4.0 MCH is Weak

I love Almost everything they changed for MCH. The heat gauge doesn't bother me because all i need is the number and I love managing heat. I love being able to move and do consistent damage so I don't mind being lowest dps. What I do mind is that BRD outclasses MCH in both DPS and utility. I would love for MCH utility to be in par with BRD but it would probably be easier for the dev team to up the MCH damage. I agree 100% with the damage changes in OPs post.

Having Played MCH at 70 more and done some dungeons alot...and having spent a lot of time on the level 70 dummies...here's my thoughts on what I'd like to personally see changed:

1.) I'd like to see something done with flamethrower. It seems like it was a decision made because it sounded cool but didn't 100% mesh with the job, but they needed to have -something- else other than barrel stabilizer, and somehow this was just the best thought put forward, but not really the -right- thought(solution)

2.) Gauss barrel should be available at a much lower level, like level 30. At level 30, it should provide 5% dmg increase to all actions, with a trait at level 64 to increase it to 10% while between 50 and 100 heat. This solves the lack of proper development planning for using the job at lower level dungeons(a), rewards good MCH with dps increase maintaining 50-99 heat(b), and the 10% should carry through into overheat, so we also get the overheat % increase to make it more worth-while(c). This also boosts wildfires so they should hopefully be closer to Sam's omgwtfbbqslice' slash move.

3.) Cooldown should be available at 30, removing 10 heat or 15 heat. At 62 a job trait should increase the amount of heat to 25 like it is now. This maintains the current design, but fixes the failed planning to address the job's functionality at lower levels.

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Originally Posted by Id_Slayer

Having Played MCH at 70 more and done some dungeons alot...and having spent a lot of time on the level 70 dummies...here's my thoughts on what I'd like to personally see changed:

1.) I'd like to see something done with flamethrower. It seems like it was a decision made because it sounded cool but didn't 100% mesh with the job, but they needed to have -something- else other than barrel stabilizer, and somehow this was just the best thought put forward, but not really the -right- thought(solution)

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What really bites with Flamethrower, is that it's basically the first Skill that FF's first "Machinist" Edgar would use back in FF6. And yet it clashes with the kit pretty hard atop of being super underwhelming.

been watching and reading a lot on MCH since SB, loved the job style etc, many problems though!

end-skills not satisfying enough, comparisons are discouraging...

BRD has utility, dps, many skills to choose from, MCH feels 1-2-3 centric.

also, it has turrets!

maybe make turrets useful? SMNs were reworked to make them more pet-centric like a SMN should be! So maybe MCH should be reworked to be more turret-centric? right now, turrets are so -place-and-forget-its-there.... even more then before in HW!

HALP! lol

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Originally Posted by GmW

been watching and reading a lot on MCH since SB, loved the job style etc, many problems though!

end-skills not satisfying enough, comparisons are discouraging...

BRD has utility, dps, many skills to choose from, MCH feels 1-2-3 centric.

also, it has turrets!

maybe make turrets useful? SMNs were reworked to make them more pet-centric like a SMN should be! So maybe MCH should be reworked to be more turret-centric? right now, turrets are so -place-and-forget-its-there.... even more then before in HW!

HALP! lol

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It'd be nice if turrets did something else other than auto attack, have ONE "command" attack, and blow up on cue.

As folks have said, they're basically place and forget DoTs right now.

Back in ARR, one of the things I liked doing with SCH was actually moving the pet into different positions to maximize its AoE potential. If the turrets can hover in place, I've no idea why they can't also move.

Hell, maybe what MCH needs is just to be a full-blown pet class...

Please no. If i wanted to micro manage a pet i would have go for summoner or scholar. Not to mention that when you see how much people are complaining of the recent changes, it would be way worse if the job was becoming something even more entirely different. You would be better launching another engineer new job than can order giant mechas and armored robots hounds around (not sure if that would fit the lore though XD).

