[Feedback] Scholar gameplay needs to be improved

[Bole]

Deleted Post

[Sebazy]

I've said it time and time again, getting good at healing in this game is an absolute curse, especially when you go back to more casual content.

SCH has arguably fallen the furthest of all the healers but otherwise the entire role is just rotten to it's core at this point.

Healing needs a fundamental rethink and a fresh approach both to job design and our role within content.

Either we need to be under more pressure with healing (By way of both kit and encounter design changes going forward), we need to have more utility within our group (By way of actually useful, engaging and impactful buff/debuff centric gameplay), or SE need to suck it up and actually make our DPS gameplay interesting somehow.

[Supersnow845]

I hate being the one to always say this because your post is well thought out, detailed and I agree with almost all of it but it’s always a horrid combo of hilarious and depressing that any time someone comes up with a detailed explanation of what they want from a rework to a healer it always basically amounts to “what the healer was pre ShB”

The damage/utility vs healing stance was basically eos vs Selene, the damage being more interesting was SCH’s DOT rotation, the interesting utility was the fairy abilities that weren’t direct heals

old SCH had it all

[Shikiseki]

The current Scholar is the one I play the least out of the healers these days (and it used to be really fun)

I miss the manual embrace the most but it just feels like almost the entire kit fights against itself which is punishing instead of rewarding (bad)
They even removed some of the QoL over the past (see quickened Aetherflow and Energy Drain) but somehow they have no idea what to do with the job it feels like. Maybe have deployment return like PvP to be able to spread dots or shields with the same button would spice things up again but at this point it might need an overhaul ala summoner

[Heroman3003]

Broil V, Art of War III, Biolysis II. Take it or leave it.

[Troxbark]

You basically just described every healer. I'd love to see change but I'm also preparing for the inevitable buffs to tanks mitigation and self healing in 7.0, along with DPS getting more self healing abilities while healers get some novelty abilities and continue to get phased out.

You heard it here first.

[Supersnow845]

SCH is also stuck in that in order for anything remotely interesting to happen to SCH they need to commit to changing all of the healers (using their own twisted design philosophy)

SCH already has the most buttons of any class in the game but even assuming you never touch energy drain and play aetherflow like addersgall SCH still has the lowest HPS of the 4 healers

If I was asked to make a SCH that’s a “halfway point” between current SCH and HW SCH I would

1) bring back a second targeted DOT and shadowflare with its old interaction with sacred soil
2) return fey caress and fey wind (as a peloton esque speed boost+ mitigation) and have caress share a button with whispering dawn and fey wind share a button with illumination
3) return quickened aetherflow and MP restoration on energy drain and nerf aetherflows MP
4) level 100 ability is another non heal utility like expedient
5) to compensate for the buttons added in 1 and 4 fey blessing would be deleted and protraction would be baked into DT
6) DT in AOE can spread chain and any DOT’s like old bane

The biggest problem with this is that I would be further incentivising both the use of Selene as the support fairy at the expense of eos healing and further encouraging the use of energy drain while also deleting one of SCH’s true free AOE heals, if this was done in isolation and SGE is still sitting over there with 4K free AOE potency per minute it’s really going to unbalance the HPS

So returning to my original point AST and SCH are so cluttered with healer buttons if they add anything they will need to remove other buttons, if that button removal comes out of their HPS it’s going to unbalance the healers unless they commit to redoing all of them

[Aravell]

The biggest problem with this is that I would be further incentivising both the use of Selene as the support fairy at the expense of eos healing and further encouraging the use of energy drain while also deleting one of SCH’s true free AOE heals, if this was done in isolation and SGE is still sitting over there with 4K free AOE potency per minute it’s really going to unbalance the HPS

So returning to my original point AST and SCH are so cluttered with healer buttons if they add anything they will need to remove other buttons, if that button removal comes out of their HPS it’s going to unbalance the healers unless they commit to redoing all of them

I think one of the problems is that SGE came out underbaked on EW release, so they keep slapping buffs on SGE for every patch to the point where they're absolutely bloated with free healing now. If they want to fix healer balance, they need to start by nerfing SGE to a more manageable point.

The AST vs WHM gap also does need to be addressed if they revert lilies to a damage refund instead of damage neutral.

[OdinelStarrei]

Removing Quickened Aetherflow was a mistake.

Removing Manual Embrace was a mistake. (Fey Union is not a replacement)

Removing Selene was a mistake.

Removing Miasma II was a mistake.

Gutting Energy Drain multiple times because the Aetherflow economy is "complicated" was mistake.

Seraph is a mistake, Rouse was better.

Excog was cooler when GNB didn't have it on a 25sec, no cost mit with mitigation attached.

Leeches should come back.

Just stop adding heals to SCH, where am I even supposed to use half of these things? (Extreme and up, I know, I know...)

I'm not even good at SCH and this thing is a disappointment. I get some endorphins when I do a cool Protraction/Illum Crit Deploy, but then the P9N stack marker does literally nothing anyway, and I probably just could've succor'd instead. Actually, stack markers don't even do damage in normal, I didn't need to do anything to be honest. (Troxbark had it covered anyway, I forgot how absolutely asinine normal raid content is with two competent SCHs, should've stayed on break)

There's a cool strat where you take the 2nd boss in the Baron's stack marker solo as a healer with shields because the physical damage is so pathetic, even a healer with high pre-shielding can force the quicksand in a corner so casters don't move. This is what I have to resort to in order to get any engagement in normal content.

[Aravell]

Removing Quickened Aetherflow was a mistake.

Removing Manual Embrace was a mistake. (Fey Union is not a replacement)

Removing Selene was a mistake.

Removing Miasma II was a mistake.

Gutting Energy Drain multiple times because the Aetherflow economy is "complicated" was mistake.

Seraph is a mistake, Rouse was better.

Excog was cooler when GNB didn't have it on a 25sec, no cost mit with mitigation attached.

Leeches should come back.

You can basically summarise by saying "5.0 SCH onwards was a mistake", a sentiment that many old SCH mains share.