What do people think of the Viktor Hexcore changes?

Viktor currently has a change to his Hexcores on the PBE, In general it seems to be an early game nerf and a late game buff. I'm hopinh yo hear some opinions on this because i'm undecided in relations to them, and I have only seen the briefest mention on the boards so far.

In general I'm surprised he is seeing changes. If i'm not mistaken he has seen some LCS play but nothing overbearing. Furthermore he is one of the few champions I have seen neither cries for nerfs on, or pleads for buffs.

The Changes are as follows:

Viktor's Hex Core Prototype Core AP per level lowered to 1 from 3 Now grants 10 mana per level

The Hex Core Mk-1 AP per level lowered to 3 from 4 No longer gives 20 flat ability power No longer gives 150 mana Now gives +15 mana per level

The Hex Core mk-2 AP per level increased to 6 from 5 No longer gives 40 flat ability power No longer gives 300 mana Now gives +20 mana per level

Perfect Hex Core AP per level increased to 10 from 6 No longer gives 60 flat ability power No longer gives 500 mana Now gives +25 mana per level

When you reach the very late stages to the game this is a buff. AT level 18 the Perfect Hexcore now gives 180 AP & 450 Mana, instead of 500 Mana and 168 AP.

However are the often nerfs (based on level and tier of upgrade, pre level 18 and perfect hex) A fair and needed trade off. Are any of these changes needed?

Looking at early laning phase a fairly reasonable goal is to have your first augment (and laser upgrade) when your 6 in lane. At this point or a couple levels thereafter you can clear caster minions with both procs of your E, very useful for pushing the wave and CSing under tower. This change is likely to delay Viktor's ability to do this bu a farily significant amount. Is this a desired effect? Why so? I believe one of the more recent Ahri changes was a minor Q change that allowed her to do this earlier. If you want Ahri able to do this why not Vik?

Looking at a mid game scenario, it is fairly widely agreed upon that Viktor Should upgrade his hexcore in a manner akin to Upgrade -> 1-2 items -> upgrade -> 1-2 items -> upgrade -> any remaining item slots / changes

Let as assume were playing Viktor, were at level 16, we have Two Hexcore upgrades and 3 items. On live we would have (5x16)+40 = 120 AP On the PBE we would have 6x16 = 96 AP That 24 Ap differential is a fairly significant nerf to him mid game.

All in all i'm concerned with these. I've always concerned Viktor a jack of all trades, He has a solid laneing phase, a strong mid game and a strong late game. He has a ton of diversity with build options but with his hexcore he must trade something for raw power (which is good) you often have to pick an item to forgo in the match, and take what you value most for the given game, Adapt, and upgrade accordingly which is awesome because it means his gameplay matches his theme. However although he is good overall other more specialized mages outperform him in various regards. (Xereth will out poke him, Ori will out wombo and utility him, Brand will outburst him etc...) This coupled with the fact that 3/4 of his abilities force him to position himself in a more dangerous position closer to the fray , relative to other ranged mages has lead me to consider him fairly balenced.

So i'm curious do people think he needs such a late game buff, nut nerf in terms of reaching late game? Especially since with the coming armor nerfs and certain reemergence of assassins, we are going to see a more snowbally shorter game meta that is worse off for mages in general?