Thoughts on update for Puppetmaster from Party vs. Solo perspective.

Hey, Nezha of Ramuh (soon to be Bahamut) here!

I think we should not be too hasty with our comments especially because there is most likely more in the works for Puppetmaster, I believe this update is definitely not a fail. To be honest, I think it would only be fair to consider these attachments from two perspectives: Party/Alliance vs. Solo/Low-Man Puppetmaster situations. With as much information as I know, I think all the attachments have potential, but are still hindered by Automaton AI and other limitations we are currently experiencing: Weapon Skill Correspondence/Prioritization with Elemental Maneuver and Limited Attatchment Elemental Capacity (Would be nice to see this improved via magian trials or quests which would dehomogenize Automatons. In the following I want to give my perspective as a Puppetmaster Soloist, while still consider uses of abilities inside/outside of Abyssea, and inside/outside of party situations, and the cost of replacing old attachments with new ones.

Party/Alliance Situation: Plain and simple, in the party/alliance situation all these attachments/WSs are highly useful, because due to Puppetmasters versatility it is ability to cope to a variety of situations. In party situations Pets can't easily be geared via attachments without considering survivability or complex strategy since party members can cover each others weaknesses. Since the dawn of Puppetmaster, I had rarely found myself in this situation, whether it was for experience points or LS events, and thus I am more solo oriented.

Solo/Low-Man Situation: (The long winded portion of this post.) This is where strategy and survivability is everything. I am also posting this to urge Puppetmasters serverwide to start experimenting with Head/Frame/Attachments combinations as an attempt to find more breakthroughs for Puppetmaster and uses for all Automatons as well as possibly provide some useful insight .

Currently I use two frame/attachments sets which I will refer to as White Mage/Black Mage/Red Mage (WBR aka Mage Set), I think most Puppetmaster are familiar with this and it works very well for /RDM, /SCH, and /NIN styles. My first real Puppetmaster breakthrough was Paladin/White Mage/Ranger/[Harlequin] (PWR[H] aka Power Set) (Also credit to Shinron of Fenrir for this joint discovery).

To explain a bit further these signify sets where listed frames are all interchangable maximizing survivability. But why have I spent a paragraph of interchangable pets? To justify the importance of interchangability as an ability in its own right, I will say that I would not have been able to solo mobs like Glavoid, Lord Ruthven, Ulhuadshi, Salvage, etc. Also, it makes playing Puppetmaster a whole different game in itself in comparison to playing other jobs (which I will add that I think Puppermaster was SquareEnix's greatest invention despite the fact that some believe it was created out of mistake/due to lack of time).

All this to say: For soloing/lowmanning (which this game is coming to), are the new attachments/WSs worth it and where they might be useful.

Attachments

Heat Capacitor & Barrage Turbine: No doubt, these are super awesome attachments, but not completely necessary for soloing. Not knowing the Elemental capacity cost of Heat Capacitor, it is hard to say whether I will integrate it into the Power Set due to the fact that the White Mage has a max capacity of 2 fires. Thus equipping Heat Capacitor would compromise interchangability with White Mage Frame (which is extremely important for using Deus + Cure VI + Deactivate as method to reset Activate Time and then quickly switch back to Paladin/Ranger/Harlequin Frame). As for Barrage Turbine, it is very tempting to use, but with my current attachments set up you'd have to sacrifice survivability in the form of evasion to equip this. Possible reasons I think Square-Enix may have come up with these attachments? I think Heat Capacitor (depending on its potency) would provide Automatons with an alternative means of gaining TP outside the constant use of Burattinaios (though I believe there is little comparison and these are by far the best weapon for Puppetmaster in terms of damage capability) or possibly a way of storing TP on an Back-line Automaton which could be utilized via Tactical Switch. Barrage Turbine I think is a way of easing complaints about Ranger Automaton Ranged Attack speed by increasing his potential for damage over time.

Power Cooler: Not meaning to prejudge this attachment, but it's the least useful for soloing in my opinion because when nuking with Mage Set the Automaton usually takes hate after nukes so, it is usually deactivated right after nuke and just before it might take damage. Also in mage set I equip Loudspeaker/Loudspeaker II/Ice Maker or sometimes Tranquilizer/Loadspeaker II/Ice Maker (if monster has high Mag. Evasion) so equipping Power Cooler means decreasing Magic Attack/Accuracy in exchange for decreased MP cost. Why SquareEnix may have added this? My guess is to increase the amounts of nukes before pet decides to Aspir/Aspir II, because obviously a well used Mage Automaton has infinite MP. Also I want to mention a further applicable technique and justification for interchangeability in the Mage Set. A cool use of Deus Ex Automata is using a Deus'ed Automaton to nuke in between Deactivate/Activate downtime to increase damage over time (a well known fact I'm sure). This is easy when fighting undead monsters because you don't have to worry about BLM pet Aspir, Aspir II, or Draining so it will nuke right away and you can let it die and then reactivate "Real" Automaton. When fighting Non-undead monsters, you may switch to RDM frame and nuke avoiding BLM's Aspir/Aspir II/Drain proritization issue after Deus Ex Automata, but keep in mind if the monsters HP is above 80% the RDM frame requires one Ice Maneuver to nuke, but if it is below 80% the RDM frame with nuke regardless of presence of active Ice Maneuver. I think this would be most useful for Harlequin frame since he has low MP. I am still trying to find further uses for Harlequin beside his ability to be Rage Proof.

Galvanizer: Definitely a cool add all the way around. The only set back which it shares with Flame Holder and Heat Capacitor is that these are attachments which correspond to certain weaponskills which means the max maneuvers you may equip is one if you plan to override it to use another WS or possibly two if you can time Automatons ability/WS usage well. This is great for Sharpshot(EVA Tank)/Paladin Tank as it increases survivability with little setbacks due to exchange for other attachments. Why SquareEnix may have added this attachment? Increased pet survivability, beside the fact counter is just awesome! :D (Also this might be useful in abyssea in combination with other Counter Atma for Paladin and Ranger Frame Tanking).

Weaponskills

String Shredder: Definitely a very cool Weaponskill. We might possible get to see the Paladin pet as a Damage Dealing frame. I think this is very applicable in Abyssea for Paladin tanking since keeping him alive here is not an issue and thus would allow faster soloing/low-manning for NMs like Dragua, Ulhuadshi, etc. which take forever. Why SquareEnix may have came up with this? Probably because all the complaints about the weakness of Bone Crusher (which actually is pretty strong against mobs weak against blunt damage but thusly limited in this way). I wish it would have had an additional effect (such as Drain, Stun, or anything useful), but really can't complain.

Armor Shatterer: Assuming this will be stronger than Armor Piercer, this is flat out a win. Ever since Burattinaios Ranger Tanking/Soloing for NMs inside and outside of Abyssea has never been better. The only things that could make this better is it can Skillchain with itself.

Further Rambling: Would be nice to see a new weaponskill for Mage/Harlequin Frame, and also String Shredder/Armor Shatterer being able to create effective (aka LV3) skillchains with master or with themselves (in the same way one can Victory Smite => Victory Smite = Light).

I apologize for the longwindedness of this post. Hopefully this inspires Puppetmasters to experiments with the Automaton a bit more (in my opinion the best advice which Ghatsad gives you if you speak to him in the Puppetmaster Workshop). If nothing else hopefully this may have changed your minds about the new attachments or possible taught you a cool technique that you hadn't thought of or actually tried. I think a Puppetmaster is only as strong as his imagination, so keep coming up with cool ideas to break the glass ceiling above Puppetmasters, and let's remind the others players of Vana'diel why we are a job to be reckon with.