MCH v. BRD (Not a top-end comparison)

[JarinArenos]

So, I'm at the point now where I'm looking at tertiary classes to level, now that my primaries (PLD/SCH/BLM) are doing good. I leveled SAM to have a melee class, but now I'm staring at BRD and MCH and wondering how they play. I honestly didn't play either extensively in Heavensward, since the bowmage thing happened, but I played enough to get a decent feel for mechanics then. I haven't touched them since 4.0 though.

What I'm looking for is a general idea of how they play now vs. before, aside from being able to move again. They both have RNG reliance issues, but is that a hindrance? How does their... for lack of a better term... "playability" compare? I'm not going to be taking either into progression raids here, so the bleeding edge isn't my concern. Just general handling of dungeon and 24-man content. So let's have the BRD and MCH evangelists sell me on which to play now that 4.1 has some balance done.

[MauvaisOeil]

MCH is nice, but it needs a lot of setup and it's DPS is highly dependant from his 10s burst every minute. That makes him exploit coordinated buffs with high performance, and less powerfull when you're with pugs slapping Trick attack at first GCD, or unsyncinc whatever buff they have from yours.

Overall I think the class is nice, except the very strict heat management you have which leaves you with pretty much nothing to dump except if you need to push your burst later.

[Pence]

MCH doesn't have that much reliance on RNG anymore, we have a few GCD where we are subject too it but it's no where near as bad as it was. I consider MCH my main but always go BRD for progression - to get decent numbers on MCH you need to know what is happening in the next 15-20 seconds, a pretty strict 1 minute timer and sometimes you need to adjust accordingly before something happens or end up wasting a WF / Overheat / Screwing up timers.

BRD is a safer choice if you're not trying to push a job hard IMO.

[Yeol]

I will try to make this simple as much as possible. I'll be leaving so many details out.
You can check these links for Machinist and Bard to see more details on their skills and abilities.

RNG:
- BRD has more RNG than MCH. BRD Gauge relies on crit in order to execute some skills/abilities.
- MCH have better control on procs thanks to ammunition.

Playstyle comparison:
BRD:
- Keep Straight Shot and Dots up. Rotate between songs, try to keep them up most of the time (BRD requires tracking your song duration, skills, and abilities procs).
MCH:
- Keep Hot Shot up and Heat Gauge temperature at 50+. Aim to maximize Wildfire (MCH playstyle requires control over the Heat Gauge and knowledge of the encounter to maximize DPs).

Recovery from Mistakes:
After some changes to MCH, both of them are easy to recover from mistakes.

[Idolon]

- Keep Hot Shot up and Heat Gauge temperature at 50+. Aim to maximize Wildfire (MCH playstyle requires control over the Heat Gauge and knowledge of the encounter to maximize DPs).

While keeping hot shot and heat up are important, they happen mostly automatically through the rotation. I'd say the play style focuses more on precise timing to fit everything into Wildfire than it does maintaining buffs.

Recovering from mistakes is also maybe a little harder for MCH than BRD due to how reliant MCH is on keeping its cooldown timers aligned with Wildfire.

[JarinArenos]

Thanks for the great info, folks! I think from what I'm hearing that I'm gonna give Bard a shot. I'm not sure I like the sound of having to focus everything so heavily around Wildfire timing.

[Yeol]

While keeping hot shot and heat up are important, they happen mostly automatically through the rotation. I'd say the play style focuses more on precise timing to fit everything into Wildfire than it does maintaining buffs.

Recovering from mistakes is also maybe a little harder for MCH than BRD due to how reliant MCH is on keeping its cooldown timers aligned with Wildfire.

This is what I meant by "Aim to maximize Wildfire".

Recovering from mistakes is easier on BRD than MCH. But in the end, they are both easy. Even guides tell you what to do if you overheated by mistake. Not as bad as it used to be.

[Pence]

Recovery from Mistakes:
After some changes to MCH, both of them are easy to recover from mistakes.

BRD is probably one of the easiest jobs in the game to recover. You put your dots up again and play your next song in your rotation. MCH isn't anywhere near as lucky.

[Aomine1992]

While keeping hot shot and heat up are important, they happen mostly automatically through the rotation. I'd say the play style focuses more on precise timing to fit everything into Wildfire than it does maintaining buffs.

Recovering from mistakes is also maybe a little harder for MCH than BRD due to how reliant MCH is on keeping its cooldown timers aligned with Wildfire.

Agreed, mch recovery is pretty bad if you mess your cds up everything will be off for that whole entire fight basically...where is BRD can seemingly pick back up a bit easier..

also BRD is much better for progression @ OP I learned that the hard way on mch lol

[KageTokage]

Memorizing the timing of mechanics is a lot more important for MCH then BRD, because your DPS will take a huge hit if your Wildfire sequence gets interrupted by the boss going immune or you being forced to move before you can reach an overheat with Flamethrower.