Turrets are already more than place and forget dots. Too many mobs spawning right next to you ? Place a bishop turret on them, dont aoe the mobs yourself, and here you have a mini tank taking aggro of the ennemies while you pick them one by one from afar. A tank moving a pack of mobs too much, a boss who can toss your turrets aside or is hitting so hard that he destroy them ? You have better not forget to replace one in attack range if you dont want your dps to go down. All the mobs of a pack minus one are dead ? Dont forget to switch to a rook one. Actually they are more interactive than you said, and you have better not totally forget them.

Ya the Turrets are fine except the new turret feature is to make it even more punishing on your overall DPS output by taking the robot away until it gets 'repaired'. Yoshi PLEASE. D: Why have you allowed the Dev team to put machinist back into the dark ages; into the same meta position as it was in heavensward 3.0? Bottom of the barrel DPS, with a higher degree of difficulty to the rotation than other DPS(more punishing if you mess up) and one or two things that just don't make sense. You had it all figured out in 3.5! Anyway, I'm off to curse my fate and grumble because I love this job and want it to be useful, but right now it's just frustrating and not as useful...*curses the black plague while destroying love apples as his dark ages mch job*

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Originally Posted by Kleeya

Turrets are already more than place and forget dots. Too many mobs spawning right next to you ? Place a bishop turret on them, dont aoe the mobs yourself, and here you have a mini tank taking aggro of the ennemies while you pick them one by one from afar. A tank moving a pack of mobs too much, a boss who can toss your turrets aside or is hitting so hard that he destroy them ? You have better not forget to replace one in attack range if you dont want your dps to go down. All the mobs of a pack minus one are dead ? Dont forget to switch to a rook one. Actually they are more interactive than you said, and you have better not totally forget them.

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You just described the exact way SMN positions its ranged pet.

It would literally be the exact same number of buttons to do everything, only that the turret would hover around beside the MCH when it doesn't have a command issued.

And yes, that would open the door for more interaction and synergy between the MCH and their turrets, but babysitting a turret is, IMO, much more fun than babysitting a heat meter.

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Originally Posted by RichardButte

but babysitting a turret is, IMO, much more fun than babysitting a heat meter.

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It's not really babysitting when you develop a good sense of your heat. It just takes a bit of practice.

I kinda miss the old mch xD the overheat is frustarting

Anyways.. i tried out opener. Its still the same but shorter duration of wildfire. I wish it was 12 or 14 sec again. 10 is way to short imo.
https://youtu.be/F0YnXpvDFPw
And the overheat is kind of annoying. I thought the gauge was suppose to let u look at the screen more often and not at the hotbar. Doesnt help that much for mch if wildfire has short duration + making sure you dont overheat + see if quick reload is up.
They should make quick reload 5 or 10 sec cd and mayby make "Cooldown" an ogcd skill.

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Originally Posted by Greedalox

It's not really babysitting when you develop a good sense of your heat. It just takes a bit of practice.

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It's still babysitting even with a good practice. At this point I've got almost 40 runs through both primals together. I've got hours of SSS and practice on the dummy when I'm waiting on queues. I barely make a mistake in either mechanics nor heat. It is still babysitting at this level of "practice". Hell even with 3.0 when you had a good sense of your 1:30 rotations the joke of the location where MCHs spent most of their time looking was funny because it was true. This babying happens because you're punished brutally for an accidental overheat. You have no choice but to babysit it. Even with good feel I always have to double check when my WF comes up to absolutely confirm I'm not about to conflagrate the second I refresh my hotshot.

The mechanic is pretty much frustrating. You have to watch your procs, you have to watch your bullets and you have to watch your heat. Even one single mistake because you maybe tried to dodge something or somethinge else in the fight got your attention for half a second but kept firing and you get overheated. No other class gets punished so hard if they mess up just one skill. And for me personaly the damage is absolutely not worth the risks of the mechanic.
I love the flamethrower (the look, not the low damage..) and I love the look of the new shots but the overall damage and the heat mechanic is a bit frustrating compared to nearly every other DD class right now.

