Yet another SGE change proposal...but probably not like most you've seen

[AmiableApkallu]

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?

[Renathras]

...

Keep in mind, it is a draft. It something like this were to be implemented, it would likely involve some tweaks for balance and incorporating feelback from testers.

What is the core mechanic of SGE right now? It's not Haima. Haima gets screentime because it's visually striking. The core mechanic is arguably Addersgall, but as people have remarked, that's just Aetherflow with a different name and slightly different (but overall identical) regeneration system. SCH and SGE both generate 3 per minute, and each have a long-ish CD to generate more (SGE 1 for free, SCH 3 for the cost of losing Eos and pet abilities for the duration), with the abilities even being carbon copies other than Excogitation/Taurochole (Sacred Soil/Kerachole, Lustrate/Druchole, and Indominability/Ixochole are effectively carbon copies). You're right about the Job's current design, but that's the problem, isn't it? SGE's current design is to take SCH, remove Eos, and try to make it seem different when it's really not.

While Kardia isn't dramatic enough to be shown in videos and has been described as a glorified and slightly smarter Eos, it is also something that SGE has which IS distinct from the other healers. It's the only healer that deals damage to the enemy resulting in healing to allies as part of its standard rotation and several of its non-standard (CD or condition locked) attack spells. Under the current system, that healing is relatively minor, but that's part of why current SGE isn't where it should be.

As to the "courage of your convictions": I've been healing in MMOs since ~2007, MUDs since the late 90s, and RPGs since the early 90s. I recognize that not everything goes to plan, and so backup tools are necessary for when that happens. MOSTLY I addressed this with the Kardia system adding Hypokardia and Hyperkardia. In fact, those MAY be enough. But note that this rework has SGE with a mere 26 buttons total. Which is small vs most Jobs. Cutting out several more abilities just to "double down" seems kinda silly. Every healer has GCD heals for leveling dungeons, if nothing else, so it makes no sense to strip them anyway.

"then you haven't accomplished": Hardly. WHM still has Cure 1 and Medica 1. You never use them, but they're still there.

"burst phase": Probably using Rhizo to get a leg up into your rotation early (like how SCH's use Dissipation for more Energy Drains in the first buff window) and for later phases, timing your Eukrasia Dosis to fall in buff windows as well. Rhizo can be leveraged for damage as the SGE player gets more familiar with the fight and has planned out their other CDs to more effectively deal with mechanic timings, allowing a higher skill ceiling and skill expression as a SGE gets better and masters a given fight. Which is what the community is asking for in healers all the time, isn't it?