First off, let me preface that I can understand where the Dev were heading towards this expansion with healer. While it fell face flat, i can understand the bringing of the 3 healers together to incentivize more diverse groups in raids and *hopefully* expand on the job into their own identities in future expansions.
Now, I know why we’re all here. It’s because healers are insanely boring at end-game content, having nothing to heal and nothing to do during downtime besides spamming that 1 beautiful button. Now contrary to popular opinion, I actually don’t mind the 1 button spam. It’s no different with Bard’s Burst shot or Melee’s 1-2-3 combo which is really just a fancy 1 button combo. But much like these classes, it doesn’t just have to be the 1 button that decides our gameplay. We can be so much more. Thus, I have thought about what I would do to the 3 healers.
I would also like to note that I am a part of the new generation of people. I only recently started playing at the beginning of the Stormblood expansion so I’m unaware of previous changes to healers. If any of the changes I suggested have been mechanics of the past, please help clarify why these mechanics failed.
General:
I am actually not a fan of just how strong a lot of healer’s oGCDs/instant cast heals are. I think it’s counterintuitive to making healers casters. I want the decision to have to actually heal be incentivised and productive. Another thing I want from all healers is added GCD spells that are grounded into the kit. With every expansion, we only get to see newer oGCD/utilities that often outshine the GCDs we already have. Anything not mentioned within the change (cooldown, mp cost, cure potency, etc.) will mean those stat lines will stay the same. And just a heads up, I’m terrible with coming up with new names for abilities.
White Mage:
The classic healer. This class should excel in reactionary healing and having semi-high burst potencies for those clutch saves. I believe White Mage should be a healer that heals on the fly and be rewarded for healing which in turn will lead to offensive opportunities.
Since the release of Afflatus spells, I have found no reason to use Cure, Cure II, and Medica other than the fact that I don’t have the lilies, which is rather rare. And to add on to that, I completely hate the idea of having to wait for resources. Although people praise it for “rewarding” people for healing, I think they could do more with it. For one, let’s remove the timer on obtaining resources, and instead, have these spells generate lilies that will then be expended on offensive spells.
Changes:
Cure I/Cure II (400 MP): Cure I should upgrade to Cure II and have a potency that meets it in the middle, about 550 potency. In addition, have a 40% chance to grant the user a lily. This will keep the short cast time of Cure I at about 1.5s and will serve as your filler heal that while maybe overlooked in the raid scene, will serve its purpose in dungeon runs.
Afflatus Solace (1000 MP): No longer an instant cast and will now cost mana and additionally grant the user a stack of lily.This will be a normal 2.5s GCD because you need time and resources to nourish the lily
Basically a buffed up Cure II at around 800-900 potency. Much like the current situation, I still want healers to have to decide whether or not they need the quick heals/mp management that comes from Cure I/Cure II or decide whether they have the time to use a beefier heal with Afflatus Solace.
Medica/Afflatus Rapture (1000 MP): Honestly Medica is just so useless. There’s so much downtime in fights that i typically just opt out for Medica II and let the regen do its work. So instead, let’s just combine the two and have medica upgrade to Afflatus Rapture with a small boost to potency to 400 potency and have it grant the user a stack of lily. This will also have a cast time of 2.5s GCD. This way Afflatus Rapture will be the more sought out burst heal over a wider range.
Cure III (1500 MP): This spell is honestly fine the way it is, being a beefier aoe heal while only being cast over a short distance. Instead I would only beef it up some more to about 600 potency to incentivize some use over Medica/Afflatus Rapture.
Afflatus Misery (3 Lilies): Everything about this spell is fine, except that it’s an aoe. I would like to see this spell become a single-target nuke at the same 900 potency. Reason being, 4 glares total to 1200 potency in damage and making Misery stronger than that would incentivize spamming heals over actual dps. This way it maintains its purpose of rewarding players for healing, while not outdoing the intended purpose of actual DPS spells.
Afflatus Bloom (3 Lilies): This will essentially be the Misery we know today. Instead I would like to see the damage not fall off over multiple enemies and instead decrease the potency to about 400 potency.
Divine Benison (400 MP): Instant cast GCD. A 500 potency shield that grants the target an additional 10% damage reduction once the shield breaks.