Edit: Now that I've actually used the flamethrower: how is this thing usefull? It sometimes interrupts without any obvious reasons, it deals no damage and if you channel it for the whole duration you are overheated even if you start at 0 heat. I don't understand that skill. How do I use it properly? Just at the start of the fight to get 50 heat and then interupt it by just shooting normaly?

Yes, it's a bit weak.

Bard has more raid utility, and can do more damage. At the very least it buffs party members a lot. Machinist should do a considerable amount more dmg than bard cost of less utility (since it already has less utility)

Add 10 potency to each heated shot, buff hot shot bonus, and make flamethrower not weak. AND make wildfire 15 seconds. 10 just isn't enough to do all the things. Procs, critical clean shot, hyper drive, rook overdrive, etc. 15 seconds would be a great help with DPS.

If you think about it, machinist uses guns. Probably the most damaging weapon in real life comparing in game weapons. Why would it be the weakest dps!

I know it's about PvE here, but just to say I'm spamming Machinist in PvP, and the system they made for him is really great and enjoyable to play. Machinist is by far one of the best dps class there. Some people even jump on me in 1v1, Warriors / Ninjas / Samurais / Black mages (I rarely see other classes alone) and I've beaten them all in the blink of an eye, as our burst is hella amazing. I especially like to bait warriors and run like I'm afraid of them, and when we are alone and he catches me, I just burst him from 100 to 0 and leave.

I'm not saying that to show off, but as I am very disappointed about what the MCH became in PvE for now (I loved my grenade shot, and I am not a fan of the flamethrower at all), I really want people to realize they still can take pleasure there at least if they struggle to have some fun in PvE for now. So for those who love Mch like me, you can really enjoy them in PvP. They are good in team as they are solo.
The only classes you can be afraid of seriously are DRK (too resistant for your burst in 1v1, and in team they just move you in the middle of his allies to kill you) and the PLD (his immunity skill just cancel your burst utility, and they just have to wait for you to wildfire to do it (+ their stun))

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Originally Posted by Heimdalgc

If you think about it, machinist uses guns. Probably the most damaging weapon in real life comparing in game weapons. Why would it be the weakest dps!

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I feel like this is where that argument fell apart lol.

Lost my rotation mid-fight due to mechanics....

RIP my DPS forever. May aswell /sit.

Not finding mch fun anymore. Never thought I would miss the gun mage. Get rid of this heat system. I don't enjoy babysitting it.

For me, let's more say I had accepted the gunmage to get some power going with it. I'm the kind of player really almost never being hit by any AoE even with casting time, I knew when I could end the cast or not (not being greedy -> I learnt that in MOBAs and games like Diablo/Path of Exile with Hardcore modes (you can't die a single time or your month of game are lost :p )) and having such mobility is indeed pointless imo if there is such counter part with so low dmg and too little utility.

Honestly, I believe his whole dmg system is hard enough to manage to balance the fact he is ranged, so he should be with way more damage than he currently has. The range is what makes us breath from the complicated system to manage.

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Originally Posted by Greedalox

I feel like this is where that argument fell apart lol.

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Yeah... Unless you're using hollow points or something, bullets aren't any more damaging than a giant sword to the neck or a hammer to the skull. More people actually survive gun shots today than they would have when muskets were around because the projectiles tend to be much smaller and punch through a target while musket balls were huge and would leave gaping wounds (but they we're also highly inaccurate and very slow to fire).

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Originally Posted by CosmicKirby

What really bites with Flamethrower, is that it's basically the first Skill that FF's first "Machinist" Edgar would use back in FF6. And yet it clashes with the kit pretty hard atop of being super underwhelming.

