What change do you want to see on your main class for Endwalker ?

In regards to cast time on physical ranged, it worked well on MCH as not every GCD had a cast time. If you proced Slug or Clean Shot, they would instantly go off, this coupled with rapid fire mean it worked well, whereas BRD (from what I remember) had everything on the GCD and even Empyreal Arrow had a cast time despite being oGCD.

So, with that, having some GCDs have a cast time would be fine. Just to throw around my thought, on MCH, make Drill and/or Air Anchor have casts, but leave the main combo and heat Blast Alone. BRD, Refulgent Arrow can have a cast, maybe Apex Arrow? but I feel that should be an oGCD anyway.

Dancer could be a bit harder to fit one in. They have obviously never had cast times, so maybe have it on Saber Dance? No idea,

However, in regards to this, it would be nice to have some sort of unique mechanic in regards to ranged physical. It can be something similar to cast times, but different. If, for example, you charged the attack instead. You can still use it on the move, and you get X potency, however, if you let it charge for a max of, say, 1.5 seconds, it can have X+Y potency. If they were really ambitious, they could have an attack that would take 2 GCDs to cast (but I forsee alot of problems with that). However, rather than it be either one potency or the other, have the additional potency increase through the cast time, so, just to put some numbers to give a better idea, every 0.5 seconds of casting, you gain 20 potency. So instant cast would be X, after 0.5 seconds it would be X+20, after 1 second, X+40 and if you get the full cast, X+60. It still keeps the cast time, but makes it different. This could also lead to situations where it would be better to cut the cast short so that you can fit on 2 oGCDs for a potential DPS gain.

Of course, it also adds in more potential abilities, like one that stops the cast, but still gives the full potency etc.

I should add, I really don't use the physical ranged role much except Machinist, so if anything is off with Bard and Dancer, that will be why.

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Originally Posted by Colt47

I like machinist the way it is and I'm going to disagree here on the choice to make it more complex. The idea of this game is to run multiple jobs, not just one job, and there are jobs in this game that are waaaaaaaaaay too annoying to figure out, like Summoner largely due to how some of the skills work, along with Ninja.

I'm still kind of laughing at how I could level jump a Black Mage or Bard and not have an issue, but then legitimately level a summoner and realize at around level 78 I was doing the entire thing wrong. Ninja was the absolute worst of the bunch to level jump into because of the freaking Mudras. I don't even know if the quest line helps with that or not, but I can't see someone stepping into ninja and figuring out that job right out the gate.

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I think the problem isn't the job, it's the game that does a terrible job explaining rotations in the first place (understand, it doesn't explain anything).

SMN is fairly simple to understand if you carefully read all spells and abilities, like any other job. It's just that the game won't tell you that everything exists in a two minute cycle (110 seconds technically). Once you understand that, it's just easy to understand how the job flows because the big parts of its structure are mutually exclusive (the trances). Hitting on things when they are available is doing most of the job, the rest is optimization (and managing pet bugs).

The biggest issue in SMN right now is how each level cap brings something new that doesn't work with previous elements of its kit. Phoenix doesn't work like Bahamut, Bahamut doesn't work like Dreadwyrm Trance, Dreadwyrm Trance doesn't work like the Egi (the Egi doesn't work with Aetherflow and the DoTs).


The game should explain at least broadly what an oGCD ability is, how to use it and when. It should also have job quests (well, when we used to have them) teach you how your rotation works, especially at each level cap

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Originally Posted by Rymi64

They should bring back it's cast times then. Many loved gun mage mch from HW and it looked super fun to play. I honestly think they should also bring back bow mage as well. I adored bow mage from HW and wouldn't mind its return. I don't move around as much as a range phy anyways so I wouldn't mind. Though that's just my opinion

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I dont think MCH would improve at all if it got cast times it would require a rework to better base its kit around it. but I cant speak on that without talking about ranged as a whole which have alot of issues with its homogenized state and identity crisis.

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Originally Posted by Jirah

I dont think MCH would improve at all if it got cast times it would require a rework to better base its kit around it. but I cant speak on that without talking about ranged as a whole which have alot of issues with its homogenized state and identity crisis.

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The current ranged problem is that they're seen as "Casters without casts" or "Melees without melee ranged&positionnals", which falls again in the lack of ingenuity.
During SB, it was a mana resources battery with powerfull mitigation. If a Melee was KO'd, they needed TP. But the battery is not a part of the game anymore and mitigation has been nerfed way, waaay too much.

