Scholar's Identity Transformation

[Supersnow845]

I hate the Titania idea as much as the WHM nun dress because in every skill SCH has ever had they have never blended the fairy into the SCH, they have always sat as two distinct halves

If people want a Titania seraph glam then go ahead but the SCH themselves should never get weird fairy augmentations because that’s not what the SCH itself is

[Anarnee]

I don't like the transformation either. I didn't mind it too much with Reaper, but I really hope that they don't continue forward with these transformations that override our glamours.

[SabrinaScribb1es]

Scholar is my favorite class to play, and a large part of why I enjoy it so much is because of its unique visual aesthetics. As such, I have a lot of opinions about the new angel transformation. I want to explain why I believe that the transformation feels so off, but I have so much to say that I actually had to split my ramblings into two posts, so here is the first part:



This job has two overarching themes: the scholar themself, who is an academic military tactician, and their adorable fairy summon. These two themes have aesthetics that are very contrary to one another, but the job makes them feel cohesive by treating them as separate entitles rather than trying to mash them together. On their own, the scholar has abilities/actions that focus mainly on offense, mitigation, and shielding, but they lack in straight-up healing. To cover this weakness, they summon a fairy who acts as an aid. The scholar then uses their military tactics to guide their fairy on the battlefield to heal their allies. The visual aesthetics of the attacks/abilities within the job follows this separation of concepts, with the scholar's direct actions (Broil, Art of War, Chain Stratagem, etc.) having very sharp, geometric visual effects to fit the military tactician aesthetic, and the fairy-based actions (Fey Illumination, Whispering Dawn, Fey Blessing, etc.) having soft and whimsical fae and butterfly themed visual effects to fit the fairy aesthetic.



In my opinion, the contrast between these two themes is a major part of what makes the job so visually interesting and fun to play, so adding in a third largely unrelated theme/aesthetic in the form of an angel garb feels very jarring -- especially when it appears to completely overwrite your glam AND your character's features (in the job action preview, the Miqo’te scholar loses their tail once they transform).



This type of transformation ability worked very well for reaper because the voidsent that you transform into during enshroud is already the main aspect/theme of the job, and it is visually present within other job actions (Gluttony, Unveiled Gibbet, Grim Swathe). While scholar technically does have an angel-themed ability in the form of Seraph, it is only present in a single action rather being an overarching theme like reaper's voidsent. Not to mention, while Seraph may be an angel, they still look very similar to the actual fairy summons. Seraph has the same dainty figure, pastel color pallet, and glowing body that Eos and Selene have. This a stark contrast to the golden and white color pallet and holy, church-like aesthetic of the angel transformation. If the design team really wanted to lean into an angel aesthetic, they should have at least made the transformation look more like Seraph and less like a cheap party city costume. In fact, the whole outfit seems to share way more design motifs with Sin-Eaters than it does Seraph.



(Continued in second post)

[SabrinaScribb1es]

Here’s the second part of my ramblings about the new transformation:



The disparity in the visuals of Seraph and the visuals of the angel transformation leads me to my next point. In my opinion, the angel garb looks very tacky. I know we've only seen the back of the transformation so far, but from what has been shown, I think it looks garish. In particular, I think the colors are gaudy and the wings look very small and stiff. As previously mentioned, the colors don’t match Seraph or either of the other fairy summons. The wings lack the movement and visual intrigue of Eos/Selene/Seraph's wings, or even that of White Mage's Temprance wings -- which contributes to giving it a cheap costume feeling. It's also super disappointing that the transformation appears to completely overwrite your glamour with very traditional White Mage-esque robes. Many people pick to play Scholar because it has some of the most unique and distinct job-exclusive gear, especially compared to other healers and casters, so the transformation's boring attire is frustrating.