TL;DR WHM should excel at healing and be rewarded for it. Although this doesn’t really help with WHM’s downtime, it would at least incentivize some healing rather than just waiting for your lilies to come up. WHM should be the superior healer while opting out for more simpler gameplay. This will also serve as a very beginner friendly healer who can help newer players balance between healing and dpsing.
Scholar:
The tactician of healers. Scholars should be rewarded for having knowledge of the fight and preparing beforehand while also maintaining a wide array of tools to DPS with.
For one, I would like to see Scholars have their DOT management back while also making some adjustments to their fairy rather than just being an auto-heal turret. In addition, I would like some incentive to shield others. In its current state, you just throw it on and forget about it. There’s no strategy to it. Here are the changes I propose.
General:
For one, I’m kinda torn on the resource gauges scholars have. Aetherflows are typically fine the way it is, only that it’s not a fun resource, and the faerie gauge is utterly useless having only 2 spells to expend it. So instead, let’s make these gauges more interactive. In addition, the heal potencies on Scholar’s abilities are fine in my opinion, instead I would like Scholars to focus on a different sort of gameplay and leave the bursty healing to white mage.
First off, the shields granted by Scholars are now stronger, granting 200% of the heal as an additional shield and having a shield casted by you break (just like The Blackest Night) will now grant you a MAXIMUM of 1 stack of aetherflow. There are some concerns that I will address down below. In addition, shields will also have a shorter lifespan of 15s (possibly lower?), incentivizing a more strategic use and actually needing to break the shields to generate resources. If you don’t already know, one use of Aetherflow will grant 10 faerie gauge, and I will keep that as is.
And secondly, I actually like the idea of weaving Fey abilties in between spells. So some changes to dps spells will just be to accommodate that. In addition, Fairies will no longer be auto-heal turrets and will have to be manually commanded. More in-depth explanations below.
Changes:
Aetherflow: 90s cooldown. Will instead only grant 2 stacks of Aetherflow while also restoring 15% of your MP. I don’t like the current iteration of Aetherflow where you’re just holding on to AF stacks until your next AF comes back up. This instead would only serve as a way to generate some AF in the unfortunate scenario where you are unable to generate any. Of course this will still have the same issue of having to expend AF before using it, but with the excess ways of generating AF and expending it I don’t think this will be too much of an issue.
Adloquium (1500 MP): Now have a cast time of 2.5 GCD while granting 1 stack of Aetherflow if the shield granted breaks before the time limit.. This should not be a spam cure 2, instead should work as a pre-emptive tool for tank busters or high incoming damage. With the boost to shield strength, this would incentivize more strategic uses and discourage shield spamming.
Succor (2000 MP): Grants ONE stack of aetherflow IF TWO OR MORE shields granted by Succor breaks. The distinction is to prevent Scholars from Succor spamming tanks for Aetherflow generation. Much like Adlo, I don’t want this to be spammable. I want the use for this spell to be strategic yet incentivized. We can even have Adlo and Succor shields have different names to not cause any confusion while not allowing them to stack their shield much like how AST Noct sect and Sch shields already function.
Deployment Tactics (1 Aether): This will still have the 2 minute cooldown it currently has to limit its uses, possibly bring it down to 90s. Will now reset the duration shield of the chosen target while also extending the shield to nearby allies at 75% of the strength. Maybe I’m just bad at English but essentially a 40k shield will grant 30k shields to nearby allies. I can acknowledge that a 40k shield is pretty broken to pass on to the whole party, but since it is also using a resource I would like it to bear some strength. My changes to shield strength is essentially a weaker Adlo and currently at lv80 with semi-okay stats, my Adlo crits for about 20k, providing roughly 50k in shield. My provided changes will only be 40k per Adlo crit and sucor will be roughly 24k if crit. Meeting a middle ground would probably incentivize its usage but maybe we can beef it up a bit.
Embrace: This will now be an oGCD heal that Scholar’s will manually have to command Eos or Selene to do. Increase the heal potency to 350 and will be an instant cast. This will help keep Scholar’s busy while reducing the Faerie clunkiness, in theory.
Fey Blessing (1000 MP): An “instant” cast GCD. Instant being your GCD will go off the way any instant cast GCD will, but will depend on your faerie to actually queue the command up. This spell will essentially serve as the filler aoe heals for Scholar. Instead of using the faerie gauge, this spell will now have the Faerie siphon MP from the Scholar to do an aoe heal. This would be more warranted in 4-man content to give Scholars some tool to do a little burst healing, while not taking away the main identity of shielding that Scholars are known for.
