Pictomancer is absurd

[Rikizza]

What a dumb idea. This crap should be like a blue mage; it's absolutely silly trash.
Come on Square.

You’re silly trash

[Infindox]

Some reason this reminds me one time I saw someone have a tremendous fit because some of Red Mage's abilities are rose based in theming and they didn't want the "gay af" job like that.

[MrMordio]

I dislike the fact that they made someone other than Alphinaud the pictomancer. They got them backwards... :/

[Rekh]

I dislike the fact that they made someone other than Alphinaud the pictomancer. They got them backwards... :/

Hey, let's have Krile heal the scions for weeks/months while they're away in Shadowbringers
Next expansions let's have Alphinaud as Sage (healer) and Krile as Pictomancer (DPS).

Decision-making is highly questionable.

As for pictomancer itself; it looks too much like a summoner to me. It'll probably have a similar rotation to smn; ie, summoning weaker spells to then summon a big "creature." Would have preferred unique mechanics, but the previews themselves just show me them casting earth, fire, and ice before they summon a moogle; I'm not sure how fun that will be gameplaywise but I highly doubt anyone will be thrilled to cast cartoony ice, fire, and earth for extended periods of time.

The job itself is fine, the mechanics and aesthetics are way off imo.

What made it even worse for me was how much "it was teasing green mage," like seriously, did they have to borrow Green mage's clover pendant like that? It just makes people who were excited to be turned off altogether that it didn't turn out to be what they teased for half a year.

[Merrigan]

I'm going to play devil's advocate for a second, without even being totally convinced of what I'm saying: the ‘don't like it, don't play it’ argument is obviously valid. It seems difficult to suit absolutely everyone...

... Except, perhaps, when a job goes to extremes. And pictomancer is extreme in its kawai aesthetic, which is strange for two reasons: firstly because SE has always tried to wink at the Western market, and this aesthetic is very culturally marked; secondly because by doing something very clear-cut, you inevitably reduce the appeal of the job. And even if it's impossible to please everyone, I think you could also argue that an mmo job should try not to be too ‘niche’ when it's a normal job (and not a limited job).

This message should be taken with a minimum of hindsight. I... hate, there's no other word for it, the kawai aesthetic, so I'm biased. As I've already written on other occasions, I'm very disappointed that there's no other possible aesthetic for the pictomancer. I love the idea of the job, and it could definitely have been a potential main if the aesthetic had been closer to the Lost Ark's artist.

[Sjol]

What made it even worse for me was how much "it was teasing green mage," like seriously, did they have to borrow Green mage's clover pendant like that? It just makes people who were excited to be turned off altogether that it didn't turn out to be what they teased for half a year.

It's entirely possible that when they started, she was going to go green mage, but that job design couldn't make it work in time. Also, it's entirely possible that Alphinaud was supposed to be PIC as teased, but that the story team nixed it after seeing the concept drawings.

A lot of stuff gets changed mid-development which leads to early teases sometimes not paying off.

[Rekh]

It's entirely possible that when they started, she was going to go green mage, but that job design couldn't make it work in time. Also, it's entirely possible that Alphinaud was supposed to be PIC as teased, but that the story team nixed it after seeing the concept drawings.

A lot of stuff gets changed mid-development which leads to early teases sometimes not paying off.

Yeah, it's how a lot of decisions at square enix seem to go for the last 2-3 expansions; as we saw with the genderlocked races; shoehorning hrothgar to attract WoW players (this is my hypothesis, no matter how many times PR Yoship tries to spin it).

These "was supposed to be" and "changed later on due to story" is causing quality issues. There's way too much improvising for such a big game/live service operation. This reeks of blizzard's "let's half ass it and patch it later." Then the patch it later turns out to be 3-5 years later as we see with viera 5 years later still not having all the basic hairstyles. These hairstyles should've been all ported over by the end of shadowbringers.

[Turtledeluxe]

Kawaii is a term players use for anything pastel so it doesn't actually mean anything when applied to Pictomancer. If Pictomancer is extreme, then so are already popular jobs like Reaper. Reaper is extremely goth. See how that works? I also can make up terms to cover how ultimately I'm criticizing a job for no reason other than to complain.

Jobs cannot be a problem unless they present an unreasonable disadvantage or otherwise negative affect on the game and its sales. Until Pictomancer is wrecking progs, causing boycotts, lowering subs, etc It's not a real problem and complaints about it are purely driven to shape jobs toward the complaining players preferences.

And the reason feedback like that should be carefully considered is because you only need to look at Job design to see the negative results of listening to players who just want everything to be "safe".

[Rekh]

Kawaii is a term players use for anything pastel so it doesn't actually mean anything when applied to Pictomancer. If Pictomancer is extreme, then so are already popular jobs like Reaper. Reaper is extremely goth. See how that works? I also can make up terms to cover how ultimately I'm criticizing a job for no reason other than to complain.

Jobs cannot be a problem unless they present an unreasonable disadvantage or otherwise negative affect on the game and its sales. Until Pictomancer is wrecking progs, causing boycotts, lowering subs, etc It's not a real problem and complaints about it are purely driven to shape jobs toward the complaining players preferences.

And the reason feedback like that should be carefully considered is because you only need to look at Job design to see the negative results of listening to players who just want everything to be "safe".

They weren't losing subs when people wanted male viera. Topics like this one is how we make sure they know what we want in the future.

[Merrigan]

Kawaii is a term players use for anything pastel so it doesn't actually mean anything when applied to Pictomancer.

Your message could really benefit from not taking people for idiots.

One area matches these pastel shades: Il Mheg. Unless I've missed something, nobody here has come to complain about Il Mheg's kawai aesthetic... Because this area doesn't fit it. Which implies that the use of ‘kawai’ in relation to the pictomancer goes a little bit beyond the simple use of a colour palette.

‘Kawai’ isn't very well defined, but in the Western mindset it's perceived as a Japanese-style fashion for cuteness. Now, if we look at the trailer for the pictomancer's job :

- Young girl with overly girly manners, but no sexualisation? Check.
- Colourful palette (one, and only one, of the characteristics of kawai)? Check.
- Willingness to exaggerate the character's inocent nature (see the weapon, certainly one of the least threatening in the game)? Check.
- Reference to cute things, similar to the aesthetic of Japanese mascots (the image of a rainbow with stars + mog)? Check.

I'd add that Yoshi-P's refusal to appear in the pictomancer's attiral also goes in this direction, as it shows that class is associated with two things: the girly aspect and the youthful aspect, two things he doesn't associate with.So... Yes, the pictomancer is at least close to quite a few kawai characteristics. In the same way that the reaper is close to a lot of goth characteristics. Just because it's kawai doesn't mean you can't like it, by the way.