FFXIV’s Black Mage job loses its ‘flame’ among players as Pictomancer paints a bright future for himself
Every time a new expansion drops in Final Fantasy XIV, the dynamics of the game’s two dozen combat jobs continue to evolve and change to maintain balance, and Dawntrail is no exception. Both Viper and Pictomancer have entered the fray, and while the dual sword DPS is already facing some contention, the magical Pictomancer is already in the Eorzean stratosphere in terms of both power and popularity.
In fact, Pictomancer has already proven himself so powerful that longtime magic DPS heavyweight Black Mage faces a legitimately bleak outlook for future content in FFXIV. One of the very first mages jobs added into the game during A Realm Reborn, Black Mage earned a reputation over time as one of the strongest damage dealers, bar none. They could rip “aggro” off tanks with ease and often sat at the top of the DPS list regardless of combat content.
That reputation, which has stood the test of time in every expansion, now has some visible cracks thanks to Pictomancer, a unique mage (from FF6) who uses mixed ether and a brush rather than a staff. Since arriving with the launch of Dawntrail, the Pictomancer work has been enthusiastically embraced by countless FFXIV players and shows clear staying power for several reasons.
The introduction of Red Mage (Stormblood) and now the ability to unlock Pictomancer has players welcoming magical DPS classes with unique skill sets that take advantage of both ranged and melee DPS abilities. In other words, mobility and flexibility. On top of that, Pictomancer’s unimpeded DPS output currently puts almost every other DPS class in the game to shame, to the point that Black Mage has now effectively been benched.
fresh Reddit poll posted by user “Biorockmanx” (seen above) asked FFXIV players what magical DPS work they’ve enjoyed so far in Dawntrail, and the results, well, painted very clear picture. Pictomancer passed Black Mage with 153 votes, while the latter received a meager 36 votes (48 meanwhile said “Neither”).
If that wasn’t enough, how posted recently by Reddit user ‘Piratoz’ and further explained by ‘Kaurie_Lorhart’ (seen below), the recently released Arcadion Savage Raids sees a high degree of participation from Pictomancer players, while Black Mage ones are almost non-existent. Of all the groups that have cleared Arcadion Savage’s inaugural tier, only two single Black Mage players are among those DPS ranks, seen last at the top of this tier list.
On top of all that, the 7.05 patch released on July 30 (seen via The Lodestone) brought more adjustments to various combat classes, including some increases in attack power for Black Mage. Meanwhile, Pictomancer remains completely untouched, which is quite surprising since Viper has already received quite a bit of an overhaul, for better or worse. It’s even already gotten first dibs on new weapons from Ultimate Raids.
This means Black Mage faces a very uncertain future in the world of FFXIV, be it casual or hardcore content. If Pictomancer faces some counter at some point that would deflate its DPS output, the tables could turn in Black Mage’s favor again. For now, however, players seem to be hanging up their wands as magic-based combat continues to evolve in the game. Y’shtola will have to hold the line on her own.
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