Overview

In this post, I want to give my first impressions of Scholar.  I know there is a lot of disappointment with this job on forums like BG right now; however, I want to take the brighter outlook on things.  While there are noticable, glaring weaknesses to the job that probably need to be fixed, Scholar has still impressed me, actually beyond my initial expectations when I first decided to level the job.



For those who aren't quite as familiar with me as a player, one of the biggest stigmas on me is I can't level.  It's been over 4 years and BLM was still my only 75 job until just recently.  Generally, I really hate leveling - it's such a grind to me and I really can't stand experience parties.  Despite these things, I felt really strongly about Scholar when reading up on it initially and had some pre-conceived uses for it in endgame - namely in Einherjar.

In this post, I don't want to place the focus so much on SCH in EXP - just in endgame groups and endgame solo.  I solo'd my entire way to 75, so my experience with parties as SCH are pretty much non-existent (although I haven't heard good things).  I know a great deal of complaints have gone out about Scholar, even for endgame usage; but I'll try focusing on the positives.

 


Scholar / Red mage Basics

The sub choice of SCH at 75 was an easy choice.  I pretty much was set on this before I even started leveling.  The fact SCH doesn't get Blink and Stoneskin pretty much automatically limits the endgame choices to WHM or RDM.  Both of these subs would be pretty good; however, I went with Red Mage mainly for access to the 3 key spells - Bind, Sleep, and Gravity.  I also felt the playstyle would be very similar to my personal BLM playstyle in this sub.  

Playstyle-wise, I would say SCH/RDM is exactly like BLM/RDM to me.  My macro palletes for the 2 jobs are actually about 80% identical - just fewer nukes and more JAs attached.  All enfeebles and other basic similarities like Aspir and Drain are in the exact same positions.  Endgame gear wise, the gear is also identical in that EVERY piece of gear my BLM uses that SCH also gets access to is used in my current endgame SCH setup.

The job is so new at this point that I wouldn't say this is the "correct" way to play a job; however, as you'll see later in the post, this style has performed really well for me on certain things thusfar.  

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Conclusions

In this post, I wanted to introduce Scholar as a unique endgame player with abilities that cannot be mimicked or used by any other job.  In the end, it's not about the little gimmick spells or "coolness" factor which makes a job useful in endgame; but the ability of a job to perform better than any other job at a particular task.  Without this little niche, any job is doomed to fail in endgame.  I believe that SCH can play a crucial role and have tried to outline some basic areas in endgame that it can either potentially, or already does, outperform the older jobs in the game.

I believe SCH can act as an incredibly viable, but different crowd control support mage.  I feel that its use is more highlighted as the number of mobs needed to be controlled increases.  For a typical crowd control situation with maybe 5-6 sleepable mobs, the difference isn't too profound; however, once you start getting into things like 12 sleep resistant Einherjar mobs, the unique role of SCH truly begins to shine.

As a soloer, I feel that SCH has tremendous potential due to Helix spells in conjunction with some unique Stratagems like Alacrity.  While Helix spells currently have limited practical use on many mobs in game due to lack of Elemental Skill equipment access and low Base Damage, I feel that future updates may automatically remedy these issues with gear and merits without having to make any huge changes to the spell line.  Concept-wise, I feel they make a tremendous damage source, especially in solo or low man situations due to low MP cost and low casting time.

Scholar has only been out for maybe 2 months, so who knows where the job will end up in the months to come.  It is my hope that this post can maybe give some ideas to anyone interested in the job.  Currently, I see many Scholars or potential Scholars complaining non-stop about how gimped the job is and how it needs to be changed.  In my opinion, changes are coming regardless, so it's best to find and positives already present in the job, which I feel I have done a reasonable job of thusfar.  Scholar is by no means a "strong" job right now; however, the fact that it can already play unique roles in endgame events is very promising.

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Pics of the Day




Drama Thread of the Day

http://bluegartrls.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=28296

Bahamut LS causes their own Spiked Flail on Fafnir, then blames it on everyone else there.

People argue back and forth on who really caused the flail, but then someone posts a video of the Flail and it turns out a SAM/THF was in the back doing SATA Gekkos, which immediately causes the flail after he takes hate.

This has to be one of the most embarrassing Aery stories I've ever heard of.

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