Summon Seraph: Consume 50 Faerie Gauge to Summon Seraph, empowering Fey spells as well as own healing potencies by 20%. Duration 30s.
The reasoning behind the extended duration is because Scholars excel at prepping. Having that extended duration will not only help Scholars prep during transition phases but also last long enough thereafter to help with some healing afterwards and not generalize Seraph into a transition phase only tool. This will also give SCH the tool they need to potentially be the bursty healer in 4-man.
Dissipation: I would like to see this spell removed. Not only does it goes against the general flow of SCH, but in it’s current state, it is only used to either generate AF or used to do one big Recitation/Adlo/Deployment Combo. Not only that, but I would like SCH’s burst healing to actually be cooperative with Seraph. With the buffs to shield strength, the boost to healing potency will not be needed for lower level content.
Fey Illumination/Seraphic Illumination (10 Faerie Gauge): No longer increases healing potency by 10%. Instead, will only grant 10% Magic damage reduction.
Seraphic will increase the magic resistance to 20% instead.
Whispering Dawn/Angel’s Whisper (10 Faerie Gauge): No longer has a cooldown. Healing potency will now be decreased to 100 potency,
Angel’s Whisper will increase the HoT potency to 200.
Fey Grace/Seraphic Consolation (10 Faerie Gauge): I think this is fine the way it is, i just don’t understand why there’s 2 charges to it. Instead, making it use resources to gain that additional shield on top of Succor or Adlo, while remaining weak. Fey Grace will serve as the weaker version of it and being able to be used at base fairy, having a cure potency of 150 granting an additional 100% shield of the amount healed.
Seraphic Consolation will increase the heal potency to 300.
Aetherpact (10 Faerie Gauge): Instant cast GCD. Command Eos or Selene to continuously cast Embrace on a specified target for 17s. Aetherpact will cancel upon execution of any other Fey abilities. Interestingly enough, I actually don’t know if Eos and Selene is affected by Sps. In my supposed changes, I would like Eos and Selene to reflect the same Sps as the Scholar so that the continuous cast would end up depending on the Scholar’s stats as well. In theory, the 17s should get about 6 Embraces off accounting for queue lag. This will essentially be a beefier regen while also relieving the Scholar of having to continuously weave Embrace.
Energy Drain (1 Aether): 1.5s GCD. Energy Drain will now serve its purpose as the MP regeneration tool. Instead let’s just remove the HP drain that you get from it, and instead restores 1000 MP (currently restores 500 MP).
Broil: Reduced cast time to 1.5s to allow the ability to weave more efficiently. Reduce the potency to 200. Now before you come at me, hear me out. This will be your filler tool for dps and weaving Fey abilities
Ruin II: With the changes to Broil we can remove this spell.
Bio and Miasma: Let’s get both spells back and have both deal 30 potency over 30s. This way it’s weaker than summoner’s but strong enough to warrant its use.
Biolysis(1 Aether): Instant cast GCD.I couldn’t come up with a good name but will essentially serve the same purpose as Tri-disaster except it won’t do damage. Instead it will only serve as a DOT reset.
Lustrate (1 Aether): Consume 1 Aether to deal 400 potency. On second cast, restores target’s HP for 50% of the damage dealt while transforming the other 50% into a shield. Initial cast will be a 2.5s GCD while the 2nd cast will be an instant cast oGCD. Definition of Lustrate is essentially to purify vis sacrifice and I thought this ability fit the description while maintaining aspects of the original spell. This would also have a slight animation delay to fully reflect the animation of siphoning strength from the enemy.
Emergency Tactis: With the changes to shield, this spell would make Scholar a beast at burst healing. Instead, I would make it a 120s cooldown to warrant it actually being an “emergency tactic.” Going against your ideology of shielding to opt for a more potent heal.
Excogitation: Remove the spell completely in favor for changes in AST. More detail in AST spell changes.
TL;DR Scholar should hold the identity of a tactician. Masterfully planning ahead of the battle and incentivizing the breaking of shields to generate resources that can then be used to deal damage. The changes to having to manually control Eos and Selene will fix it’s clunkiness, in theory, and allow for a more intuitive way of co-healing with your fairy.
Astrologian
Astrologians are the psychics of FF14. Much like the Scholar’s Astrologian should act as foreseerers of the future, except Astrologians will focus more on supporting with cards and predicting the future correctly with heals.