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Actually, Edgar didn't have the flamethrower as a tool at all. He had the chainsaw, auto-crossbow, drill, noise blaster, bio blaster, flash, debilitator and air anchor. The chainsaw wouldn't work well (though it would be awesome) as you'd have to get in close to use it. The bio-blaster would probably be the closest thing to the flamethrower, imo.

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Originally Posted by Ryaz

Actually, Edgar didn't have the flamethrower as a tool at all. He had the chainsaw, auto-crossbow, drill, noise blaster, bio blaster, flash, debilitator and air anchor. The chainsaw wouldn't work well (though it would be awesome) as you'd have to get in close to use it. The bio-blaster would probably be the closest thing to the flamethrower, imo.

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auto x-bow, drill, chain-saw were the only 3 tools i ever used on edgar.

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Originally Posted by Shunye

auto x-bow, drill, chain-saw were the only 3 tools i ever used on edgar.

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The Bio Blaster was nice. Hit every target for decent poison damage and left a DoT. Just had to be careful as some enemies were healed by it.

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Originally Posted by Ryaz

Actually, Edgar didn't have the flamethrower as a tool at all. He had the chainsaw, auto-crossbow, drill, noise blaster, bio blaster, flash, debilitator and air anchor. The chainsaw wouldn't work well (though it would be awesome) as you'd have to get in close to use it. The bio-blaster would probably be the closest thing to the flamethrower, imo.

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I was thinking it fits the idea of a 'machinist' like Edgar, not that he necessarily used one. It's a somewhat random gadget that you use in combat. It's a MACHINE.

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Originally Posted by Elnidfse

It's still babysitting even with a good practice. At this point I've got almost 40 runs through both primals together. I've got hours of SSS and practice on the dummy when I'm waiting on queues. I barely make a mistake in either mechanics nor heat. It is still babysitting at this level of "practice". Hell even with 3.0 when you had a good sense of your 1:30 rotations the joke of the location where MCHs spent most of their time looking was funny because it was true. This babying happens because you're punished brutally for an accidental overheat. You have no choice but to babysit it. Even with good feel I always have to double check when my WF comes up to absolutely confirm I'm not about to conflagrate the second I refresh my hotshot.

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...And I wouldn't mind it if it was enjoyable and/or resulted in incredible DPS when your rotation was on point.

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Originally Posted by RichardButte

...And I wouldn't mind it if it was enjoyable and/or resulted in incredible DPS when your rotation was on point.

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I'd be more than happy with doing DPS that was baseline if it was baseline. But it's not. It's so far bottom of the barrel that it can't climb out

The ongoing issue with our dps is that, there is a large divide between dps done with proper rotation vs dps done poorly (procs not utilized, overheating too much). Furthermore, doing the rotation wrong is bottom of the barrel of all jobs, but so is doing the rotation correctly. The best mch in the world will never come close to an equally skilled player of another dps job, and that's our complaint as a community.

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Originally Posted by Id_Slayer

The ongoing issue with our dps is that, there is a large divide between dps done with proper rotation vs dps done poorly (procs not utilized, overheating too much). Furthermore, doing the rotation wrong is bottom of the barrel of all jobs, but so is doing the rotation correctly. The best mch in the world will never come close to an equally skilled player of another dps job, and that's our complaint as a community.

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This.

Again, the punishing nature of the rotation would make sense if MCH's DPS when the rotation was on point was creeping up on the top in the game (at least top 4), and failing it dropped you to MCH's current point.

They either need to increase the potency outright by a LOT (like make heated attacks nearly 2X their current potency) or make it overall less punishing to accidentally overheat.

I mean ya you have to play perfectly at mch or suffer from dps fall. this was the case with hw mainly cause of casting. now that got switched to managing heat overheat you lose dps currently A LOT of it more so if you don't have Flame Or BS. coupled with the fact that mch already has the lowest dmg out of any dps.

Flamethrower and overdrive need to be reworked, WF needs to be better etc

Knowing SE must have done graphs with dmg curves etc for every classes, I am wondering what they thought about and what they found.

