My Idea of How To Buff Sage

[ForsakenRoe]

Soteria is basically sage version of machinist overcharge.

Soteria should be time based, not charge based, while overcharge should be charge based and not time based, and yet devs just don't want to change neither of them around.

it WAS time based on release (10s duration) but it got changed to 4 stacks for whatever reason, probably something about low spellspeed causing you to lose that 4th hit or such

[Rongway]

it WAS time based on release (10s duration) but it got changed to 4 stacks for whatever reason, probably something about low spellspeed causing you to lose that 4th hit or such

I think the reason they changed it to stacks was to be more forgiving when healers would cast GCD heals during the duration, forfeiting Soteria-buffed attacks.

[Llynethil]

They should just make toxicon a regular ability and make addersting a seperate button akin to eukrasia, that when used augments some abilities, like for example an addersting buffed diagnosis turns the skill into a damage buff or movement speed bonus or a reflect damage buff for a couple seconds, some sort of unique combat effect on allies.

Would love to see more interactive support abilities like that on all healers, give them the ability to support allies more other then healing.

[Rongway]

They should just make toxicon a regular ability and make addersting a seperate button akin to eukrasia, that when used augments some abilities, like for example an addersting buffed diagnosis turns the skill into a damage buff or movement speed bonus or a reflect damage buff for a couple seconds, some sort of unique combat effect on allies.

This type of suggestion highlights the missed opportunity to have a Dyskrasia that modifies actions in a way different from Eukrasia. Really they should just rename the spammable AoE so they can use the name Dyskrasia for a second modifier button.

[fulminating]

Just call the modifier button σκοτειναι τεχναι, we all know it to be true. That frees eukrasia up to be an action in its own right - having a dedicated dot/nuke/aoe/flavour button and σκοτεινη τεχνη version of each - maybe the dot could be an aoe version, the nuke a prohibitively costly but more damaging cast for example?

[Blondefox25]

My main problem with tieing addersting to Holos, Panhaima, and Haima, and making Pneuma more powerful is that it can cause a playstyle dissonance in which in order to deal good dps you essentially have to waste your mits and heals, cauaing you and your cohealer to suffer because you wouldn't have those mits for damage intensive sections because you needed them to deal dps.
I feel like Sage should be the healer that needs to use their heals effectively to deal dps, as well as dps in order to heal effectively. These would be my changes to give it that identity
1. Make Phlegma be 30s, if the devs are focusing on a 2 minute meta, there should be no reason for Phlegma to be disaligned a 2 minute buff windows.
2. Upon earning an Addersgal, you earn addersting as well. This makes it so you need to be effective with your addersgal, to never overcap so you can keep earning addersting, however not needing to waste it all, since it only is earned when you get a addersgal.
3. Change Pneuma to become a 2 part skill. The first part would be a powerful laser that deals 600 or 700 potency. Upon using Pneuma, you gain the oGCD ability "Pneumatic" which allows you to use a 600 or 700 potent aoe heal. "Pneumatic" will be available for 2 minutes so you gain flexibility of when you can use that heal while still being able to use Pneuma for 2 minute burst windows.

[ty_taurus]

My main problem with tieing addersting to Holos, Panhaima, and Haima, and making Pneuma more powerful is that it can cause a playstyle dissonance in which in order to deal good dps you essentially have to waste your mits and heals, cauaing you and your cohealer to suffer because you wouldn't have those mits for damage intensive sections because you needed them to deal dps.
I feel like Sage should be the healer that needs to use their heals effectively to deal dps, as well as dps in order to heal effectively. These would be my changes to give it that identity
1. Make Phlegma be 30s, if the devs are focusing on a 2 minute meta, there should be no reason for Phlegma to be disaligned a 2 minute buff windows.
2. Upon earning an Addersgal, you earn addersting as well. This makes it so you need to be effective with your addersgal, to never overcap so you can keep earning addersting, however not needing to waste it all, since it only is earned when you get a addersgal.
3. Change Pneuma to become a 2 part skill. The first part would be a powerful laser that deals 600 or 700 potency. Upon using Pneuma, you gain the oGCD ability "Pneumatic" which allows you to use a 600 or 700 potent aoe heal. "Pneumatic" will be available for 2 minutes so you gain flexibility of when you can use that heal while still being able to use Pneuma for 2 minute burst windows.

