Quote Originally Posted by Renathras View Post
Overall Objective: To retool Sage to realize the class fantasy of “healing by dealing damage competently”.
I think I'm going to argue that that is not actually the class's fantasy. It's the players' fantasy.

Outside of the Lv.70(?) job quest, Kardia gets no screen time. The signature move for a Sage doing "their thing" is shielding, e.g., (Pan)Haima: It's in the Endwalker benchmark. It's in the job quests' cutscenes. It's Alphinaud's dramatic move. It's the dramatic move in the capstone role quest for Endwalker. It's in keeping with the alleged split between pure and shield healers, and it's in keeping with the job's current design.

Setting aside that quibble, I suggest having the courage of your convictions: Double down on the "healing by damage" concept by removing what you've grouped as GCD heals, and the oGCD heals and healing buffs. Keep Haima and Panhamia (for some vestige of the actual class fantasy), and plain Diagnosis (to have something outside of combat).

I mean, if keeping the old abilities is your answer to

the core rotation can’t be lined up against healing/mitigation needs of mechanics
then you haven't accomplished "healing by damage" in an interesting way because you're relying on the old heals to do the actual, necessary healing; your damage buttons aren't good enough to realize the vision.

The total cycle is 12 abilities. 12 x 2.5 = 30 seconds for a full loop, meaning this comfortably meshes with all 30, 60, and 120 second buff/burst cycles.
So, what's the burst phase here, then?