I mean, maybe they designed the MCH to be lower on purpose but able to be suddenly stronger for dps check (so when really needed) so they are less likely to fail such boss phases.

I'm just wondering what SE thought about. We are well placed to say what we think about it, if it's feeling frustrating, not fun, not fair etc, but they must have designed something viable in their mind, and I'm wondering what it is, so I believe they think it's ok to have less overall dps to explose scores for dps checks?

Edit 1 : Kinda same for DRG, they are less strong overall but bring short but high boosts for dps check phases. And DRG upgrading also Machinist's dmg with Disembowel (reducing target's piercing resistance by 5%), maybe they are made for this. Not about having buffs for others to be a part of their "dps", but having buffs to be better at hard dps check phases.

Edit 2 : In a way, it's shorter to make a hard boss in 10min instead of 8minutes if you needed 4 tries to succeed the 8minutes run, while you needed only 1 or 2 to succeed the 10minutes one. IRL timer counts too. Not only IG one.

Edit 3 : They even changed the dmg boost from Hypercharge to be for everyone instead of just physical dmg (so even the neutral moves if there's some?). So in a way, we can see it as it's good whatever is your team, so maybe they are better to make sure to pass dps check phase, whatever your team is, and if they are good or not. So better with random people?
I'm not saying it's that, but I'm really trying to think about what is their overall design and the reason they are the way we see them for now instead of just being a "oops we (SE) didn't realize" mistake.

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Originally Posted by RichardButte

This.

Again, the punishing nature of the rotation would make sense if MCH's DPS when the rotation was on point was creeping up on the top in the game (at least top 4), and failing it dropped you to MCH's current point.

They either need to increase the potency outright by a LOT (like make heated attacks nearly 2X their current potency) or make it overall less punishing to accidentally overheat.

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Again, considering Wildfire is a minute cooldown, Barrel Stabilizer is 2 minutes, and Flamethrower only 1 minute. I think it's pretty obvious square WANTED us to overheat for every Wildfire, then reheat quickly with Barrel/Flamethrower.

It's just hilarious that their math is so off that it's just 'barely' a dps gain to do it perfectly with Barrel Stabilizer, and a horrible dps lose to get stuck overheating only to use Flamethrower.

Flamethrower is easily the most underwhelming max level ability I've seen in an MMORPG. What happened?

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Originally Posted by CosmicKirby

Again, considering Wildfire is a minute cooldown, Barrel Stabilizer is 2 minutes, and Flamethrower only 1 minute. I think it's pretty obvious square WANTED us to overheat for every Wildfire, then reheat quickly with Barrel/Flamethrower.

It's just hilarious that their math is so off that it's just 'barely' a dps gain to do it perfectly with Barrel Stabilizer, and a horrible dps lose to get stuck overheating only to use Flamethrower.

Flamethrower is easily the most underwhelming max level ability I've seen in an MMORPG. What happened?

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Flamethrower would be better if it were a fire and forget ability. A 60 potency DoT where you could still keep attacking and build heat would be much better than what it is now.

Overheating with every Wildfire would be okay. But you don't get much skills inside the 10s frame and after the absolute underwhelming damage of wildfire you loose the 5% damage buff and the higher potencys of the hell shots wich overall isn't worth even being considered. The loss is greater than the gain.

I think the fight should be started with flamethrower and Barrel Stabilizer is more of a "oh shit, I messed up". But overall you should always lose damage when you overheat and you get significantly punished for more than 10s (cooldown+ gauss activation time+another cooldown to get heat).
And I realy don't get the design of the flamethrower. Why does it so low damage and why does it definitly lead into overheating if you let it channel?

For me personaly the MCH needs some rework in the mechanic itselfe and the flamethrower. And Wildfire: 25% of your damage in 10s is not much with extremly high global cooldowns. A critical shot deals more damage than that..

