The identity of Pictomancer is being destroyed

[Rithy255]

This has me scared…
Ah man, I guess this game isn’t for me anymore.
They fix me up with the Picto release, only to destroy it again and dump me.

Has me scared too because it's a pretty common pattern of listening to feedback but going in a weird direction that doesn't appeal to the existing playerbase.

Sadly I can see something like that happening, obviously we don't know they could just go with simple potency buffs, but always be cautious with changes, also unlike black mage we won't likely hear about it until patch, we only learnt about BLM changes early because yoshi p plays it to show off content.

[MrJPtheAssassin]

All of the PCT backlash I saw was strictly about numerical tuning and not the kit. PCT at its worst was better than other jobs at their best, and it was a problem. All they needed to do to make people like me happy was shave off a bit of potency everywhere, not mess with the damage profile and mangle the entire job.

As Supersnow said in their reply, I was one of the ones who were opposed to a nerf to PCT bc I worried about what would happen to PCT. We've been through all this time and time again with CS3. This team simply can't nerf a job without causing some issue with either its balance or kit. As I figure, if they did end up nerfing PCT it would lead to issues like PCT doing too little damage or some of the kits getting messed up. Guess what both happened...Now you are better off skipping the odd min hammer, which means the job is now a filler spamming caster, and it's so low that it's only slightly above RDM in savage, which means you're better off taking an rdm for the rez and blm or 2nd melee for the dps.

I agree PCT was a problem, but it was only a problem in Ultimate, not savage...nerfing it just for FRU would also nerf it in savage where it was doing fine already. Either way, what happened to PCT in 7.2 is why I will never trust this dev with nerfs since it is clear that they don't know how to apply the right nerfs to turn a job down some without messing something up along the way.

[Carighan]

The damage profile was (and still is) the problem though, or rather is a problem unless different jobs being inherently superior or inferior at different types of content is desired as the target balance.

That is, we're all okay that ultimate DPS checks are tuned to require a Pictomancer, as they're naturally superior at it, AoE DPS checks are tuned to require a Black Mage, etc etc. In that case, even the previous iteration was more than okay, still a bit overtuned, but not by that much.

The bigger issue really is: How do keep the identity of pictomancer, which is naturally liking downtime and interruptions, while also removing exactly that element from their damage profile? The devs tried via shifting potency around, but overdid it. By a marginal amount though, ~10-20 potency back, and it's again a net-positive. And being just barely a net-positive is actually kinda cool, it'd mean like tank gapclosers it's also worth sitting on mobility tools for upcoming mobility even if it slightly drifts their CD, as they're only such a marginal dummy damage gain. But they are one, so they're never not worth using. I think it was something like 10 potency back from filler to creature muses and 20 to hammer or so.

[MrJPtheAssassin]

snip.

It's more than just shifting potencies around, in my opinion. Sure, you could do that to at least make hammer pos again, but we still have the issue of where PCT should be dps dps-wise in relation to other jobs. This issue, tho, is more of a caster issue as a whole imo...for YEARs I said caster is the worst balance role in the game bc of one thing and that is the rez...SMN and RDM will always be preferred over BLM and PCT for the caster spot in the team bc that rez means a lot to this community, its "try again/keep the run going" button, even if reclear, since you're not always going to have everyone playing 100% all the time. The battle rez has become a crutch to fix mistakes. Either way, since the caster spot will always be filled by a rez caster, BLM and PCT as to compete for the flex role, a role that is highly sought for in a team since melee also can fill this spot. Meaning right now if you look at PCT numbers, it left on the side lines, it doesnt have a rez and do to simlar dps as a RDM and doesn't do enough DPS to compete with a 2nd melee or BLM for the Flex spot. I dont see how just "shifting" potency will fix this issue. Personitly what I would do is like you said, shift the numbers around so at least hammer and the creature are gains and feel better to play but I take one step forward and finally do something with the elefent in the caster room for years now and that its battle rez...its time to nerf this button I think or competely remove it. That's just my opinion tho and I know it's a semi-hot take, but that's just how I feel about all this...

Btw I have already been asked a few times this patch to switch to RDM or SMN when playing PCT btw, when I was applying for statics, and that's why I hate where PCT is now...

[Carighan]

Btw I have already been asked a few times this patch to switch to RDM or SMN when playing PCT btw, when I was applying for statics, and that's why I hate where PCT is now...

Weird, considering how much more damage Picto deals compared to Red Mage and Summoner. Their rezz is good for progging of course, but their actual DPS is still in the gutter to make up for it.

[Supersnow845]

Weird, considering how much more damage Picto deals compared to Red Mage and Summoner. Their rezz is good for progging of course, but their actual DPS is still in the gutter to make up for it.

Maybe compared to SMN but PCT is struggling to offer enough damage to justify itself over RDM’s rezz considering on half the fights it’s closer to RDM than it is to the weakest melee

Especially if you run something like a VPR in 6, VPR puts out enough damage it’s safer to swap a PCT for a rezz caster

The damage profile was (and still is) the problem though, or rather is a problem unless different jobs being inherently superior or inferior at different types of content is desired as the target balance.

That is, we're all okay that ultimate DPS checks are tuned to require a Pictomancer, as they're naturally superior at it, AoE DPS checks are tuned to require a Black Mage, etc etc. In that case, even the previous iteration was more than okay, still a bit overtuned, but not by that much.

The bigger issue really is: How do keep the identity of pictomancer, which is naturally liking downtime and interruptions, while also removing exactly that element from their damage profile? The devs tried via shifting potency around, but overdid it. By a marginal amount though, ~10-20 potency back, and it's again a net-positive. And being just barely a net-positive is actually kinda cool, it'd mean like tank gapclosers it's also worth sitting on mobility tools for upcoming mobility even if it slightly drifts their CD, as they're only such a marginal dummy damage gain. But they are one, so they're never not worth using. I think it was something like 10 potency back from filler to creature muses and 20 to hammer or so.

You also have to remember that the “very slight loss/gain movement tool that you can sit on” is already filled by holy in white for a loss of comet in black for a gain. You have to consider how the job feels to play. Hammer is a crit direct hit, it also requires 4 seconds to prep it. Muses are designed to feel powerful, not barely be a DPS gain you can functionally afford to ignore as PCT was designed to ignore the aetherhues

[Sequora]

Maybe compared to SMN but PCT is struggling to offer enough damage to justify itself over RDM’s rezz considering on half the fights it’s closer to RDM than it is to the weakest melee

Especially if you run something like a VPR in 6, VPR puts out enough damage it’s safer to swap a PCT for a rezz caster



You also have to remember that the “very slight loss/gain movement tool that you can sit on” is already filled by holy in white for a loss of comet in black for a gain. You have to consider how the job feels to play. Hammer is a crit direct hit, it also requires 4 seconds to prep it. Muses are designed to feel powerful, not barely be a DPS gain you can functionally afford to ignore as PCT was designed to ignore the aetherhues

This is it. Hammer being a DPS loss means we’ve essentially lost 3 buttons from our rotation. The muse abilities are multi button skills. The hammer in particular is 3. You need to paint it, render it, and then you can use it.

It’s a huge part of our kit.

Maybe we’ll get a single target weapon muse in 8.0, though these changes make me think it’s unlikely.