There was multiple suggestions to bring a bit more depth to all the rangeds such as different potencies based on range, it was debated that the best choice was closer = higher potencies to not conflict with healers. I have no idea which idea is better and if SQEX actually takes in account the community feedback.
They don't know what to do with BRD and missed multiple times an opportunity to buff the job, MCH recently had a rework that kept the weird Flamethrower and the latency issues. And they're happy with DNC, an unbalanced job in my opinion.

MCH was shining on gameplay and performance only in a third of HW. It was a mess during SB and during ShB, the rework was welcomed at first until most players realized it was an empty job. For the very first time, BRD is not the "best ranged" and lost its throne in the hardest way. I don't have huge expectations when it comes to the rangeds.

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Originally Posted by CKNovel

There was multiple suggestions to bring a bit more depth to all the rangeds such as different potencies based on range, it was debated that the best choice was closer = higher potencies to not conflict with healers. I have no idea which idea is better and if SQEX actually takes in account the community feedback.
They don't know what to do with BRD and missed multiple times an opportunity to buff the job, MCH recently had a rework that kept the weird Flamethrower and the latency issues. And they're happy with DNC, an unbalanced job in my opinion.

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After playing the ranged physicals and reading a bunch of people complaining about them being unfulfilling (and thinking the same myself), I had thought about different (unique) ways of introducing mechanisms regarding movement for ranged physical.

Melee have positionals and casters have cast bars, I had thought of range sections for ranged physical, similar to positionals, but some abilities did more damage at 0-5y, some more at 15+y, but you would need some new UI element that shows distance (or at least the different sections being used, e.g. 5y, 10y, 15y). On top of that, I think it would really be tough to balance high end encounters around something like that. It would definitely be cool though.

For MCH, I heard that it used to have ammo, but never really saw how that worked (I assume that it was just like any other Build Resources->Use Resources job). I think it would be cool to have a "reload" mechanism; Have MCH have a ton of different weaponskills (or the 1,2,3 combo with multiple charges and a couple of "bigger" attacks) that have a really long cooldown (e.g. 5 minutes) and another ability called "Reload" which has a shorter cooldown (e.g. 10s) and uses a GCD. Certain abilities (e.g. Drill/Anchor) would maintain their cooldown and Reload wouldn't affect those. Then maybe have some abilities do more damage the more abilities are on cooldown. So you sit there and attack and have a strategy on when you reload. Maybe you reload early to line up with buffs, but otherwise reloading uses up a GCD, so you want to make sure you use as many abilities as possible. Have an OGCD with a 5m cooldown that is "Quick Reload". Just seems like it would be a fun aesthetic.

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Originally Posted by LeonKeyh

For MCH, I heard that it used to have ammo, but never really saw how that worked (I assume that it was just like any other Build Resources->Use Resources job). I think it would be cool to have a "reload" mechanism; Have MCH have a ton of different weaponskills (or the 1,2,3 combo with multiple charges and a couple of "bigger" attacks) that have a really long cooldown (e.g. 5 minutes) and another ability called "Reload" which has a shorter cooldown (e.g. 10s) and uses a GCD. Certain abilities (e.g. Drill/Anchor) would maintain their cooldown and Reload wouldn't affect those. Then maybe have some abilities do more damage the more abilities are on cooldown. So you sit there and attack and have a strategy on when you reload. Maybe you reload early to line up with buffs, but otherwise reloading uses up a GCD, so you want to make sure you use as many abilities as possible. Have an OGCD with a 5m cooldown that is "Quick Reload". Just seems like it would be a fun aesthetic.

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Ammo back in the day used to boost the damage of the next weaponskill + give 100% chance for the regular combo to proc its next stage (before, each weaponskill had like 50% chance of proc the next stage). So you basically used it to have guaranteed combo continuity, but the thing is that it was very unfulfilling, but since it had quite a big downtime, you were forced to cope with your regular RNG clunky 1-2-3 combo for a good chunk of the fight (also you had to save ammo for the Wildfire). Your regular combo could sometimes get you to 1-1-1-1 depending on your luck.

I think ammo could be a nice element to re-introduce, but not like its original version. Maybe yeah, something as enhancing bigger attacks... Or even if the Gauss/Ricochet charges were actually the ammo count.

Procs, rapidfire and ammos also made "casts" instant back in HW.
Only Split shot (1), Lead shot (A dot) Hot Shot and Spread/Grenade shot were casts but as mentionned above, you could end up spamming 1 if you were unlucky.

In short, there wasn't much casts anyway.
Quick Reload was on 15s, Reload on 60s, rapid fire&Wildfire on a weird 90s. And if you needed to move, you could remove the Gauss Barrel or the Song to freely attack.

