The identity of Pictomancer is being destroyed

[PaulH]

This is a disappointing read.

[Garash]

Square, please re-adjust potencies so that no reasonable theorycrafter can make the argument that optimal play sometimes encourages overcapping hammer motifs, thank you.

[Supersnow845]

They don’t have to fix that much, they had the right idea they just went too far

1) Hammer should be a gain in all situations
2) star prism should be slightly buffed/comet/magenta slightly nerfed so that hyperphantasia is worth using on star prism
3) creature parts should be a gain to use by themselves and the nerf should go to mog/madeen

So bring hammer back to the old potencies (520, 560 and 600 I believe), make creature parts 1000 potency but nerf mog/madeen from 1100 to like 600 and then buff star prism up to 1200 and nerf the reversed aetherhue from 900/940/980/980 to like 850/890/930/930

So their stated aim of the muses not being an enormous gain is still achieved but you aren’t ever discouraged from painting if it’s off CD

[Sunako]

Wow that is crazy. Holy in white was already dps loss and now hammer is too? Are we supposed to move only with slidecast, black comet, swiftcast and smudge?

[Valence]

I personally think Hammer should sit between RGB and CYM in priority, but that's probably just me. It feels like a good middle ground for an instant mobility tool that you prepaint.
I also still think that them buffing the base RGB/CYM filler is actually increasing the job's power in downtime scenari since painting during downtime allows you to cast MORE filler in the following uptime (while your muse usage remains unchanged).

[Sequora]

Yeah, until they add a single target weapon muse, hammer should be a DPS gain.

I just hope this isn’t something they’re not going to address. The balance team is so stubborn.

[Aosha]

I do get the intention with the changes, but yeah it went too far.
The Living Muse nerf I can still live with – don't like it, punishing the painter job for painting just seems fundamentally wrong, but I can at least maybe kinda sorta get used to having to think two paintings ahead on whether it's worth it.
But Hammer? That one's inexcusable. It was the second most fun button on the job only behind Smudge. And now it's something we should ideally not be using? Just not engaging with a big part of the toolkit at all? Needs an adjustment, and quickly. Hope they do something about it before Savage.

[MrJPtheAssassin]

Yeah, where it stands now, Im holding off looking for a new group to raid with for now. I like to see if we see at least a change to Hammer before Savage. If no change Im going back to RPR this tier personality. I like PCT bc painting felt amazing and was worth it, but with the nerfs(esp hammer), painting just seems kinda meh now. If I wanted to play a spell spamming job, I would just play smn...Yeah, Im not happy with the changes at all. SQ has ruined another caster for me...good job devs...first you ruin SMN last expac with its rework and now you ruin PCT for me.

[Quuoooote]

Some small part of me can't help but wonder if these changes were actually intentional. You know, so that the difference between underperforming players that only mashed their 1 key and optimization-focused players is brought down to zero. Because they'll all be pressing filler now, whether they understand its benefits or not.

It would be in line with their job philosophy and balance changes for the past few years, anyways.

[Xapapetsu]

This may be dooming but I find the changes to pictomancer being alarming. I do agree that Pictomancer changes were needed as the latest high-end content has shown. The PCT will shine brighter than any other job in a combat encounter where there is no target to cast on, based on their motif system.

A quick glance at the potency changes lowering the muses and increasing the RGB and CYM were an understandable change. However, after looking at the math further there is something that is overlooked. When you take into account the need for the casting of Hammer Motif and the fact that its potential is already capped by it being an automatic critical direct hit, it is actually a loss of potency overall versus simply casting the filler of RGB and its subtractive casts of CYM.

This leads to the conclusion that it is simply better to not paint the hammer at all when there is no downtime. In fact, if it were not for Mog of Ages and Retribution of Madeen, it would be better to not paint the Pom Motif as well.

I believe it was a gross oversight on Square Enix design team to gut the identity of the aesthetic of the Pictomancer job.

Pressing 1-1-1-1-1-1 ad nauseam is stale and not engaging. This job was fun because the idea of being creative and being flexible with the cast order let me press whatever button I felt based on what I was musing without sacrificing damage potential. Now it's more optimal to simply press 1 button like a healer but without all the other abilities that healers have.

Pictomancer was the last fun I had in this game with long periods of stale content. My 12 year account will be unsubscribing at this time.

I'm pretty sure moving the hammer outside burst window wasn't their intention on this, just an awful oversight. They could have gone into the nerfs differently like making motifs less potent and lowering the painting time to 3.5 or 3 seconds instead of 4, but what do I know, I only mentioned this would be the worst way to implement these changes almost a year ago. Picto doesn't need to do the damage it does, it can sit comfortably between red mage and black mage.