Let's all brace ourselves for no healer mention in any capacity for the upcoming LL

[Semirhage]

It's even more ridiculous when SE keeps declaring the pure vs shield healer dichotomy, yet the #1 shield healer has been #3 in actually being able to put on shields for quite a while now.

#3? WHM has literally one single target shield ability. One. And that's hardly unidirectional. Scholar has had a list of beefy oGCD single target *and* AoE HoTs for a very, very long time. And even gained one this expansion. SCH's design blows this expac, but it's not that much of a Poor Unfortunate Soul.

Agreed on the rest. Healers have a pile of redundancy in their kits.

[GrimGale]

#3? WHM has literally one single target shield ability. One. And that's hardly unidirectional. Scholar has had a list of beefy oGCD single target *and* AoE HoTs for a very, very long time. And even gained one this expansion. SCH's design blows this expac, but it's not that much of a Poor Unfortunate Soul.

Agreed on the rest. Healers have a pile of redundancy in their kits.

AST and WHM's oGCD shields are more effective mitigation tools than SCH's slowcasted and expensive GCD Adloquium as they can be weaved on a whim to react to an incomming tankbuster. Meanwhile, SCH's oGCD regens and excog are better pure healing abilities than WHM's GCDs. I figure what Dearche is trying to say is, what Devs label the healers as and what they actually do are two separate things.

[Dearche]

#3? WHM has literally one single target shield ability. One. And that's hardly unidirectional. Scholar has had a list of beefy oGCD single target *and* AoE HoTs for a very, very long time. And even gained one this expansion. SCH's design blows this expac, but it's not that much of a Poor Unfortunate Soul.

Agreed on the rest. Healers have a pile of redundancy in their kits.

Sorry if I wasn't clear there, but SCH is the worst specifically as a shield healer. It's hands down the best as a pure healer despite the label as the #1 and OG shield healer.

Adlo is limited in use due to all the limitations put on it (catalyze, and overall kinda weak without recitation, which is only good once every 90s, compared to WHM's Divine Benisin which, while weaker, is instant, free, and on a 30s CD, in addition to not bothering with a heal). And Succor? Really? That 200 potency shield is pathetic compared to just doing a flat AOE heal that costs far less in both time and MP, or is far more powerful.

And that's only comparing it to WHM. AST has it far better when it comes to putting on shields quickly and reliably. Not to mention that Noct Benefic is both faster and more powerful than an Adlo without Recitation. And that's in addition to the fact that AST actually has oGCD shields while in Diurnal Sect! And that's on top of the fact that Celestial Intersection is almost as good as Divine Benison, on top of having the same 30s CD!

Seriously, Benison and Intersection alone make both WHM and AST better as shield healers than SCH. That's how sad SCH's position is.

If SE was serious about making actual proper shield healers, SCH would both need Adlo turned into an instant cast shield with no heal, and have something like turn Excog into a shield that simply covers all missing HP up to 50%. Then we'll be talking about actually fixing some things.

[MiaShino]

There are some tricks you can use to make scholar better shield healer currently that are neat. I wish more healers had the same flexibility and learning curve that scholar has even now after it was changed.

Deployed Adlo shields especially under the effect of Dissipation are quite strong and with clever usage of Deployment you practically have ogcd shielding ability. Galvanize stacks with Consolation too for even more potent shielding! The downside of course is cannot be used with dissipation.

Is the boss transitioning into a phase where they cannot be targeted or forcing you to move? Adlo lasts for thirty seconds so Adlo yourself while there is nothing else to be doing, if well timed it will probably still be on you for the raidwide. Now you can weave a strong party shield by deploying your pre-existing Adlo even during uptime phases.

Is the tank doing big chungus pulls? Perfect! Pre-pull Adlo the tank then Adlo yourself while you are running by slidecasting. Now, when the tank loses Adlo you can deploy yours giving you a nice ogcd shield for helping mitigate big pulls.

While Excog is better to use with recitation there is some most amusing stuffs you can do by recitating Adlo onto a Dark Knight who then uses The Blackest Night on top of Consolation. Should the shields absorb all of the damage one attack does that would apply a debuff it will not apply the debuff.

More ogcd shielding options would a happy scholar make for this Lala over here. I can only imagine all of the tricky stuff I might be able to figure out.

[GrimGale]

There are some tricks you can use to make scholar better shield healer currently that are neat. I wish more healers had the same flexibility and learning curve that scholar has even now after it was changed.

Deployed Adlo shields especially under the effect of Dissipation are quite strong and with clever usage of Deployment you practically have ogcd shielding ability. Galvanize stacks with Consolation too for even more potent shielding! The downside of course is cannot be used with dissipation.

