[Suggestion] Alter Gauss Barrel and Wanderer's Minuet.
I know this is beating a dead horse, but these 2 skills definitely need to be looked at by the devs again. There are many posts already made about this, but most generally are along the lines of "Remove them from the game!" instead of addressing the core problem of the skill as well as solutions that work along the same lines of what the skills intend.
Are these 2 skills a problem?
Yes and no. Conceptually, the 2 skills exist because the devs are trying to make the Machinist and Bard RDPS classes like the others, which is to say the devs want them punished for movement. The classes being punished for movement is fine. This is perfectly fair if the goal is to treat them like legitimate RDPS classes.
What's not fine is how they implemented it. Simply put, even for the Machinist, a class that presumably would feel like it was designed around the Gauss Barrel mechanic, it still feels like a clunky, awkward half-solution whipped up by a dev in their spare time without any due diligence or playtesting to see if it actually flowed well in the game, especially under any ping other than instant. It feels like I'm playing Ninja pre-mudra fix when a 500ms ping.
It feels like complete garbage to use. Between the altered oGCD timings, as well as the altered proc timings, it feels like a different and substantially worse class. I can only imagine how much worse it feels on Bard, as I've not leveled them past 52 yet, but almost everyone says the same thing: The class feels awkward and horrible. And it's entirely from the cast bar shoved unceremoniously onto the class.
So, to answer the section's question: Yes, they are a problem. The core idea is fine, the implementation is not.
So, with that said:
What can be done to these 2 skills to make them fun and interesting, especially to fans of the classes in ARR?
Any design goal done to these abilities must first meet 2 very specific criteria with one sub-criteria.
- The mechanic must preserve all attacks being instant cast with no cast time.
- The mechanic must punish the user for moving.
- Abilities that require the class cannot be allowed to be used when moving, by any definition thereof.
So, with design goals defined, what can be done? There are numerous ways to work the mechanic.
The first method could be retooling Gauss Barrel and Wanderer's Minuet into a ley lines-type cast. While active, a small circle is projected under the machinist that gives the class the buff and damage. If this ability is up and the class moves outside the circle, they can use any instant-cast abilities, but anything that currently has a cast bar would be disabled, as well as abilities that require Gauss Barrel in order to work. If you move outside the ability, it's as if Gauss Barrel or Wanderer's Minuet is toggled off.
The second method would be a scaling buff that increases as you stand still, and decrease while you move. It could have 1-5 layers that build up over time. The ability would scale the damage of all abilities based off how high the boost is, be it in increments of 6% (up to 30%) or increments of 15%, or just a flat toggle of yes or no. Certain abilities can be exempt from the damage penalty as is necessary to balance the class, and other abilities can be impossible to use unless fully stacked. Again, the goal is to punish movement. As for timing, I'd say that if you move for more than 1 second (standard movement allowed for abilities, with the potential for up to 1.5 seconds), the buff should start falling, and it should rebuild in either GCD intervals, or 1-second intervals.
Both of these methods would allow all abilities to be instant cast, preserving the feel of these classes, while also punishing players for movement. Both of them, I feel, are orders of magnitude better than the farce we have right now where abilities feel clunky, awkward, and boring, and also have the timing on procs shift because the ability doesn't cast when the button is pushed, completely countermanding the playstyle of everything before those abilities exist.
I want these classes to be fun to play, while also being fair from a balance standpoint. Prioritizing each ability being "instant" as they are pre-52 is paramount to the playstyle of these classes, even though they would, and should, still be encouraged to stay stationary.
Thoughts?