This job has always kept the theming and visual effects of the individual scholar and their fairy separate, which is a major part of what allows the job’s overall aesthetic to work so well. Despite this, I think that an action/ability that temporarily combines the different visual themes/aesthetics of the scholar and their fairy friend into one entity could could be very interesting; however, the angelic transformation completely misses the mark. Others have brought up using Feo Ul/Titania as a base for a similar transformation, which personally, I would really enjoy. Feo Ul may not be related to scholar lore, but they share a strong connection to the player AND fit the same aesthetics as the scholar’s fairy (and also, I just really miss our beloved branch and would love to see them again). I also saw this reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/s/bYWl8gguMY) by u/morganasfingernail which shares their amazing concept art for alternatives to the new transformation ability. Personally, “Altruism” is my favorite, but I think that all 4 of these concepts are incredibly well designed and would fit into scholar’s kit much better than what we have currently seen.



I think that many scholar players would be happier with the new ability if it was either changed to be visually fairy themed instead of angel themed (such as being Feo Ul themed, or at the very least actually looking like Seraph) OR if it was changed so that it does not completely overwrite the player’s glamour and character but rather adds new visual effects on top of the player’s character (such as the concepts u/morganasfingernail shared on reddit). While I do really appreciate the hard work of S.E and all the game developers, I hope they are open to taking feedback on job designs, as the current development for Scholar (as well as several other jobs) feels a bit directionless.

[sindriiisgaming]

Look buddy if you play a healer job with a male character then you only have yourself to blame.

Male characters shouldn't play healers now? If by that logic u don't play ta- oh I see. Rules for thee and not me

[fulminating]

I hate the Titania idea as much as the WHM nun dress because in every skill SCH has ever had they have never blended the fairy into the SCH, they have always sat as two distinct halves

If people want a Titania seraph glam then go ahead but the SCH themselves should never get weird fairy augmentations because that’s not what the SCH itself is

An engineer wouldn't transform into a slide rule. Why should a scholar transform into something tangentially related to magic geometry that it's fueling itself? Even summoner LB3 only gives bahamut wings and that's the limit break.
Titania isn't even the same as selene/eos, it's explicitly a dead child's soul.

edit: has anyone brought up the idea that seraphism's whm cosplay is a lightningrod to distract from the fact that they seem to have once again given sage what scholars have been asking for since its removal?

[Calysto]

edit: has anyone brought up the idea that seraphism's whm cosplay is a lightningrod to distract from the fact that they seem to have once again given sage what scholars have been asking for since its removal?

It kinda is, but let's not forget we're talking about healers : no way it will be interesting.
Anyway, BRD got back their buff songs after 2 expansions of DNC having stolen the buff thing, so I guess SGE will be privileged till 8.0 ; then it will get the same slop as every healer ; might as well enjoy it while it lasts I guess

[Cabalabob]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AG26Io...c2Ugd2FsbHM%3D

[Gemina]

An engineer wouldn't transform into a slide rule. Why should a scholar transform into something tangentially related to magic geometry that it's fueling itself? Even summoner LB3 only gives bahamut wings and that's the limit break.
Titania isn't even the same as selene/eos, it's explicitly a dead child's soul.

It's just as easy to ask, "why not?" It shouldn't have to be said that an engineer and a healing class in an online game aren't even remotely related. Unless I am misunderstanding what you're saying here?

As for Titania, the name and the form they take is heavily inspired by Shakespeare's play 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', in which Titania is the queen of the faeries. While officially a remnant of the fallen pixie king of Il Mheg, a SCH taking this form, particularly the WoL who bested the king in combat makes a hell of a lot more sense than the angelic form we're given. Titania was also well received in regards to her concept art and design, so it shouldn't come as any surprise that players would love to have her glamour. We were cut a bit short with the online store version of it.

[SylvAlternate]

As for Titania, the name and the form they take is heavily inspired by Shakespeare's play 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', in which Titania is the queen of the faeries. While officially a remnant of the fallen pixie king of Il Mheg, a SCH taking this form, particularly the WoL who bested the king in combat makes a hell of a lot more sense than the angelic form we're given. Titania was also well received in regards to her concept art and design, so it shouldn't come as any surprise that players would love to have her glamour. We were cut a bit short with the online store version of it.

Neither makes sense. Scholar's arcane Faeries and Norvrandt's Fae Folk have absolutely nothing to do with each other outside of the name.