Edit: Yes I know it’s long, thank you to everyone for saying constantly, but that’s why there’s a TL;DR, so /shrug.
I’ve seen quite a number of people in the XIV communities I’m in express confusion at the upcoming changes to Collective Unconscious (CU) in 5.1, and thought I’d make a quick post explaining what is happening and whether it is a buff or a nerf. TL;DR will be provided at the end.
Currently, CU is possibly the most underwhelming part of AST’s healing kit. Yes, it does have some good damage reduction (10%) and a relatively not-long cooldown, but its glory days of SB’s amazing 150p/tick HoT are long gone, with it being absolutely gutted upon SHB’s release to a measly 50p/tick, clocking in at a paltry total 250p. While just about all of AST’s healing issues were addressed in its 5.05 changes, CU was left untouched, retaining its miserable and saddening status as now the most disappointing part of AST’s kit, and the most lacklustre “healing bubble” skill in comparison to Asylum and the absolute queen Sacred Soil, leaving myself—and I’m sure many others—pining for it to get some attention.
Now, in the upcoming Patch 5.1, the development team are giving some love to this skill, and leaving AST’s healing kit fully realised and assuring its ability as a stand-alone healing class—not that it hasn’t been, but now the final piece is getting slotted in. However, the listed changes in the patch notes aren’t very well explained, and so many people are going “... huh ?” at what they’re reading. I’m quite sure I get the gist of the changes,—but if I’m off the mark somewhere then I’d love to know—so without further ado, let’s get into it !
First off, and the simplest parts to comprehend, CU’s cooldown is being reduced from 90s to 60s. This is a welcome change, increasing its availability of use and leading to more times it can be used to mitigate raid-wide damage. Next, its range is being increased from 6y to 8y, and the regen of CU is getting doubled, moving from 50p/tick to 100p/tick for a new total of 500p. This is just wonderful, improving its utility and, in conjunction with the reduced cd, allow it to be used more effectively for actual healing, and so do I really need to say anymore for these ? Just good and welcome changes, you really can’t complain.
Now comes the more confusing part. In its current iteration, CU works exactly the same for both sects, placing Wheel of Fortune, a 15s regen on anyone within the bubble at time of activation that persists after CU’s deactivation, and reducing oncoming damage by 10% that lasts only as long as it is activated and people are inside, with the effect persisting for a few seconds after its deactivation. It is remaining this way for Diurnal, easy as that, but for Nocturnal it’s a little less unclear, taking into account that Yoshi-P said that “CU changes are coming, specific to Nocturnal Sect.”
There are a two possibilities with how it will work in Nocturnal Sect. First of all, it may work just exactly as Diurnal, only with one extra tick of regen and for the skill being able to be held for an additional 2s for a total duration of 20s. No different, very simple, but due to some specific wording in the patch notes I don’t think it will work this way. What I believe is the way CU will work in Noct Sect is that the effects will be reversed, due to their specification of Wheel of Fortune in the patch notes. This will make the lasting effect the damage reduction, with the effect that peters out after an early deactivation being the regen, similar to the damage reduction on CU’s current iteration and Paladin’s PoA if it is weaved quickly in between weaponskills; it sticks around for a few seconds and then goes away. That sounds a bit confusing, but it means this: As Wheel of Fortune is the lasting effect of CU, using it in Nocturnal Sect will apply a 20s damage reduction on everyone inside the bubble that lasts even after deactivation. 10% damage down for 20s ? Yes please !
But what does this mean for practical application ? How does its use differ between sects ? Well, it really won’t change if you’re in Diurnal Sect. You’re just getting more healing out of it on a shorter cd, so you’re probably just more likely to use it for its heal more often. For Nocturnal Sect, however, this change puts emphasis on its defensive capabilities, leading it to be much more useful in periods of extended damage; some examples of this are trash pulls in dungeons, double Tidal Rages in E3S, and Big Titan Tumults and Voice of the Land + Tumult combo in phases 2 and 3 respectively during E4S. This emphasis on Nocturnal Sect’s defensive capabilities should lead to more specialised use for moments of frequent raid-wide damage, and even as a nice bit of mitigation for auto-attacks on the tank after a solitary raid-wide hit (Entropy in E2S springs to mind as an example). Yes, you will lose out on the regen, but in situations where you are likely to throw in a GCD heal anyway, the mitigation will be very well appreciated, reducing needed healing à la Sacred Soil. This will put more differentiation between Diurnal and Nocturnal Sect,—which is not necessarily a bad thing—and further improve Noct’s strength in dungeons, where managing defensive cds between pulls as a tank can be a little more strenuous and as such require more attention on the healer. These changes too, as a nice little addition, will also help address the mess that is AST MP management.
So is this a buff or a nerf ? Well, it’s obviously a buff, pure and simple. It may be a little bit worse for Noct Sect, but with the strength of your oGCD heals and the fact that you’re probably healing alongside a WHM if you’re using shields, this evens out. CU is sure to move out of its hole as a bit of a disappointing skill and become another strength to the healing kit of AST.
TL;DR: CU is buffed. In Diurnal, you still have the equivalent of Asylum (just with better healing than before), but now in Noct sect you have the equivalent of SS, and the range increase, heal potency buff and cd reduction will lead to more frequent uses that will be more readily felt rather than its current almost-niche usage, and addresses the final underwhelming/weak part of AST’s healing kit, thus helping also in the struggle and toil that is AST MP management.
submitted by /u/Cruzybecks
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Continue reading...
