agrees that fluid aura is a waste currently. That's why we've had so many threads such as this one asking it to be buffed into being useful again (such as being turned into a silence) or replaced with water magic attack (which everyone has wanted since 2.0)


The reason why everyone wants 4.0 and 5.0 massive errors reverted is because that would be the easiest way for SE to correct this. Failing that they could add in proper new rotations as part of an actual overhaul rather than the mess SE brought out that nobody asked for.

Balance is not as important as fun. You can tweak balance numbers later, but you need the job to be fun.

[currentlemon]

snip

Agreed. Make the job fun first, worry about balance later. And despite 4.0 WHM to be massively flawed, it is by far still better that 5.0 WHM.