Because why not: A Moderate Proposal - SCH

[Renathras]

Oh right! I was going to compare to SB SCH:

So, in SB, SCH had the following collection of abilities:

Bio (2? 3?) - Instant cast DoT, shortish duration. (4-5 refreshes per min)
Miasma - Cast time DoT, moderate duration. (2-3 refreshes per min)
Ruin 2 - Instant nuke. (Movement and weave tool, 1-3 casts per min)
Bane - Instant oGCD AF spender that spread DoTs. (1 cast every ~20-30 sec in AOE combat, so 2-3x per min)
Shadow Flare - Instant oGCD, 60 sec CD, field effect DoT.
Energy Drain - Instant oGCD AF spender that did damage and gave the SCH a small amount of HP and MP. (1-3x per min, MP regen is now baked into Aetherflow and HP remains on ED)
Miasma 2 - Instant cast GCD AOE + DoT. Movement tool in boss fights if near the boss, spam "nuke" for AOE situations after spreading other DoTs with Bane. (Situational in single targets, spam filler in AOE)
Broil 2 - 2.5 sec cast GCD filler spam nuke.

I think that's all of them, though tell me if I'm forgetting any.

Out of the standard-ish 24 casts per minute, 4-5 were Bio, 2-3 were Miasma, 1-2 were Ruin 2 (or Miasma 2), and the remainder were Broil. So roughly 14 Broils per min vs the alternatives, when you were using the rest at a high rate.

Under this proposal, it's not at all that, mind you, but out of 24 casts per minute, 6 would be Biolysis/Miasma (vs 2 Biolysis now), with Miasma situationally being used more for additional movement or weaving. So that would be 18 Broils per minute, which isn't too far from 14 and is far better than the current situation of 22 Broils per minute.

Moreover, depending on what we make the Energy Drain cost, there will be a lot more ED weaving than now, AND this will be done alongside more AF heal weaving (Excog/Soil/Indom) since ED won't be stealing their resources. Miasma 2 generates 25 Faerie Gauge every 15 sec, or 100 per minute, and AF spenders (not counting Dissipation) generate 30 more, for 130 total under full Miasma uptime. That's going to be between 4 and 6 (again, depending on cost) Energy Drains (if you're not needing to heal with Aetherpact, and for the purpose of this target dummy napkin math, we're assuming your AF + Faerie oGCDs are up to the task so you don't need Aetherpact in this scenario), which is up to twice as many EDs as you use now, AND this is alongside 3x more AF oGCD heal weaves. So that's a lot of oGCD presence, calling back to SCH's historical nature as a heavily oGCD based healer, and extending that to an oGCD damage playstyle as well.

You also get a lot of decision points, such as maybe wanting to use Miasma even before the DoT is done so that you can use an AF/Eos oGCD and double weave in an ED to prevent overcapping (or just get in a bit more damage as refreshing Miasma early isn't going to be a huge DPS loss, especially if you're weaving ED for additional damage if you don't need the Faerie Gauge for Aetherpact healing).

So even though your Broil casts are a few more per minute than SB, you also have a lot going on on the oGCD side of the house and more decision points (not as in depth, but akin to how people describe BLM) on how to use your resources. NOT doing this, of course, won't destroy your gameplay, but it gives you additional room to optimize if you are a high achieving player or doing extra easy content. And while the rotation is more in depth than it is now, the gap in damage output isn't HUGE for those not fully engaging with it, and Miasma allows for a good deal of flexibility with the bulk of the damage being up front, making it less punitive if you need to use it as a movement tool. While it IS a loss, it's not a HUGE loss either, allowing both people who want to optimize to do so and those who can't for whatever reason to still be viable, if a bit less optimal.

SB SCH would press 14 Broils, ~10 non-Broil GCDs, 3 AF oGCDs, and 1 Shadow Flare per minute. Total: 28 damage buttons per minute.

This SCH would press 18 Broils, ~6 non-Broil GCDs (with potential additional Miasma situational uses), 3 AF oGCDs, and ~6 Energy Drains (when using all gauge for it) per minute. Total: 33 damage buttons per minute.

I dunno, it's not identical but it seems fairly comparable.