Picto motifs just don't flow..

[Chyro]

My biggest issue with the motifs is I feel bad standing there casting for 3-4 seconds without doing any damage.

If you don't enjoy that iconic part of pictomancer's gameplay, maybe try a different class you like more? There's plenty of options. You don't have to play picto if its playstyle isn't to your liking.

[Volfe]

I love violently drawing pictures at the boss for the first minute of the match, I hope it stays that way. :P

Motifs also have their upsides and learning to optimize them is fun.

[Ramiee]

I mean thats the only part of the job thats meant to be difficult, finding places to cast your motifs and deciding when to hold it and making sure theyre all up for burst. Its filler is really easy its literally auto combo.
Its like how RDM has a melee combo to activate its big damage, it doesn't really flow well as a traditional caster but for RDM it adds flavour to a very simple filler of magic having you think about your positioning to get close enough to do your melee combo.

[Nihility]

It's a funny job that way, the thing that basically does nothing is actually the main task and the color combos are the filler.
Having your paintings ready to use when needed is the name of the game for picto

The things they unlock are well worth the cast times at least

[ScarletL1995]

The White Paints do less DPS for solo opponents so you only want to use them when you are forced to move since they can be used while moving. If you are stationary, they are .6% less DPS so don't both with them. For Multiple opponents, then they do give you more DPS then the standard rotation if attacking 2 or more opponents, but I still wouldn't bother with them since most multiple opponents are not that strong anyways and at the most might make you do 1 extra attack to kill them.

But the 12 seconds of NO DPS while you are casting all 3 of your 4 second recast timed MOTIFs ... I don't understand this. Literally 12 seconds of no DPS ... I am still running numbers but I feel like the burst isn't worth the wait at that point. Only if you are about to be in a scene where the enemy is not targetable does it feel worth doing in a fight.

[Supersnow845]

The White Paints do less DPS for solo opponents so you only want to use them when you are forced to move since they can be used while moving. If you are stationary, they are .6% less DPS so don't both with them. For Multiple opponents, then they do give you more DPS then the standard rotation if attacking 2 or more opponents, but I still wouldn't bother with them since most multiple opponents are not that strong anyways and at the most might make you do 1 extra attack to kill them.

But the 12 seconds of NO DPS while you are casting all 3 of your 4 second recast timed MOTIFs ... I don't understand this. Literally 12 seconds of no DPS ... I am still running numbers but I feel like the burst isn't worth the wait at that point. Only if you are about to be in a scene where the enemy is not targetable does it feel worth doing in a fight.

All 3 motifs are an enormous gain to cast

Creature- 444pps
Hammer- 332pps
Starry- about 500 or so pps

For reference RGB is 192pps, CYM is 254pps, the combined loop of 2*RGB+1*CYM+COB= 214pps

So all muses are an enormous gain over aetherhue

[Raikai]

For me it was just a matter of getting used to the motifs.

But I think they're good because you can single weave after each motif to use the muse right there if you want, so you can see the immediate huge damage number caused by that long cast.

I also think the fun part is to decided, based on what is going on with the fight, when it's the best point to cast the motifs, especially the Starry Sky one, which doesn't do anything until later.

[ShaneDawn]

Nothing wrong with Motif flow. You are quite literally just stockpiling a huge amount of potency for later use. This is a really strong mechanic in a game like ffxiv that is very burst-centric and want to press a lot of buttons under raid buffs.

[Nero-Voidstails]

not gonna lie I often hard cast one and swiftcast the hammer so when the cooldown happen I can still use the monster motif often being on wing motif meaning I also get the mix attack before using the hammer or the field motif