Let’s first address one issue. Astro’s MP management is horrendous. But that is because in the current state of the game, it is best to keep casting. And with no real mp regeneration tool other than lightspeed, which is really just a worse version of Thin Air, and no other main GCD, Astro’s are left spamming Maleifc the entire run. To fix this, I propose changing Astro’s core gameplay to purely supporting with the card system, applying DPS as damage boosts to others.
In addition, I think the changes to the cards were heading in the right direction of streamlining it for newer players, but I think there needs to be a slight adjustment. Although I do miss the diverse set of support from previous iterations of cards, I think these cards do just fine on their own. Instead, I would only change the way the cards affect tanks and healers.
Changes:
Draw: Instant cast GCD. 20s cooldown. (Can possible go lower, up for discussion)
Undraw: WIth no downside of just playing a card, there’s essential no use for this skill. However, If RNG is not on your side, this skill can effectively help with that. Let’s give it an additional effect of reducing Draw’s cooldown by 10s.
Play:Instant cast GCD
Melee cards will grant melee dps a 6% damage dealt for 15s or 10% reduced damaged if the target is a tank. 3% damage dealt for all other roles
Ranged cards will grant ranged dps a 6% damage dealt for 15s or 10% increase to healing potency if the target is a healer. 3% damage dealt for all other roles
In addition to both cards, playing a card will now restore 500 MP.
Minor Arcana: Instant cast GCD
Will remain the same as simply a better “Play” after acquiring 3 seals. Increase both proposed changes to tanks and healers to 15%. Will also restore 500 MP when used.
Earthly Star: The way it is right now, it serves as a DPS tool rather than a healing tool. I would like the focus of it to remain as the latter. As stated before, Astros should be forseerers of the future and as such should be the theme of the class. I propose lowering the power of the initial cast to 300 potency. Then, after 15s, Earthly star will upgrade to GIant Dominance, healing all nearby allies within the area to full health.
Benefic: Buff the cure potency to 450. Remove the additional effect. This was essentially a cure 1 and cure 2 copy… Let’s make these skills a little unique.
Benefic II: Base cure potency 200. Potency increases to a maximum of 1200 as the target’s HP decreases.
Essential Dignity: No longer has 2 charges, 1.5s GCD. 60s cooldown. Grants a party member the effect of Essential Dignity, restoring HP when member’s HP falls below 40%. Cure potency 800. Duration 30s. Basically the replacement of Excog from Scholar’s. Reason being, the skill is more suited thematically with Astro. Astros see into the future, seeing the target drop below 40% hp, and hence prepared accordingly.
Horoscope (900 MP): 1.5s GCD.Currently just acts as a Plenary Indulgence with extra steps. Instead, let’s make the initial cast of Horoscope erect a barrier equal to a 200 potency heal to all players for 15s. If TWO OR MORE shields break within 15s, then heal all targets affected by Horoscope for 600 potency. Again, the distinction is to avoid shield spamming on tanks. This change will also thematically fit Astros since they are predicting the future.
Sleeve Draw: Queue 3 cards. Unable to use the Draw ability until all 3 cards have been used. Honestly just a quality of life change. Too many times my idiot brain used Draw mid Sleeve draw. Just to clarify as well, if you used Draw before Sleeve Draw u would then have 4 cards at your disposal: the initial card from Draw, and the next 3 cards queued.
Honestly, I kinda like the way Astros feel now. There isn’t much I would change with their sects and the spells associated with them, although I do find Neutral Sect a little useless. Thought I would just make thematic changes to better suit the class. I wouldn’t mind the Malefic spam if I had more to do with the card system and more buffing. I thought about adding more support to the card class but honestly I’m content with the way it is right now.
TL;DR Astrologians should remain as the support healer who dish out DPS through buffs. The 1 button Malefic spam is honestly fine since your main focus should be dealing out cards to the appropriate people, and your healing should be more focused on predictive/riskier healing, allowing your targets to drop below 50%, in contrast to WHM’s reactionary healing.
However, I will admit that I’m newest to AST and will have the least amount of knowledge of how to go about changes to AST. But the changes proposed to SCH and WHM i feel pretty confident about. In the end, I am open to discussion on what wouldn’t work and maybe just outright scrap everything proposed. My ultimate goal is to give the 3 current healers an identity that can be used interchangeably in all content. If you made it this far, thanks for reading and let me know what you think.