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Originally Posted by Ryaz

Flamethrower would be better if it were a fire and forget ability. A 60 potency DoT where you could still keep attacking and build heat would be much better than what it is now.

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Just to be sure you're not misled or misleading people. Its "60 potency DoT" is actually a 180 potency DoT. DoTs in the game deal dmg every 3 seconds. Flamethrower deals dmg every second. So you can multiply Flamethrower potency per 3 to compare it to other DoT skills.

And to compare it with normal skills, you can multiply it by 2.5 (the base GCD, so 60*2.5 = 150 potency) and then, for the GCD skill part, you divide your GCD skill's potency (like Split Shot) by your current GCD (according to your skill speed), then you multiply this number by the base GCD. So for exemple, if you have a 2.3s GCD, and you want to compare Flamethrower to Split Shot (160 potency), you can do 160/2.3*2.5 = 174 potency.
And to get the Potency Per Second, you just divide your GCD potency by your current GCD (so 160/2.3 = 70potency per second).

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Originally Posted by Fannah

Just to be sure you're not misled or misleading people. Its "60 potency DoT" is actually a 180 potency DoT. DoTs in the game deal dmg every 3 seconds. Flamethrower deals dmg every second. So you can multiply Flamethrower potency per 3 to compare it to other DoT skills.

And to compare it with normal skills, you can multiply it by 2.5 (the base GCD, so 60*2.5 = 150 potency) and then, for the GCD skill part, you divide your GCD skill's potency (like Split Shot) by your current GCD (according to your skill speed), then you multiply this number by the base GCD. So for exemple, if you have a 2.3s GCD, and you want to compare Flamethrower to Split Shot (160 potency), you can do 160/2.3*2.5 = 174 potency.
And to get the Potency Per Second, you just divide your GCD potency by your current GCD (so 160/2.3 = 70potency per second).

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True, but you're still looking at 600 potency total over 10 seconds in a cone with a one minute cool down and you can't move or attack during that time. Samurai's Guren does 800 potency (and more if you catch multiple enemies) oGCD, albeit with twice the cool down, but it also doesn't stop our rotation and have to worry about mechanics canceling it out. Heck, Higanbana, our 1 Sen Iajutsu, buffed with Kaiten does 1,410 potency over that same one minute of time (though only to 1 target). ((240+(35*20))x1.5=1410.

Flamethrower isn't terrible... I just don't see a reason why it should stop all attacks and movement for the damage it does.

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Originally Posted by CosmicKirby

Again, considering Wildfire is a minute cooldown, Barrel Stabilizer is 2 minutes, and Flamethrower only 1 minute. I think it's pretty obvious square WANTED us to overheat for every Wildfire, then reheat quickly with Barrel/Flamethrower.

It's just hilarious that their math is so off that it's just 'barely' a dps gain to do it perfectly with Barrel Stabilizer, and a horrible dps lose to get stuck overheating only to use Flamethrower.

Flamethrower is easily the most underwhelming max level ability I've seen in an MMORPG. What happened?

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You're not supposed to overheat every WF. you use FT to enter 90 heat to double cooldown and only overheat when BS is up.
1) Flamethrower removes your AA, which results in lower single target damage
2) Overheating every wildfire without FT is unrealistic.

Hi everyone.

I usually don’t post on the official forum but as a main MCH since it was released in Heavensward I decided to come to post my feedback regarding the “new” MCH, thinking that maybe if we are a lot disappointed by what became the class Yoshi-P maybe will consider to give to all my MCH bros some love they truly deserve.

Well I would start by saying that forgive me for my bad english it's not my native language but I think posting in the English forum in this existing thread was the best option so far.

I’m starting to think that Square Enix doesn’t like the class. When it first came out with Heavensward it was really weak already and some people in pf didn’t reserve any slots for MCH because of its lack of DPS and it seems this is happening again with the new MCH.
Square Enix what have you done, why MCH always have to be put aside compared to all other classes of the game ? Why ?!