BLM being my main dps, it is also a job which I consider nearly perfect so what could be added is indeed a good question

- Visual & Potency buff -
Current best rotation is with high SS, skipping B4 and doing no F1. It is extremely clunky and unpleasant to play due to the way mp server tick work.
This is also not the way the job is intended to be played. The DPS gap is not high (a few %) but it's nonetheless there and it's frustrating to be forced to choose between "comfortable gameplay" and "best rotation"

New trait to upgrade B4 and F1 to ensure the proper rotation
Burning Ice
When using B3 in Astral Stance, your next B4 is CDH **or** Your Umbral Heart increase F4 damage have x% more crit
When using F3 in Umbral Stance, your next F1 becomes Triple Fire, (1.5s cast, deals 120x3 potency fire damage)
**Added baseline utility : B4 grant 5000mp**

This would ensure the usual rotation is BiS no matter what


Then, I consider with all the mobility we got, we kinda lost the fantasy or "I can't move ima turret", however since the gameplay flows so well, anything added has to not be disrubtive. This one is more of my own fantasy and I'm 99.999% sure nothing even close to that will make it into the game

Shatter
30s CD, only usable while under the effect of Ley Line
7s cast : 0 mp
Gather energy, while casting, every 1s you gain 1 stack of Void Energy (max7).
Upon finishing or cancelling the cast, deal 300 potency per stack. (don't forget it's not affected by AF)
SpellSpeed increase damage of this spell instead of reducing its casting speed.
Astral Fire and Umbral Ice duration stop decreasing while casting.
each stack is its own instance of damage to average crit rng, but only the total damage down is shown

So as said, the goal is to add some "I can't move" fantasy to the job without disturbing the rotation. LeyLine seems to be the best place to implement this as we're already trying our best to not move. To ensure this is not affecting our core rotation, the timer on AF and UI are frozen while casting, this ensure it can be done at any moment and not when the timer is above 10s.

Enhanced Thunder
I dunno how we could improve the thunder mecanic, it's the same since ARR yet it works so well....
but I want something new to it

RDMs needs 2 uses of its gapcloser. Then RDM would be perfect.

Edit: added the bottom, since i mistakenly double posted.

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Originally Posted by CKNovel

The problem with Bowmage and Gunmage, BRD was not designed with casts in mind, MCH was. BRD ended up not giving a good feeling for older BRD players.
Then they removed casts and the problem did a 180. Since MCH was designed with Casts, many cooldown were now weird or kinda useless/incomplete such as rapidfire or ammos.

With all the instant casts BLM, SMN and RDM now have, ranged with casts could make a comeback under a new form. Not all GCDs being casts but why not only straight shot for BRD. Still, i don't know enough of BRD rotation to understand how it would impact the rotation overall.
I believe a 1.5 seconds cast could work to keep the "Mobility" aspect. A 2.5s cast would make MCH the least mobile job, even less mobile than BLM outside of leylines.

I've taken a look at the JP side and it looks like they also regret the removal of casts, the main argument being that there is now a lack of ingenuity. Like how Melees ask themselves "How can I safely go to melee range and do my positionnal" or casters "how can I get an additionnal cast there".
The ranged role clearly needs attention, not as much as SMN and the healers, but the problem can't be left ignored for another 2 years, especially for a whole role.

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I never understood why they didnt give them short cast bars. 0.5s and 1s casts exist, so why didnt BRD/MCH have them? and as you put it, 1.5 works as well. (IMO it should be dependent on which skill you use, and offer at LEAST 1 skill thats instant)

I enjoy the Machinist as is and never really played it before this expansion. Adding anything that pins it to a position would take away what makes it great to me (Basically a structured Bard that has a rotation instead of a priority system). I just think there are far better things to worry about than trying to fix something that a lot of people are probably satisfied with.

The two Jobs that have the most issues in the game are probably Black Mage and Summoner. It has nothing to do with the End Game experience on them, because I think both are fairly good. Black Mage is just rough because what defines a caster is the casting timer, and it's the poster child of the entire caster lineup so it has some of the most outrageously big cast timers of any job. What makes those two problematic is that what they do changes a lot from low level to high level, making level sync a problem.

We can basically judge what is at the gold standard by what jobs are keeping the same rotation as they level up and just adding things to them. So stuff like Machinist actually is at gold standard. Dark Knight is another job at Gold Standard, and I believe the four jobs they introduced in the last two expansions are at gold standard. The ones that are problematic are ARR and HW. You can't really learn a job if the job doesn't even give you the right rotation until level 70 or 72. Paladin is kind of iffy on their rotation and I think they are definitely doing some tweaks to it come End Walker.