Continue reading...
Now, I know why we’re all here. It’s because healers are insanely boring at end-game content, having nothing to heal and nothing to do during downtime besides spamming that 1 beautiful button. Now contrary to popular opinion, I actually don’t mind the 1 button spam. It’s no different with Bard’s Burst shot or Melee’s 1-2-3 combo which is really just a fancy 1 button combo. But much like these classes, it doesn’t just have to be the 1 button that decides our gameplay. We can be so much more. Thus, I have thought about what I would do to the 3 healers.
I would also like to note that I am a part of the new generation of people. I only recently started playing at the beginning of the Stormblood expansion so I’m unaware of previous changes to healers. If any of the changes I suggested have been mechanics of the past, please help clarify why these mechanics failed.
General:
I am actually not a fan of just how strong a lot of healer’s oGCDs/instant cast heals are. I think it’s counterintuitive to making healers casters. I want the decision to have to actually heal be incentivised and productive. Another thing I want from all healers is added GCD spells that are grounded into the kit. With every expansion, we only get to see newer oGCD/utilities that often outshine the GCDs we already have. Anything not mentioned within the change (cooldown, mp cost, cure potency, etc.) will mean those stat lines will stay the same. And just a heads up, I’m terrible with coming up with new names for abilities.
White Mage:
The classic healer. This class should excel in reactionary healing and having semi-high burst potencies for those clutch saves. I believe White Mage should be a healer that heals on the fly and be rewarded for healing which in turn will lead to offensive opportunities.
Since the release of Afflatus spells, I have found no reason to use Cure, Cure II, and Medica other than the fact that I don’t have the lilies, which is rather rare. And to add on to that, I completely hate the idea of having to wait for resources. Although people praise it for “rewarding” people for healing, I think they could do more with it. For one, let’s remove the timer on obtaining resources, and instead, have these spells generate lilies that will then be expended on offensive spells.
Changes:
Cure I/Cure II (400 MP): Cure I should upgrade to Cure II and have a potency that meets it in the middle, about 550 potency. In addition, have a 40% chance to grant the user a lily. This will keep the short cast time of Cure I at about 1.5s and will serve as your filler heal that while maybe overlooked in the raid scene, will serve its purpose in dungeon runs.
Afflatus Solace (1000 MP): No longer an instant cast and will now cost mana and additionally grant the user a stack of lily.This will be a normal 2.5s GCD because you need time and resources to nourish the lily
Basically a buffed up Cure II at around 800-900 potency. Much like the current situation, I still want healers to have to decide whether or not they need the quick heals/mp management that comes from Cure I/Cure II or decide whether they have the time to use a beefier heal with Afflatus Solace. Medica/Afflatus Rapture (1000 MP): Honestly Medica is just so useless. There’s so much downtime in fights that i typically just opt out for Medica II and let the regen do its work. So instead, let’s just combine the two and have medica upgrade to Afflatus Rapture with a small boost to potency to 400 potency and have it grant the user a stack of lily. This will also have a cast time of 2.5s GCD. This way Afflatus Rapture will be the more sought out burst heal over a wider range.
Cure III (1500 MP): This spell is honestly fine the way it is, being a beefier aoe heal while only being cast over a short distance. Instead I would only beef it up some more to about 600 potency to incentivize some use over Medica/Afflatus Rapture.
Afflatus Misery (3 Lilies): Everything about this spell is fine, except that it’s an aoe. I would like to see this spell become a single-target nuke at the same 900 potency. Reason being, 4 glares total to 1200 potency in damage and making Misery stronger than that would incentivize spamming heals over actual dps. This way it maintains its purpose of rewarding players for healing, while not outdoing the intended purpose of actual DPS spells.
Afflatus Bloom (3 Lilies): This will essentially be the Misery we know today. Instead I would like to see the damage not fall off over multiple enemies and instead decrease the potency to about 400 potency.
Divine Benison (400 MP): Instant cast GCD. A 500 potency shield that grants the target an additional 10% damage reduction once the shield breaks.
TL;DR WHM should excel at healing and be rewarded for it. Although this doesn’t really help with WHM’s downtime, it would at least incentivize some healing rather than just waiting for your lilies to come up. WHM should be the superior healer while opting out for more simpler gameplay. This will also serve as a very beginner friendly healer who can help newer players balance between healing and dpsing.