MCH rotation in 3.0 was very demanding compared to some other classes but we had a decent DPS and the class was nothing compared to the weak class it was for Heavensward release, thanks to Square Enix who made the welcomed changes (but too late imo).
With this 4.0 version I decided to continue to play MCH because it was my main class but after playing a lot with it, doing dungeons/extreme trials and trying to figure it out the "best" rotation sadly I have to say that I’m done with the class. I mean I was happy to not have cast times anymore for the class but come’ on MCH is the weakest DPS of the game for the effort you put in it and in your rotation...

What about the new heat gauge ? Even if the idea was kinda cool I have to admit that it’s not fun to have to constantly keep an eye on it rather than what’s happening during the fight and if you overheat by mistake your DPS is done with bad recovery.

Well I have read the thread and everything has already been said, just wanted to share my disappointment I have with the class now and I truly hope that Square Enix will hear the complains and will buff and change the job. For now I'm done with it, I give up I can't continue to play a class so demanding in effort for no rewarding DPS. It's like MCH is using a toy gun shooting foam bullets, enough for me time to level up another DPS :(

Sad because I wanted to play Omega with my fav class but it won't be the case and I will not touch it again until good changes are made.

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Originally Posted by Elnidfse

You're not supposed to overheat every WF. you use FT to enter 90 heat to double cooldown and only overheat when BS is up.
1) Flamethrower removes your AA, which results in lower single target damage
2) Overheating every wildfire without FT is unrealistic.

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Yes, I know. I'm saying it's clear that Square WANTS us to use Flamethrower so we can overheat for every wildfire. But Flamethrower is a Shadowflare that clips into about 3 GCDs for only 10 more potency.

Using Flamethrower at ALL is a massive dps loss. The only time Overheating isn't AT BEST a net gain of 0% dps (Considering it's 10% for 10 seconds, 0% for 10 seconds) is when you're using Wildfire and have Barrel Stabilizer to heat back up in the same OGCD you put Gauss Barrel back on. Using Flamethrower to reheat in this manner is still a dps loss.

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Originally Posted by Ryaz

True, but you're still looking at 600 potency total over 10 seconds in a cone with a one minute cool down and you can't move or attack during that time. Samurai's Guren does 800 potency (and more if you catch multiple enemies) oGCD, albeit with twice the cool down, but it also doesn't stop our rotation and have to worry about mechanics canceling it out. Heck, Higanbana, our 1 Sen Iajutsu, buffed with Kaiten does 1,410 potency over that same one minute of time (though only to 1 target). ((240+(35*20))x1.5=1410.

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You should never do this. All 10 seconds leads to an Overheat, a massive DPS loss. Unless you're going for a really heavy burn phase that uses Hypercharge, and Bishop overcharge. (which would be like 1 full minute before your DPS is anything but terrible again.)

Flame thrower is actually terrible. For the reason stated in your next sentence.

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Originally Posted by CosmicKirby

Yes, I know. I'm saying it's clear that Square WANTS us to use Flamethrower so we can overheat for every wildfire. But Flamethrower is a Shadowflare that clips into about 3 GCDs for only 10 more potency.

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In 3.x we swapped between wildfire and mildfire. Barrel Stabilizer exists to allow us to wildfire. While when that's on cooldown we get to mildfire. Flamethrower exists only as a tool to push to 90 heat (for double cooldowns) or overheat (when BS is up) and only for that reason in a raid. On the topic of GCD, you can weave it for 1-3 ticks with no GCD loss. It isn't the case that it was designed to reheat or push into an overheat every time as the potency and percentage changes they'd have to do for that to NOT be a DPS loss is nuts.

The 3.x dynamic that existed before. The fact that this would still be the case even if OH was 20%. But, the fact that hypercharge is off cooldown with every overheat wildfire is the biggest supporting example

Why are bullets weaker than a bow and arrow?