Sage after Live Letter Part LXVI

[tinythinker]

New jobs have tended to be pretty fun upon release the last couple of expansions. What are your expectations for Sage? Does it interest you at all? Do you think it will be better developed or more fun than its predecessors?

[AnotherPerson]

New jobs have tended to be pretty fun upon release the last couple of expansions. What are your expectations for Sage? Does it interest you at all? Do you think it will be better developed or more fun that its predecessors?

+ It has more DPS skills and not a 111111 rotation.
+ I heal with DPS.
+ I can mitigate damage.
+ I can dash like almost every DPS & tank next expansion.
+ I can weave between DPS skills without an issue.

That's more than enough to say it has the foundation of a very good job for players who want to heal while being engaged in gameplay when they can afford extra brainpower to do so.
Remember how Blue mage as a healer is fun because they had very few healing spells, a good set of mitigation utility, but most importantly a decent DPS rotation with primal skills? That's basically Sage right now - heavy GCD DPS centric gameplay that focuses on optimizing GCD uptime for maximium healing usage, but with a bit of mobility, more mitigation oriented playstyle, and more healing abilities.

The true combat medic players have been waiting for that doesn't feel completely dumbed down because it requires a good precision of balancing HP and DPS to make the job work well. We'll have to see how it plays out and the final design before saying anything for certain to see if it's good for Endwalker Encounter Design, but currently the skills look pretty positive to me.

[Vivix]

+ It has more DPS skills and not a 111111 rotation.

That might as well have been the tl;dr because I was convinced to try sage right there.

[KageTokage]

As far as I can tell (Going off of known tooltips and the trailer), SGE has:

1. Dosis (Their single target ability)

2. Eucrasia Dosis (Their DoT, which Dosis turns into after using Eucrasia, which is a one second GCD that also turns their GCD heals into shields.)

3. Discrasia (Their standard AoE)

4. Toxicon (AoE with the same initial potency as Dosis but 50% splash damage and requires spending a resource acquired from using their OGCD heals. Is also instant cast, meaning it's just going to be a mobility tool in single target situations).

5. Phlegma (Stronger instant AoE with a 45 second cooldown and two charges)

6. Pneuma (Line AoE with the same initial potency as Dosis and 50% splash damage, but has a two minute cooldown due to having both an AoE heal and lengthy damage reduction attached to it, effectively making it their equivalent of Temperance.).


Their DPS rotation doesn't seem like it's actually going to be much more involved then the conventional healers, though the Cardia buff's passive healing when using DPS skills will make going on the offensive very comfortable.

[ty_taurus]

As far as I can tell (Going off of known tooltips and the trailer), SGE has:

1. Dosis (Their single target ability)

2. Eucrasia Dosis (Their DoT, which Dosis turns into after using Eucrasia, which is a one second GCD that also turns their GCD heals into shields.)

3. Discrasia (Their standard AoE)

4. Toxicon (AoE with the same initial potency as Dosis but 50% splash damage and requires spending a resource acquired from using their OGCD heals. Is also instant cast, meaning it's just going to be a mobility tool in single target situations).

5. Phlegma (Stronger instant AoE with a 45 second cooldown and two charges)

6. Pneuma (Line AoE with the same initial potency as Dosis and 50% splash damage, but has a two minute cooldown due to having both an AoE heal and lengthy damage reduction attached to it, effectively making it their equivalent of Temperance.).


Their DPS rotation doesn't seem like it's actually going to be much more involved then the conventional healers, though the Cardia buff's passive healing when using DPS skills will make going on the offensive very comfortable.

We've also seen a 7th DPS action from Sage in the Benchmark Trailer, and it's some kind of ranged AoE. At first it seems like it could be Discrasia after using Eucrasia, but it's weird that Discrasia is point-blank while this other action is ranged. Also, regarding Toxicon, the trailer seemed to showcase the Sage gaining a stack of Adder's Sting after the tank that they shielded with their GCD barrier was attacked, not when using OGCD healing. Depending on the specifics, it could mean that proactively using your GCD barriers will be treated as DPS neutral when done correctly, thus adding more diversity in your GCD actions by stopping to heal more frequently.

[Hustensaft]

We've also seen a 7th DPS action from Sage in the Benchmark Trailer, and it's some kind of ranged AoE. At first it seems like it could be Discrasia after using Eucrasia, but it's weird that Discrasia is point-blank while this other action is ranged.

It's the Sage version of Alphis white carbuncle. It is also what Alphi uses in the Endwalker trailer.

[ItMe]

I notice a lot of the abilities* are like "self and party members around you." And since you can always focus your "passive" heals on the tank I think a big part of this job's design philosophy is a healer that never needs to break target with the enemy, which will be lovely for controller players.


*shared here if anyone hasn't seen them yet:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...y-SGE-tooltips

[rewd]

I notice a lot of the abilities* are like "self and party members around you." And since you can always focus your "passive" heals on the tank I think a big part of this job's design philosophy is a healer that never needs to break target with the enemy, which will be lovely for controller players.


*shared here if anyone hasn't seen them yet:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...y-SGE-tooltips

I mean, this is SCH's philosophy so nothing really new.

[Gemina]

I think that it has taken this dev team several years and expansions to figure out exactly how they like they bake up their jobs and encounter design. While they continue to improve, I believe jobs like Sage and Reaper are coming out a really good time due to all the years of experience this team now has. The same can be said for job reworks such as MCH, PLD, NIN, and the upcoming SMN and MNK are now some of the best, flashy, and fun jobs to play in this game. Now I believe that SCH is the next job in line that is more than past due for the same treatment.

That said, my expectations for Sage are quite high, but this is a good thing because this dev team has set a golden standard, and it has been such a long time since we've had a new healer. I mean holy hell, they figured out how to even appeal to Gundam fans. I am going to have a lot of fun with Sage I assure you.

[Truen]

I will play it because of it's dps abilities alone. I'm SO DAMN SICK of 'broil spam.'