Scholar:
The tactician of healers. Scholars should be rewarded for having knowledge of the fight and preparing beforehand while also maintaining a wide array of tools to DPS with.
For one, I would like to see Scholars have their DOT management back while also making some adjustments to their fairy rather than just being an auto-heal turret. In addition, I would like some incentive to shield others. In its current state, you just throw it on and forget about it. There’s no strategy to it. Here are the changes I propose.
General:
For one, I’m kinda torn on the resource gauges scholars have. Aetherflows are typically fine the way it is, only that it’s not a fun resource, and the faerie gauge is utterly useless having only 2 spells to expend it. So instead, let’s make these gauges more interactive. In addition, the heal potencies on Scholar’s abilities are fine in my opinion, instead I would like Scholars to focus on a different sort of gameplay and leave the bursty healing to white mage.
First off, the shields granted by Scholars are now stronger, granting 200% of the heal as an additional shield and having a shield casted by you break (just like The Blackest Night) will now grant you a MAXIMUM of 1 stack of aetherflow. There are some concerns that I will address down below. In addition, shields will also have a shorter lifespan of 15s (possibly lower?), incentivizing a more strategic use and actually needing to break the shields to generate resources. If you don’t already know, one use of Aetherflow will grant 10 faerie gauge, and I will keep that as is.
And secondly, I actually like the idea of weaving Fey abilties in between spells. So some changes to dps spells will just be to accommodate that. In addition, Fairies will no longer be auto-heal turrets and will have to be manually commanded. More in-depth explanations below.
Changes:
Aetherflow: 90s cooldown. Will instead only grant 2 stacks of Aetherflow while also restoring 15% of your MP. I don’t like the current iteration of Aetherflow where you’re just holding on to AF stacks until your next AF comes back up. This instead would only serve as a way to generate some AF in the unfortunate scenario where you are unable to generate any. Of course this will still have the same issue of having to expend AF before using it, but with the excess ways of generating AF and expending it I don’t think this will be too much of an issue.
Adloquium (1500 MP): Now have a cast time of 2.5 GCD while granting 1 stack of Aetherflow if the shield granted breaks before the time limit.. This should not be a spam cure 2, instead should work as a pre-emptive tool for tank busters or high incoming damage. With the boost to shield strength, this would incentivize more strategic uses and discourage shield spamming.
Succor (2000 MP): Grants ONE stack of aetherflow IF TWO OR MORE shields granted by Succor breaks. The distinction is to prevent Scholars from Succor spamming tanks for Aetherflow generation. Much like Adlo, I don’t want this to be spammable. I want the use for this spell to be strategic yet incentivized. We can even have Adlo and Succor shields have different names to not cause any confusion while not allowing them to stack their shield much like how AST Noct sect and Sch shields already function.
Deployment Tactics (1 Aether): This will still have the 2 minute cooldown it currently has to limit its uses, possibly bring it down to 90s. Will now reset the duration shield of the chosen target while also extending the shield to nearby allies at 75% of the strength. Maybe I’m just bad at English but essentially a 40k shield will grant 30k shields to nearby allies. I can acknowledge that a 40k shield is pretty broken to pass on to the whole party, but since it is also using a resource I would like it to bear some strength. My changes to shield strength is essentially a weaker Adlo and currently at lv80 with semi-okay stats, my Adlo crits for about 20k, providing roughly 50k in shield. My provided changes will only be 40k per Adlo crit and sucor will be roughly 24k if crit. Meeting a middle ground would probably incentivize its usage but maybe we can beef it up a bit.
Embrace: This will now be an oGCD heal that Scholar’s will manually have to command Eos or Selene to do. Increase the heal potency to 350 and will be an instant cast. This will help keep Scholar’s busy while reducing the Faerie clunkiness, in theory.
Fey Blessing (1000 MP): An “instant” cast GCD. Instant being your GCD will go off the way any instant cast GCD will, but will depend on your faerie to actually queue the command up. This spell will essentially serve as the filler aoe heals for Scholar. Instead of using the faerie gauge, this spell will now have the Faerie siphon MP from the Scholar to do an aoe heal. This would be more warranted in 4-man content to give Scholars some tool to do a little burst healing, while not taking away the main identity of shielding that Scholars are known for.