I’ve seen quite a number of people in the XIV communities I’m in express confusion at the upcoming changes to Collective Unconscious (CU) in 5.1, and thought I’d make a quick post explaining what is happening and whether it is a buff or a nerf. TL;DR will be provided at the end.
Currently, CU is possibly the most underwhelming part of AST’s healing kit. Yes, it does have some good damage reduction (10%) and a relatively not-long cooldown, but its glory days of SB’s amazing 150p/tick HoT are long gone, with it being absolutely gutted upon SHB’s release to a measly 50p/tick, clocking in at a paltry total 250p. While just about all of AST’s healing issues were addressed in its 5.05 changes, CU was left untouched, retaining its miserable and saddening status as now the most disappointing part of AST’s kit, and the most lacklustre “healing bubble” skill in comparison to Asylum and the absolute queen Sacred Soil, leaving myself—and I’m sure many others—pining for it to get some attention.
Now, in the upcoming Patch 5.1, the development team are giving some love to this skill, and leaving AST’s healing kit fully realised and assuring its ability as a stand-alone healing class—not that it hasn’t been, but now the final piece is getting slotted in. However, the listed changes in the patch notes aren’t very well explained, and so many people are going “... huh ?” at what they’re reading. I’m quite sure I get the gist of the changes,—but if I’m off the mark somewhere then I’d love to know—so without further ado, let’s get into it !
First off, and the simplest parts to comprehend, CU’s cooldown is being reduced from 90s to 60s. This is a welcome change, increasing its availability of use and leading to more times it can be used to mitigate raid-wide damage. Next, its range is being increased from 6y to 8y, and the regen of CU is getting doubled, moving from 50p/tick to 100p/tick for a new total of 500p. This is just wonderful, improving its utility and, in conjunction with the reduced cd, allow it to be used more effectively for actual healing, and so do I really need to say anymore for these ? Just good and welcome changes, you really can’t complain.
Now comes the more confusing part. In its current iteration, CU works exactly the same for both sects, placing Wheel of Fortune, a 15s regen on anyone within the bubble at time of activation that persists after CU’s deactivation, and reducing oncoming damage by 10% that lasts only as long as it is activated and people are inside, with the effect persisting for a few seconds after its deactivation. It is remaining this way for Diurnal, easy as that, but for Nocturnal it’s a little less unclear, taking into account that Yoshi-P said that “CU changes are coming, specific to Nocturnal Sect.”
There are a two possibilities with how it will work in Nocturnal Sect. First of all, it may work just exactly as Diurnal, only with one extra tick of regen and for the skill being able to be held for an additional 2s for a total duration of 20s. No different, very simple, but due to some specific wording in the patch notes I don’t think it will work this way. What I believe is the way CU will work in Noct Sect is that the effects will be reversed, due to their specification of Wheel of Fortune in the patch notes. This will make the lasting effect the damage reduction, with the effect that peters out after an early deactivation being the regen, similar to the damage reduction on CU’s current iteration and Paladin’s PoA if it is weaved quickly in between weaponskills; it sticks around for a few seconds and then goes away. That sounds a bit confusing, but it means this: As Wheel of Fortune is the lasting effect of CU, using it in Nocturnal Sect will apply a 20s damage reduction on everyone inside the bubble that lasts even after deactivation. 10% damage down for 20s ? Yes please !
But what does this mean for practical application ? How does its use differ between sects ? Well, it really won’t change if you’re in Diurnal Sect. You’re just getting more healing out of it on a shorter cd, so you’re probably just more likely to use it for its heal more often. For Nocturnal Sect, however, this change puts emphasis on its defensive capabilities, leading it to be much more useful in periods of extended damage; some examples of this are trash pulls in dungeons, double Tidal Rages in E3S, and Big Titan Tumults and Voice of the Land + Tumult combo in phases 2 and 3 respectively during E4S. This emphasis on Nocturnal Sect’s defensive capabilities should lead to more specialised use for moments of frequent raid-wide damage, and even as a nice bit of mitigation for auto-attacks on the tank after a solitary raid-wide hit (Entropy in E2S springs to mind as an example). Yes, you will lose out on the regen, but in situations where you are likely to throw in a GCD heal anyway, the mitigation will be very well appreciated, reducing needed healing à la Sacred Soil. This will put more differentiation between Diurnal and Nocturnal Sect,—which is not necessarily a bad thing—and further improve Noct’s strength in dungeons, where managing defensive cds between pulls as a tank can be a little more strenuous and as such require more attention on the healer. These changes too, as a nice little addition, will also help address the mess that is AST MP management.
So is this a buff or a nerf ? Well, it’s obviously a buff, pure and simple. It may be a little bit worse for Noct Sect, but with the strength of your oGCD heals and the fact that you’re probably healing alongside a WHM if you’re using shields, this evens out. CU is sure to move out of its hole as a bit of a disappointing skill and become another strength to the healing kit of AST.
TL;DR: CU is buffed. In Diurnal, you still have the equivalent of Asylum (just with better healing than before), but now in Noct sect you have the equivalent of SS, and the range increase, heal potency buff and cd reduction will lead to more frequent uses that will be more readily felt rather than its current almost-niche usage, and addresses the final underwhelming/weak part of AST’s healing kit, thus helping also in the struggle and toil that is AST MP management.
submitted by /u/Cruzybecks
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...