FC's Complaints against the Puppetmaster job

FC's Complaints against Puppetmaster job

• More than Red Mage and Bard, Puppetmaster is akin to Hume race (or Jack of all trades) of all FFXI jobs. It can sort of heal, sort of tank, sort of melee, and sort of enfeeble. Pup can do just about anything, but doesn't have an identity because it lacks anything which it excels. So the ability to do everything, just not anything well, grievously hurts the job.
• Pup's highest offensive skill is a C+ in Throwing. Although their Guard and Evasion skills are B ratings, Guard is impossible to skill up to reasonable levels on Pup.
• Other than animators and Automaton Oils, Beastmen bane return weapons (which do next to no damage) and the Aureole (which is a drop from Absolute Virtue) are the only Ranged weapons available for Pup. Mostly Tathlums, Tiphia Sting, and other items that are not designed to be thrown are the only available Ammo weapons. So, the Throwing skill is really useless.
• The Hope Staff is Pup's "Virtue Stone Equipped: Occasionally Attacks Twice" weapon. However, Pup has no skill in Staff...at all… Even Ninja can equip Faith Baghnakhs (the Hand-to-Hand multi-hit weapon). Why not Pup?
• Pup's only TP Bonus weapon is the Rare/Ex Carbuncle's Pole. This pole is available from the "Waking the Beast" quest. So, Pup's only TP Bonus weapon not only not a Hand-to-Hand weapon, it's also harder to attainable than from an ENM. Again, Carbuncle's Pole is really useless because Pup only attain staff skills from whatever their current sub-job is.
• Pup is the only job incapable of getting a Weapon Skill quest. Even Bard get Evisceration at level 73.
• Many of the higher tier Attachments are difficult or expensive to attain.
• Pup has a distinct lack of decent wearable gear. SE made gear designed for mages wearable by Pup. Yet, Pups lack MP and Automatons will not cure party members. Bards lack MP of their own too, but they can Regen and Refresh themselves and others.
• This issue has been partially addressed with the introduction of the Usukane set. But, it's difficult to attain both financially and effort-wise.
• Corsair can wear Wyrmal Abjuration armor. Blue Mage can wear Sky God gear, some Abjuration sets, and Homam/Nashira (Ultima/Omega) gear. Pup can't wear any of these types.
• At level 75, Pup's Automaton frames have skill caps of 240 (B- rating) with their respective melee, ranged, and mage frames. 240 is often enough for two weapon skills capable of making Light and/or Darkness skill chains. However, Automatons are stuck with their level 5-10 weapon skills.
• The introduction of the new level 150 weapon skills (Cannibal Blade, Daze, and Knockout) has not addressed this issue. Automatons are still incapable of making Light and/or Darkness skill chains.
• Pup's Hand-to-Hand skill caps at 225 (C rating) at level 75. Pups must get by with Raging Fists and Howling Fists until then. They can start a Distortion chain, or begin or end a Fusion chain. Yet, Puppetmasters are stuck with very weak Dragon Kicks when it is attained.
• Pup can be viewed as an extremely weakened Beastmaster, or a more pet-dependent job than Dragoon. Beastmasters can solo many things at 75 while Pups can barely solo Easy Prey mobs with their Automatons and a Ninja sub-job. A Dragoon is viable even without their Wyverns. But at level 75, Pups are, at best, comparable to a level 65 or 66 job without their Automaton.
• Puppetmasters and their Automatons are exceptionally inaccurate. At level 75 and wearing gear giving Accuracy +38, a Pup/War's accuracy is between 70-75% against Trolls in Mount Zhayolm. A Valoredge Automaton's accuracy is between 60-65% against the same Trolls. For comparison, a Ninja and a Monk have accuracy between 91-95%.
• Puppetmasters and their Automatons deal exceptionally low damage. At level 75, a Pup/War dealt between 10-11% of total damage in an experience points session against Trolls in Mount Zhayolm. A Valoredge frame dealt between 4-5% of the total damage. Even the combined total of 14-16% of the Pup/War and Automaton doesn't come close to a Ninja's 35% and a Monk's 26% total damage. These stats span a session of 26 battles. For further comparison, a Samurai who joined the session late for only 17 battles and attained an 88% accuracy with 21% of the total damage dealt.
• Puppetmaster doesn't really have an end-game category/duty. They are fine for normal nation missions and quests, but not for HNMing.
• This issue has been partially addressed with the introduction of Salvage. However, Pup's usefulness may be limited to the first two floors depending on the party/alliance configuration.
  

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