This. Just look at the patch notes and you'll see where their focus is.
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Last I checked, this advantage was held by PCT, and BLM was a top choice as well.
I know that a lot of casters want to play this off as melee vs. ranged, but the truth is that double caster was the prog standard on the tier and a lot of Physical Ranged players felt like they were left in the dust. The question I would ask is why a MCH should be considered inferior to a PCT that offers such strong burst, utility, and mobility tools. I think that if you abolished the 'Physical Ranged'/'Magical Ranged' dichotomy and treated both groups as equals, then you can have a fair discussion on how much of a reward should be provided to offset fight-specific melee downtime. The discrepancy lies between Physical Ranged and Magical Ranged and the differences in how these two groups are treated.
Yeah, there's a massive double standard going on. Why is double caster allowed and "meta" but double physical ranged isn't?
Pictomancer isn't taxed yet is more mobile than MCH/BRD/DNC thanks to its 20s dash+sprint.
Pictomancer is allowed to have 2 Raidwides mitigation like RDM/MCH/BRD/DNC but also an extra heal, making it better than BRD but under DNC in term of support.
Then there's the flexible rotation, most of its burst is on charge except the 120s but that's something you don't want to drift even if you had charges on it.
Casting? Well you have many holy in white and your uneven hammer, you decide when to cast.
Unlike phys ranged, PCT/BLM can take a melee spot instead of the caster spot. Phys ranged are limited to the phys ranged spot.
And PCT is just incredibly appealing with its double mitigation only DNC, RDM and MCH can offer.
What’s wrong with a double caster meta for a particular tier
1/2/1 or 2/1/1 are both totally fine, the problem is the physical ranged are barely even holding onto the 1 spot because they do so little damage they barely justify the 1% that’s unique to their role. Fusing casters and phys ranged together as ranged would either just cause them to buff phys ranged to compete which would likely create a 1/3 meta or just make physical ranged completely useless because they wouldn’t even be able to compete inside their own role
The only reason right now the phys ranged hold on is because they only compete with themselves, competing directly with the casters who either do 15% more damage than them or bring the best utility the game can offer would just be a sure fire way to kill them or otherwise buff them and risk killing the melee
Anyone else get the sinking feeling devs will just make the role bonus 2% then be like ‘we did it guys phys ranged is saved’ lol
En Avant is 10y, 30s cooldown.
Smudge is 15y + 5s sprint, 20s cooldown.
In a 10 minute fight DNC has 23 uses, PCT will have 31. Obviously DNC has the charge advantage but PCT has the "it's always available" advantage.
You can easily keep your casts for the phases where you don't move.
Even if it's debatable which one is the most mobile, PCT remains incredibly mobile.
Let’s take a moment to remember that MCH is the only job without a mobility skill. They probably forgot…