The identity of Pictomancer is being destroyed

[icicleteeth]

Adding my voice, I don't care much for optimizing for parsing, mained PCT because I love the job and loved how it played (pre 7.2), I'll still play it even if it ends up on the bottom half of dps charts because I love the class (the damage is nice too but that isn't why I play it). I still do the regular pre 7.2 rotation because it feels natural, and a few percentage loss dps compared to a patch ago doesn't on its own bother me, but *knowing* essential pieces of the kit like Hammer is a loss unless used in the buff window just doesn't feel good. Hearing some say that creature parts are also a loss unless you can complete it with Mog/Madeen also just sounds bad.

I was sad to hear nerfs were happening since it's my main but agreed it was too strong so it had to happen to some degree, but the idea of doing more damage by not interacting as much with PCT's core mechanics just doesn't feel like a good (or intended?) change to its gameplay. Even though I will still play the old rotation, I hope the devs reconsider some of the potency changes, not necessarily buff it closer to what it was before, but. I'm just really sad to know the state of Hammer because it was so fun to use

[Nasigno]

Eh, it's fair of players to express disappointment. My issue is the lack of nuance.

Like look at this thread, "The identity of Pictomancer is being destroyed". This, in a vacuum, sounds as if Pictomancers just lost all color from their animations, and no longer equip a brush to fight. What it actually is about is that if you don't skip odd-minute hammer, you suffer a 1% loss to damage assuming there's absolutely no situation where you can utilize the flexibility of hammer and it's a pure-uptime fight with essentially no fight mechanics.

I'll throw in, Pictomancer by design was to compete with Black Mage and Melee for DPS. This has been reiterated in multiple patch notes and letters from the developers. So I'll stretch it has lost its core purpose as much as design with this revision. Measurable metrics right now put it barely performing above Summoner and Red Mage.

It was too much, the revision was a snap reaction and now it's not able to even do what they wanted it to do in the first place. Maybe it'll reverse course but I'm sure that'll not be for another 6 plus months leaving it in the rather worrisome state it is in now.

[Supersnow845]

It is a bit odd the tier made casting harder then they buffed melee because of melee uptime concerns

Like what is it about the current tier that’s challenging melees more than casters

[Sarantserel]

It is a bit odd the tier made casting harder then they buffed melee because of melee uptime concerns

Like what is it about the current tier that’s challenging melees more than casters

I'm playing RDM this tier and went into M5 last night and started looking at M6 and I'm kind of baffled about the "melee need buffs cause of downtime, nothing for casters" while Arcadia Night Fever 1 and 2 are extremely stressful for me and the two healers, especially the 2nd one where I need to slidecast through the in-out part so I have a melee combo to handle how fast the frog cleaves are. The waves are also very awkward because I need to go stand in the outer line as a 2min window is coming up. I basically need to stay in melee range till the last second to not just delay my burst or interrupt it with weaker cast until I can get back in melee range

Then looking at M6, my most powerful AoE attacks are gated between 3 melee hits, but I also have to stay near the wall and bait puddles and the lava phase has me completely cut off from melee range for a full minute. I'm sure I'll find some way to not overcap on gauge once I actually get in there, but it sure seems like a lot more hoops to jump through than the melee DPS. The melee DPS barely need to disconnect from the boss in M5 (I think Frogtourage with the spotlights is basically the one time) and the boss gives them free positional during arcadia night fever.

Them making PCT's main movement tool worse in the same tier where they require so much movement out of casters is certainly strange.

[Carighan]

It is a bit odd the tier made casting harder then they buffed melee because of melee uptime concerns

And just judging from M5S they made melee harder (one genuine no-melee moment but more importantly his 'out' is a pixel-perfect max-melee out, so it's no longer just standing somewhere as a melee DPS), but not remotely as much as they made casting harder in that fight, ouff. Black Mages are still the problem pick of the group in that, even with all their new flexibility. >.>

[Owyn_Addens]

And just judging from M5S they made melee harder (one genuine no-melee moment but more importantly his 'out' is a pixel-perfect max-melee out, so it's no longer just standing somewhere as a melee DPS), but not remotely as much as they made casting harder in that fight, ouff. Black Mages are still the problem pick of the group in that, even with all their new flexibility. >.>

Even in 7.1 BLM was already more mobile than RDM and had better access to that mobility on-demand. Combined with the fact that RDM constantly gets denied its melee combos in 6/7 if it's the sole caster, and we'll probably see a spike in BLM playrate that has little to do with the job and more to do with the encounters.

[Wayfinder3]

It is what it is now until it's my class that gets reworked.

I’ll be fine then too because ultimately, that’s what there vision for the classes is. If they rework my class, I play it or I don’t. So they can’t really hurt me with a rework. I’m at most ambivalent to their modern class design, I don’t care about simplicity or complexity, I just want it to be fun and engaging enough for me and for others to be able to grasp its gameplay enough to not sand bag parties.

They could give Red Mage a full rework and I’d just play it or play something else.

[Wayfinder3]

I'm playing RDM this tier and went into M5 last night and started looking at M6 and I'm kind of baffled about the "melee need buffs cause of downtime, nothing for casters" while Arcadia Night Fever 1 and 2 are extremely stressful for me and the two healers, especially the 2nd one where I need to slidecast through the in-out part so I have a melee combo to handle how fast the frog cleaves are. The waves are also very awkward because I need to go stand in the outer line as a 2min window is coming up. I basically need to stay in melee range till the last second to not just delay my burst or interrupt it with weaker cast until I can get back in melee range

Then looking at M6, my most powerful AoE attacks are gated between 3 melee hits, but I also have to stay near the wall and bait puddles and the lava phase has me completely cut off from melee range for a full minute. I'm sure I'll find some way to not overcap on gauge once I actually get in there, but it sure seems like a lot more hoops to jump through than the melee DPS. The melee DPS barely need to disconnect from the boss in M5 (I think Frogtourage with the spotlights is basically the one time) and the boss gives them free positional during arcadia night fever.

Them making PCT's main movement tool worse in the same tier where they require so much movement out of casters is certainly strange.

Ive noticed this too about red mage, the job isn’t compensated for its forced ranged mechanics with its melee combo properly at all.

Ride the waves in m5s comes up in a 2 min and RDM can’t do its full burst with some funky party considerations that might be fun in a static but may serve to make the job weaker than it already is because it drifts its burst out of buffs

[Azurarok]

Last I heard weren't their caster/healer designer the same person, while tank/melee are handled by another?