Picto is still the worst thing ever

[RheyIdol]

Another Patch, still not even the slightest effort to do anything about the horrible state of class balance.

This joke is really going too far.

I cant even look forward to any updates until LITERALLY ANYTHING is done about picto AND you give me back my 1% to enochian i swear can we please acknowledge how absolutely ridiculous it was that anyone on the dev team could have even begun to have the thought that enochian needed any kind of nerf at all while uh, hello, picto is making dps checks so trivial we have to stand still and do nothing for 10 seconds?

Yes I'm just going to periodically come here to complain about picto until something is done about it.

ATTENTION DEVELOPERS: PICTOMANCER MAKES THE GAME LESS FUN.

Did you see it this time?

PICTOMANCER IS AWFUL AND UNFUN TO HAVE AROUND

Got it now? Now gimme back Enochian. Make it 35%.

[Carighan]

Yeah we're going to have to wait for 7.2 for another round of 200-300 potency boosts to ~everything because the devs are forbidden from touching Bob Ross and hence it's "easier" to buff everyone than nerf Picto, even if it makes even savage far too easy.

Sigh.

This could have been done 1 week into the expansion, tbh. Just go to the skill database, and update all picto potencies to be 94% of what they are now. Done. Don't forget to press "Commit changes".

[Wayfinder3]

Let me get this straight. You can’t enjoy black mage because pictomancer is better than it?

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Let me get this straight. You can’t enjoy black mage because pictomancer is better than it?

Better in everything to the point where BLM (and SMN + RDM) get locked out in various Ultimate PFs because of how powerful Pictomancer is and how not bringing one is basically griefing your party. Yes "you can clear all content with every job", but we are talking about trivializing high-end dps checks by simply picking a superior job.

For context, we did have an era in Stormblood, back when Summoner actually had competitive damage along with Black Mage, where Summoner on virtually everything did more damage than Black Mage while being more frequently mobile, having Resurrection and bringing extra utility to boot. Black Mage received damage buffs and job changes to compensate, because back then we could sort of afford it.

Right now, Pictomancer is so far ahead in fights where periods of bosses being untargetable are frequent (Ultimates) and is still ahead on full-uptime fights, on top of having a good AOE shield, on top of having a more flexible mobility tool, on top of having a much more forgiving and flexible gameplay flow.

Quite frankly, this isn't a case of "oh a DPS will always end up being 1st, big deal" this is just having too much for virtually no downside.

[Wayfinder3]

It’s been 3 weeks of and it’s only a single fight of which you can bring multiple 2 casters. A few of the world prog teams had 2 cards including red mage and Pictomancer. there is no rule saying you can only bring 1 caster, just because the community won’t let that go in the pf is their problem. The WP teams had no problem doubling up on the role and bringing 1 melee.

Picto is busted for the fight, absolutely but this person NEVER mentions ultimate or any particular fight. They’re groaning because their pet job isn’t the best.

The real problem here is SE has designed every job in the game besides pictomancer to moan and groan at the sight of downtime. Now they made a job that loves it, and suddenly their rigid fight design is exploding in their face and again, that has nothing to do with this person crying for black mage. They’ve nothing to contribute about the state of class design or fight design. They’re just screaming their pet class isn’t BiS. The devs should be ignoring post like this one with basically nothing to say

[IOwn92FCHouses]

Seeing as we have like 3 Picto discussion/hate threads, I'd like to discuss something much more relavent to the game's health and longevity: What if we remove the percent based bonus for different jobs so that Square is forced to balance the game without the 1% crutch that single handedly holds up the entire phys range role?

[Lyth]

That's fairly obvious. You wouldn't take Physical Ranged.

In the absence of a LB penalty, you would replace the remaining slots with more PCTs.

[Supersnow845]

Better in everything to the point where BLM (and SMN + RDM) get locked out in various Ultimate PFs because of how powerful Pictomancer is and how not bringing one is basically griefing your party. Yes "you can clear all content with every job", but we are talking about trivializing high-end dps checks by simply picking a superior job.

For context, we did have an era in Stormblood, back when Summoner actually had competitive damage along with Black Mage, where Summoner on virtually everything did more damage than Black Mage while being more frequently mobile, having Resurrection and bringing extra utility to boot. Black Mage received damage buffs and job changes to compensate, because back then we could sort of afford it.