I do like the flavor of Pneuma as is being a laser that emanates a heal, but what you could do is have the high potency part 1 stay as you suggested, and then the follow up is current Pneuma--still a DPS neutral attack that also heals rather than pushing the heal over to an OGCD action. This could also potentially keep both actions on the same button.

[Rongway]

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1. Make Phlegma be 30s, if the devs are focusing on a 2 minute meta, there should be no reason for Phlegma to be disaligned a 2 minute buff windows.

A 30s Phlegma would need three charges and a -40% potency nerf to keep it around its current power. It would carry the side effect of increasing sage mobility by about 15%, which would result in losing marginally less DPS to mechanics.

2. Upon earning an Addersgal, you earn addersting as well. This makes it so you need to be effective with your addersgal, to never overcap so you can keep earning addersting, however not needing to waste it all, since it only is earned when you get a addersgal.

Addersting does not increase DPS directly; it only increases mobility. An additional three free movement GCDs per minute would be a mobility increase of 120%. These would make mechanics obnoxiously easy to handle on sage while having only a marginal effect on DPS as sage is already mobile enough to handle most movement requirements losslessly. Overcapping Addersgall and forfeiting potential Adderstings would still not be a significant loss in single target contexts.

[ty_taurus]

Addersting does not increase DPS directly; it only increases mobility. An additional three free movement GCDs per minute would be a mobility increase of 120%. These would make mechanics obnoxiously easy to handle on sage while having only a marginal effect on DPS as sage is already mobile enough to handle most movement requirements losslessly. Overcapping Addersgall and forfeiting potential Adderstings would still not be a significant loss in single target contexts.

I think changing Addersting from a glorified Ruin II into an actual aspect of your rotation would be a massive improvement on SGE's gameplay. Obviously how Addersting is obtained needs to be taken into consideration for this direction, but that is literally my number 1 desired change come 7.0, and not just in terms of gameplay changes. I want to see Addersting be a DPS tool that's a consistent part of SGE's gameplay more than any piece of content, any new QoL improvements, any story aspect, any Final Fantasy references--that is what I ache to see more than anything else.

If that does end up being the case, I think a good trade-off for SGE being highly mobile is allowing it to be more complex and a little challenging to play correctly, not unlike how GNB has a tricky time positioning bosses while maintaining its rotation.

[Rilifane]

The problem I see is that this insane 2min burst focus would mean one of 2 things:

• 1) Toxikon remains dps neutral - you can happily sit on 3 charges while not needing to move, no loss here. Edge cases of getting another GCD in right before a boss dies/ goes untargetable exists but are rare and happen maybe 2-3 times per fight if at all
• 2) Toxikon is slightly stronger than Dosis - dump all during burst for maximum dps. Obviously you have some small skill ceiling here as you still need to keep enough to cover unavoidable movement that isn't covered by slidecasting, Icarus or dumping a Phlegma charge to avoid overcapping but it's not that much either. You'll eventually arrive at a point where you use the majority during burst.

Perhaps if it remains dps neutral but they build more on MP free aspect by lowering SGE's overall MP gain from Addersgall it could be enough of an incentive to regularly use it both for movement and MP as part of your normal rotation.
I could also see them give us an Eukrasian Toxikon. I think SGE in general could be more focused on multi-purpose tools that you modify as necessary with Eukrasia (and if only they hadn't made Dyskrasia into an aoe that skill as well ...). Eukrasian Phlegma, Eukrasian Pneuma, Eukrasian Toxikon... there are enough options and even if some of them will lose value over time as you get better/ better gear, it's preferable over having niche skills that take up a slot and get used in terrible groups and/ or prog maybe once in a blue moon.

Things like Eukrasian Toxikon dealing slightly lower damage than Dosis/ regular Toxikon but restoring MP. It becomes a great recovery tool after death or when things went sideways and you had to GCD heal/ ress a lot. Or Toxikon could be a bit stronger than Dosis and Eukrasian Toxikon would be equal to Dosis.
Eukrasian Pneuma could heal less in total but also apply a shield, especially valuable in prog but there are also cases when the full 900 potency heal would be too much and with that modification you'd still get 100% value, just at the price of slightly lower potency overall. Would also make Pneuma more flexible.

(And for god's sake, stop letting SGE shields block SCH shields while also taking priority over them already...)