Is the boss transitioning into a phase where they cannot be targeted or forcing you to move? Adlo lasts for thirty seconds so Adlo yourself while there is nothing else to be doing, if well timed it will probably still be on you for the raidwide. Now you can weave a strong party shield by deploying your pre-existing Adlo even during uptime phases.

Is the tank doing big chungus pulls? Perfect! Pre-pull Adlo the tank then Adlo yourself while you are running by slidecasting. Now, when the tank loses Adlo you can deploy yours giving you a nice ogcd shield for helping mitigate big pulls.

While Excog is better to use with recitation there is some most amusing stuffs you can do by recitating Adlo onto a Dark Knight who then uses The Blackest Night on top of Consolation. Should the shields absorb all of the damage one attack does that would apply a debuff it will not apply the debuff.

More ogcd shielding options would a happy scholar make for this Lala over here. I can only imagine all of the tricky stuff I might be able to figure out.

That's all fine but Deployment Tactics has a 180s CD. Also it's a waste to use Adlo on yourself to deploy later considering the high MP cost of Adlo and how it's healing gets wasted on you. Deploying shields off yourself is a clever situational tactic I admit and certainly feels great, but it is also a very inefficient move that you get to rarely pull off, compared to Benison/Celestial intersection/Opposition that have 30s CDs/1 min CD and cost no MP.

[Allegor]

AST has it far better when it comes to putting on shields quickly and reliably. Not to mention that Noct Benefic is both faster and more powerful than an Adlo without Recitation. And that's in addition to the fact that AST actually has oGCD shields while in Diurnal Sect! And that's on top of the fact that Celestial Intersection is almost as good as Divine Benison, on top of having the same 30s CD!

This is exactly why I prefer noct AST over SCH. From my casual standpoint, I guess SCH is probably superior on statics or high end content, but as someone who only does mostly roulettes, noct shields are far more reliable and efficient and truly does feel like a shield healer

[Dearche]

This is exactly why I prefer noct AST over SCH. From my casual standpoint, I guess SCH is probably superior on statics or high end content, but as someone who only does mostly roulettes, noct shields are far more reliable and efficient and truly does feel like a shield healer

SCH is better in statics because it's a better raw healer than the other two, and at the same time it drops more DPS at the same time thanks to how the division between spells and oGCD is done. This is the single biggest issue with WHM and AST when it comes to class balance, which is sad because there's some easy solutions to it.

Simply put, balance their offence and healing between the spells and oGCDs so that healing doesn't mean your DPS drops like a rock.

[MiaShino]

That's all fine but Deployment Tactics has a 180s CD. Also it's a waste to use Adlo on yourself to deploy later considering the high MP cost of Adlo and how it's healing gets wasted on you. Deploying shields off yourself is a clever situational tactic I admit and certainly feels great, but it is also a very inefficient move that you get to rarely pull off, compared to Benison/Celestial intersection/Opposition that have 30s CDs/1 min CD and cost no MP.

MP is not really issue in FF14 so that part does not bother me. I remember being kinda shocked at how little manana matters in FF14 land compared to other mmos. Everything else you said makes most sense I just silently hope we are not getting another trough of easily spammed ogcd spells. I do not want scholar to transmogrify into a clone of the other healers even though it may probably happen.

Editing to clarify because English is not the first language and I did say more ogcds would make me a happy scholar. I wish for more interesting ogcd spells that require planning to properly execute.

[GrimGale]

SCH is better in statics because it's a better raw healer than the other two, and at the same time it drops more DPS at the same time thanks to how the division between spells and oGCD is done. This is the single biggest issue with WHM and AST when it comes to class balance, which is sad because there's some easy solutions to it.

Simply put, balance their offence and healing between the spells and oGCDs so that healing doesn't mean your DPS drops like a rock.

Optimization is such a pain in the ass honestly. Bending over backwards to cast yet another Broil/Glare isn't what I'd call satisfying. And that is pretty much it. Optimized healer gameplay means you cast 9 times your Damage spell instead of 6 or 7 between Biolysis/Dia. It means you use less variety of spells and abilities and instead use the highest DPS gain which is Broil/Glare X times in a row. It's such a tedious chore for the average player.

Juggling healing and damage is fine. Juggling resources is fine. Choosing approriate options for movement and weaving is fine. Optimizing does indulge in those things, but what you have to show for it is just a few extra casts of your boring generic blue blast of energy.

Your reward for appropriately using your resources should be a big flashy spell. Something strong and satisfying. Blood Lily is definitely flashy but any person that gives the spell any thought can see how it's just a compensation tool to give back lost DPS. It does have a sense of build up and that is great.

SCH on the other hand has no build up. It's just broil after broil.

Even AST has something to show off, even if it feels rather offputing when seals don't align.

[Semirhage]

weaved on a whim

I agree with your overall point, but I have to cackle at WHM weaving *anything* at will.