Right now, Pictomancer is so far ahead in fights where periods of bosses being untargetable are frequent (Ultimates) and is still ahead on full-uptime fights, on top of having a good AOE shield, on top of having a more flexible mobility tool, on top of having a much more forgiving and flexible gameplay flow.

Quite frankly, this isn't a case of "oh a DPS will always end up being 1st, big deal" this is just having too much for virtually no downside.

Isn’t it starting to become noticeable that BLM’s design within the caster meta is becoming a problem because we have this discussion literally every expansion

In 4.x and 5.x it was SMN who did competitive damage with more advantages, in 6.x it was its position relative to melee who bring utility and now in 7.x it’s PCT who does more damage with more advantages

Maybe the whole “I must be first all the time because I only bring damage” is a dated flawed concept that BLM continuing to end up in the toilet compared to other casters and even the melee is representing.

If BLM HAS to be first for every fight for eternity because it brings nothing but its damage maybe it’s time to change BLM, especially since OP is discussing BLM against PCT in FRU which specifically is a fight type that favours PCT and disfavours BLM, if BLM was ahead of PCT in FRU in the current design BLM would either be so far ahead in savage or PCT so far behind the balance would be 10* worse than it is now. The two are well balanced in savage

[Wayfinder3]

Isn’t it starting to become noticeable that BLM’s design within the caster meta is becoming a problem because we have this discussion literally every expansion

In 4.x and 5.x it was SMN who did competitive damage with more advantages, in 6.x it was its position relative to melee who bring utility and now in 7.x it’s PCT who does more damage with more advantages

Maybe the whole “I must be first all the time because I only bring damage” is a dated flawed concept that BLM continuing to end up in the toilet compared to other casters and even the melee is representing.

If BLM HAS to be first for every fight for eternity because it brings nothing but its damage maybe it’s time to change BLM, especially since OP is discussing BLM against PCT in FRU which specifically is a fight type that favours PCT and disfavours BLM, if BLM was ahead of PCT in FRU in the current design BLM would either be so far ahead in savage or PCT so far behind the balance would be 10* worse than it is now. The two are well balanced in savage

Thank you for having the slightest bit of intelligence to recognize that the problem is the fight design, not the class balance.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Isn’t it starting to become noticeable that BLM’s design within the caster meta is becoming a problem because we have this discussion literally every expansion

In 4.x and 5.x it was SMN who did competitive damage with more advantages, in 6.x it was its position relative to melee who bring utility and now in 7.x it’s PCT who does more damage with more advantages

Maybe the whole “I must be first all the time because I only bring damage” is a dated flawed concept that BLM continuing to end up in the toilet compared to other casters and even the melee is representing.

If BLM HAS to be first for every fight for eternity because it brings nothing but its damage maybe it’s time to change BLM, especially since OP is discussing BLM against PCT in FRU which specifically is a fight type that favours PCT and disfavours BLM, if BLM was ahead of PCT in FRU in the current design BLM would either be so far ahead in savage or PCT so far behind the balance would be 10* worse than it is now. The two are well balanced in savage

The request here isn't to make BLM strictly ahead in FRU because that would just result in obscene numbers on BLM in full uptime fights, doesn't take a PhD to figure that out. Having jobs be ahead "a bit" due to situational advantages is something completely okay, but Pictomancer is not ahead "a bit", it's downright demolishing DPS checks in FRU, no? Also I do not see why BLM needs to be ahead of all melees either, I'm not sure why you are derailing the conversation by introducing melees about 6.X damage philosophy.

I do not see why BLM needs to be changed if BLM is actually one of the better designed jobs that doesn't just go "2min ability to burst" like the others, the damage kit is fine and like many jobs, has reasonable gains/recovery for downtime - it is Pictomancer that has disproportionally high gains in this scenario allowing it to do what it does. "Maybe" we could give BLM a bit of extra utility to justify it being lower? Beyond that, BLM is mechanically sound. Don't get me wrong though - Pictomancer is ALSO mechanically sound, but it simply should not have this much damage on top of the utility, regardless what version of uptime (Savage, Ultimate) we are talking about.

Keep Pictomancer mechanically as is, simply lower the potencies where it is a bit below BLM in full-uptime and has opportunity of going ahead of BLM in ultimate raids with frequent downtimes. Or how would this not be an okay thing for you?