Summon Seraph: Consume 50 Faerie Gauge to Summon Seraph, empowering Fey spells as well as own healing potencies by 20%. Duration 30s.
The reasoning behind the extended duration is because Scholars excel at prepping. Having that extended duration will not only help Scholars prep during transition phases but also last long enough thereafter to help with some healing afterwards and not generalize Seraph into a transition phase only tool. This will also give SCH the tool they need to potentially be the bursty healer in 4-man.
Dissipation: I would like to see this spell removed. Not only does it goes against the general flow of SCH, but in it’s current state, it is only used to either generate AF or used to do one big Recitation/Adlo/Deployment Combo. Not only that, but I would like SCH’s burst healing to actually be cooperative with Seraph. With the buffs to shield strength, the boost to healing potency will not be needed for lower level content.
Fey Illumination/Seraphic Illumination (10 Faerie Gauge): No longer increases healing potency by 10%. Instead, will only grant 10% Magic damage reduction.
Seraphic will increase the magic resistance to 20% instead.
Whispering Dawn/Angel’s Whisper (10 Faerie Gauge): No longer has a cooldown. Healing potency will now be decreased to 100 potency,
Angel’s Whisper will increase the HoT potency to 200.
Fey Grace/Seraphic Consolation (10 Faerie Gauge): I think this is fine the way it is, i just don’t understand why there’s 2 charges to it. Instead, making it use resources to gain that additional shield on top of Succor or Adlo, while remaining weak. Fey Grace will serve as the weaker version of it and being able to be used at base fairy, having a cure potency of 150 granting an additional 100% shield of the amount healed.
Seraphic Consolation will increase the heal potency to 300.
Aetherpact (10 Faerie Gauge): Instant cast GCD. Command Eos or Selene to continuously cast Embrace on a specified target for 17s. Aetherpact will cancel upon execution of any other Fey abilities. Interestingly enough, I actually don’t know if Eos and Selene is affected by Sps. In my supposed changes, I would like Eos and Selene to reflect the same Sps as the Scholar so that the continuous cast would end up depending on the Scholar’s stats as well. In theory, the 17s should get about 6 Embraces off accounting for queue lag. This will essentially be a beefier regen while also relieving the Scholar of having to continuously weave Embrace.
Energy Drain (1 Aether): 1.5s GCD. Energy Drain will now serve its purpose as the MP regeneration tool. Instead let’s just remove the HP drain that you get from it, and instead restores 1000 MP (currently restores 500 MP).
Broil: Reduced cast time to 1.5s to allow the ability to weave more efficiently. Reduce the potency to 200. Now before you come at me, hear me out. This will be your filler tool for dps and weaving Fey abilities
Ruin II: With the changes to Broil we can remove this spell.
Bio and Miasma: Let’s get both spells back and have both deal 30 potency over 30s. This way it’s weaker than summoner’s but strong enough to warrant its use.
Biolysis(1 Aether): Instant cast GCD.I couldn’t come up with a good name but will essentially serve the same purpose as Tri-disaster except it won’t do damage. Instead it will only serve as a DOT reset.
Lustrate (1 Aether): Consume 1 Aether to deal 400 potency. On second cast, restores target’s HP for 50% of the damage dealt while transforming the other 50% into a shield. Initial cast will be a 2.5s GCD while the 2nd cast will be an instant cast oGCD. Definition of Lustrate is essentially to purify vis sacrifice and I thought this ability fit the description while maintaining aspects of the original spell. This would also have a slight animation delay to fully reflect the animation of siphoning strength from the enemy.
Emergency Tactis: With the changes to shield, this spell would make Scholar a beast at burst healing. Instead, I would make it a 120s cooldown to warrant it actually being an “emergency tactic.” Going against your ideology of shielding to opt for a more potent heal.
Excogitation: Remove the spell completely in favor for changes in AST. More detail in AST spell changes.
TL;DR Scholar should hold the identity of a tactician. Masterfully planning ahead of the battle and incentivizing the breaking of shields to generate resources that can then be used to deal damage. The changes to having to manually control Eos and Selene will fix it’s clunkiness, in theory, and allow for a more intuitive way of co-healing with your fairy.
Astrologian
Astrologians are the psychics of FF14. Much like the Scholar’s Astrologian should act as foreseerers of the future, except Astrologians will focus more on supporting with cards and predicting the future correctly with heals.
