FFXIV History: Pictomancer (What we know so far)

Pictomancer was announced as the newest job to the upcoming expansion of Dawntrail! What do we know of the Pictomancer from the series and what can we expect so far?
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Final Fantasy XIV
2010
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[@ryuichiro.sakuraba]

Pictomancer is such a unique job, as far as I could remember with Relm in FF6 mainly sketching enemies and having the pictocopies use their abilities against them. This is done as well albeit in a different way in Relm's version in Dissidia FF Opera Omnia where she is more of a control support with Sketch (delaying enemies and putting other party members' turns forward) with a bit of her signature pictocopying with the abilities and elements of the party's equipped Summon Crystal (e.g. Sylph for healing, Shiva/Ifrit/Ramuh for their respective elements, etc.) Wondering if we'll get Star Prism as PIC's LB3 as it is Relm's desperation attack in FF6 (kinda like a limit break, but only appears when at low/critical HP, similar to triggering FF8's LB command if not under the Aura status). Quite excited to play it once the expansion launches, and looking forward to more info come Media Tour and Job Action trailer :D

[@Matthewsumarki]

I'm so glad ur back! I was Concerned 😂😂

[@fantasygirl1455]

Sorry for making you worry, a lot had been going on. I'm moving at the end of the month and my kitty got out by accident so I haven't been in the mood to do much of anything, was too overcome with stress and worry. But I'm doing much better now that I have the lease signed for my new place and getting ready to pack. Thanks for your kind words and I hope that you're looking forward to future vids :)

[@sergel02]

Another Square Enix game that used Pictomancer is Bravely Default 2. It is a debuffing class there. I remember how dark and tough the boss battle was.

[@fantasygirl1455]

Yes I did think about adding Bravely Default in, but I never had the chance to play it. Looking forward to seeing how they make pictomancer different for this game

[@aetherhae]

Just a clarification. Pictomancer is actually going to be a Higher DPS job than SMN or RDM. It's going to be the second highest DPS behind black mage. The reason why they said it has 'supportive capabilities' is because it has a party buff. And for reference, so does Ninja, which is one of the highest DPS melee in the game, in fact, the only dps that don't have buffs are BLM and SAM. Another reason why it will have higher DPS, is due to it's lack of access to raise. Yoshi-P has previously stated that he keeps Red Mage on the weaker side because of it's ability to recover raid progression so well with its raising power. "I wouldn't say Pictomancer is a support job. But it does have magic that will buff the party." -Translation quote from the fanfest.

[@momos5803]

I’m sorry but Yoshi P didn’t say that. His words “We wouldn’t say it’s a “FULL” support job if that’s what you’re thinking, but it’s not so attack focused as something like blm” that’s what he said. So if a job isn’t as attack focused like blm there is no way it’s gonna be under blm as far as damage. Also we don’t know if casters are keeping resurrection in Dawntrail Yoshi P said for Endwalker summoner kept resurrection by the skin of it teeth. More than likely summoners are losing res in Dawntrail. They also might do something about rdm res as well. Right now we’re all speculating. We don’t know what changes they will have for the caster role. I believe pictomancer will be a very versatile job. It will be a support/dps hybrid job like bard for ranged and ninja for melee.

[@aetherhae]

@@momos5803 You don't understand. The only way that your statement about Pictomancer can be true (about it being a support) is if Summoner's raise is removed. Red Mage having it's verraise removed is very unlikely. Yoshi-P directly balances Caster ADPS around their utility, so without a raise, he can put more of it's power budget into it's damage. But even if we do assume they remove Summoner raise, there's still no guarantee that Pictomancer is a support job, because all we have confirmed is that it has magic that buffs it's party, but guess what, so does Summoner AND Red Mage. Ninja is not a support, at all. Sure, it's Mug is strong, but Ninja's burst window, makes it one of the best buff RECEIVERS, which puts it's personal damage much higher than other jobs, especially when paired with a dancer (which along with bard, is an ACTUAL support). Stating it's not as attack focused as Black Mage, just means that it's DPS profile has a bit more RDPS than ADPS, because if it did the same level of personal DPS as a black mage while also having party buffs, it would be unbalanced (example being 6.0 launch Reaper).

[@momos5803]

@@aetherhae Sure. You make a good argument there. I didn’t say you were wrong at all. Of course if summoner keeps its raise ability then I’m sure it will go BLM, PCT,SMN and RDM. I’m pretty sure they may remove it from summoner though. They may even nerf it on rdm to where they may put a cooldown on it. Caster res is what’s destroying the balance of the caster role. I don’t believe they will remove it from red mage either but may slap a lengthy cooldown on it. Then they can balance the caster role better. They can also return a bit more power to red mage too. I don’t think pictomancer will be a full support job like dancer. I never said that. However, I do believe it will be a versatile hybrid job. With both good support and pretty good dps as well. It won’t be a powerhouse dps and it also won’t be a full support job. So it will be somewhere in the middle. I believe anyway.

[@aetherhae]

@@momos5803 Ideally you would be right. If they do remove Summoner Raise, then the personal DPS will be balanced around purely which caster has a stronger party wide buff. Red Mage getting some power would be amazing, because I know a lot of people love it. Additionally, it would remove toxicity from the week 1 prog environment, as people often gatekeep things like 'Only Red Mage allowed for Prog' and then after clear strats are established, Red Mage is thrown aside for Black Mage or Summoner. If they do as you say, that would fix those issues, so for the sake of all caster players, that would be wonderful. Perhaps if they balance the numbers accordingly, we could even have Double Caster Comps instead of Double Melee!

[@momos5803]

@@aetherhae Double caster will be my dream 😂 but either way we both have some good arguments about which direction they may go in. Haha or they could surprise us and go in an entirely new direction too. Though the likelihood of that happening is very small. I think both you and I are onto something though with our assumptions. We shall see in like a month and a half when we get that battle system live letter. I am sure it will come in around mid May 2024.

[@Nyghtgirl27]

No trailer reaction?

[@fantasygirl1455]

Haven't been able to do a live reaction sadly. Sorry about that

[@madambutterfly1997]

They took the Revive ability from me. The one thing I want in a caster DPS. Somebody has to take responsibility to revive the Healer

[@fantasygirl1455]

I understand your concern. As a SUM main, more than often do I have to revive the Healer and carry the party. But you know, they may change Pictomancer down the line. so hopefully they do add that in later on, huh?

[@MrKnaives]

Eh, they can't keep making casters rez mages. This isn't a support mage, so if they add a rez and it does more damage than summoner and red then they just going to use pictomancer and make those other job irrelevant just like machinist for the longest time.

[@1Mrstephen]

Eww no I’m glad it’s gone. Let the DPS DPS.

[@1Mrstephen]

I am SO NOT the Pictomancers target audience. I am not excited for this and just might be the only job in the game not capped or even unlocked. (I guess unless there is a reward for leveling everything)