Let’s first address one issue. Astro’s MP management is horrendous. But that is because in the current state of the game, it is best to keep casting. And with no real mp regeneration tool other than lightspeed, which is really just a worse version of Thin Air, and no other main GCD, Astro’s are left spamming Maleifc the entire run. To fix this, I propose changing Astro’s core gameplay to purely supporting with the card system, applying DPS as damage boosts to others.
In addition, I think the changes to the cards were heading in the right direction of streamlining it for newer players, but I think there needs to be a slight adjustment. Although I do miss the diverse set of support from previous iterations of cards, I think these cards do just fine on their own. Instead, I would only change the way the cards affect tanks and healers.
Changes:
Draw: Instant cast GCD. 20s cooldown. (Can possible go lower, up for discussion)
Undraw: WIth no downside of just playing a card, there’s essential no use for this skill. However, If RNG is not on your side, this skill can effectively help with that. Let’s give it an additional effect of reducing Draw’s cooldown by 10s.
Play:Instant cast GCD
Melee cards will grant melee dps a 6% damage dealt for 15s or 10% reduced damaged if the target is a tank. 3% damage dealt for all other roles
Ranged cards will grant ranged dps a 6% damage dealt for 15s or 10% increase to healing potency if the target is a healer. 3% damage dealt for all other roles
In addition to both cards, playing a card will now restore 500 MP.
Minor Arcana: Instant cast GCD
Will remain the same as simply a better “Play” after acquiring 3 seals. Increase both proposed changes to tanks and healers to 15%. Will also restore 500 MP when used.
Earthly Star: The way it is right now, it serves as a DPS tool rather than a healing tool. I would like the focus of it to remain as the latter. As stated before, Astros should be forseerers of the future and as such should be the theme of the class. I propose lowering the power of the initial cast to 300 potency. Then, after 15s, Earthly star will upgrade to GIant Dominance, healing all nearby allies within the area to full health.
Benefic: Buff the cure potency to 450. Remove the additional effect. This was essentially a cure 1 and cure 2 copy… Let’s make these skills a little unique.
Benefic II: Base cure potency 200. Potency increases to a maximum of 1200 as the target’s HP decreases.
Essential Dignity: No longer has 2 charges, 1.5s GCD. 60s cooldown. Grants a party member the effect of Essential Dignity, restoring HP when member’s HP falls below 40%. Cure potency 800. Duration 30s. Basically the replacement of Excog from Scholar’s. Reason being, the skill is more suited thematically with Astro. Astros see into the future, seeing the target drop below 40% hp, and hence prepared accordingly.
Horoscope (900 MP): 1.5s GCD.Currently just acts as a Plenary Indulgence with extra steps. Instead, let’s make the initial cast of Horoscope erect a barrier equal to a 200 potency heal to all players for 15s. If TWO OR MORE shields break within 15s, then heal all targets affected by Horoscope for 600 potency. Again, the distinction is to avoid shield spamming on tanks. This change will also thematically fit Astros since they are predicting the future.
Sleeve Draw: Queue 3 cards. Unable to use the Draw ability until all 3 cards have been used. Honestly just a quality of life change. Too many times my idiot brain used Draw mid Sleeve draw. Just to clarify as well, if you used Draw before Sleeve Draw u would then have 4 cards at your disposal: the initial card from Draw, and the next 3 cards queued.
Honestly, I kinda like the way Astros feel now. There isn’t much I would change with their sects and the spells associated with them, although I do find Neutral Sect a little useless. Thought I would just make thematic changes to better suit the class. I wouldn’t mind the Malefic spam if I had more to do with the card system and more buffing. I thought about adding more support to the card class but honestly I’m content with the way it is right now.
TL;DR Astrologians should remain as the support healer who dish out DPS through buffs. The 1 button Malefic spam is honestly fine since your main focus should be dealing out cards to the appropriate people, and your healing should be more focused on predictive/riskier healing, allowing your targets to drop below 50%, in contrast to WHM’s reactionary healing.
However, I will admit that I’m newest to AST and will have the least amount of knowledge of how to go about changes to AST. But the changes proposed to SCH and WHM i feel pretty confident about. In the end, I am open to discussion on what wouldn’t work and maybe just outright scrap everything proposed. My ultimate goal is to give the 3 current healers an identity that can be used interchangeably in all content. If you made it this far, thanks for reading and let me know what you think.
Continue reading...