Adjustments that I think could benefit Machinist Greatly

Machinist as it stands is extremely fun to play, but at it stands damage wise, it definitely needs some love. So to put some ideas out there to debate about, I came up with ways to alter some of the moves in MCH's kit that we have issues with.

Overheat: This definitely needs a boost to the damage increase it gives, it punishes as hard if not harder then pre SB Berserk but it only gives a 10% damage increase at the moment. It definitely needs at least 20%. (Personally I think it should be like 30% but that may be asking for a bit much tbh)

Overdrive: Make it add like a 10+% piercing debuff to buff our own damage to make up for the lack of turret. Then Dragoons can celebrate a little bit of extra damage too. (And at the same time it would essentially give Mch a constant extra damage buff for every wildfire; if rotated with like even numbered bursts and Hypercharge with odd numbered bursts for example)

-Continued

Flamethrower: As a heat building tool, in single target encounters the damage output is very much underwhelming to the point of it being debated as to whether or not it's even worth using at this time. This definitely needs at least a small potency boost.

Hypercharge: I think every machinist main can agree we kinda want our 10% damage boost back. Let's be frank. Or at the very least make it so rook applies 10%, while Bishop applies 5% in an AoE.

Hot shot: I see a lot of Mchs requesting an extra 5% on this, but in my opinion, I think they should just double down on overheat and make it grant an ungodly buff and just leave this as is.

The Turrets: Please for the love of everything that is holy SE, get rid of the flare fall off on Bishop. It makes sense on like Akh Morn's 680 potency, but why nerf 60 potency. Secondly can we get the 2X damage multiplier during hypercharge back?

Quick question:

Do any Machinists actually enjoy having to toss the Gauss Barrel back on after every overheat? (Not asking if you find it difficult, but merely if you think the experience is actually improved by having to hit that button.)

I know that sometimes, however bloated it may be, some extra APM to maintain pace can feel nice, but Gauss Barrel at least really hasn't for me.

I also can't help but wonder why Hot Shot is still something as dull as a 30s buff with zero additional synergy. While it makes sense that you'd want a skill on which ammunition can be wasted if used with poor timing, I would have thought it'd simply be a heat generator only, and its potency increase further baked into the Heat Gauge (e.g. .1% increased damage per point of gauge).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Greedalox

I don't actually care at all. It has never crossed my mind that putting GB on is this overbearing scenario that messes me up.

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I only ask because, in Stormblood's alleged goal of reducing button bloat, I can't see why they'd keep it (rather than wrapping its potency adjustments into the surrounding toolkit) unless people really liked having to hit that button.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shurrikhan

Quick question:

Do any Machinists actually enjoy having to toss the Gauss Barrel back on after every overheat?

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I don't actually care at all. It has never crossed my mind that putting GB on is this overbearing scenario that messes me up.

Well... I'm currently leveling MCH and my personal wish list would be:
- Gauss Barrel automatically gets re-attached after an overheat
- Turret overload only puts the turret I actually exploded on CD, so that the other can still be deployed in the meantime. The other turret is likely gonna be suboptimal most of the time anyway, AoE on bosses or single target during trash
- The ability to turn and, ideally, move during flamethrower
- Faster advance into heated mode without stabilizer. Overheats feel way too punishing

Overheat is kinda my pet peeve with new MCH in general. I like the minigame of staying in the heat sweet spot with cooldown, reload and quick reload, I like that they retained their 1-2-1 combo and I like the cooldown alignment with wildfire. It's great and fun!
Overheat just isn't. Even if it's a DPS gain, it still doesn't feel good, because it pretty much takes you out of the heat minigame for 10 seconds at the very least, far longer if Stabilizer is on CD. Worse, using reload and quick reload during that time feels terrible, as it delays you getting back into the heated area - at the same time, they sit there and laugh at you if you don't use them, as cooldowns are wont to do. Timing Overheat together with wildfire doesn't feel natural either - It feels needlessly convoluted. It's not a very satisfying mechanic IMO, even if pulled off well.

I'm not really concerned with potencies - you can buff in a lot of places if MCH is lacking. But those are my personal gripes with the way it plays right now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shurrikhan

I only ask because, in Stormblood's alleged goal of reducing button bloat, I can't see why they'd keep it (rather than wrapping its potency adjustments into the surrounding toolkit) unless people really liked having to hit that button.

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Yeah it just never really crossed my mind so I don't think it would hurt to make it auto reapply, but the button itself exists so you can turn on GB in the first place.

Reapplying the Gauss Barrel isn't too big a deal, as it's not on your GCD so there's really no wait aside from animations.

The wait after overheat and having to build your heat back up is the big deal. Doing an overheat, even when timed correctly, feels punishing, because you're so feeble after you use and it takes a hell of a long time to build your heat back up to usable levels. Sure, you can pop Flamethrower, but that's best used optimally at the end of an Overheat to maximize AoE DPS; if Stabilizer is on cooldown, you're screwed and have to build up your heat slowly with minimal ammo usage. Which even further hinders your DPS. It's a system that actively works against itself.

Aside from potency tweak, I think MCH really need a tool to gain heat outside the battle. It just doesn't feel good not going overheat under the effect of hypercharge/other buffs at the start of a fight.

Since putting the gauss barrel back is actually an ogcd skill with an animation attached to it, what if you are stunned/feared/mind controlled/etc at the exact time of an automatic reattachment ? Used to have it back without doing anything it would make the player even more confused to realise you lost it without warning at some point. Seems better to me to have total control over that by doing it manually. Not to mention that if it is to have it always on doing nothing for that, we might as well delete it from the game. But then players will complain of the job becoming too casual. Plus it kinda make sense that if you mess with your stuff too much, you get penalized for that and have to do something to get it back in shape.

Instead of a faster advance without the barel stabilizer, i would rather go for reducing his cooldown, or making the flame thrower usable while moving so that we can use it in aoe intense fights. If you are synchronized before getting these two skills, 5 hot shots isn't that big of a deal in low level donjons, plus it seems logical that big flashy skills make your weapon heat more than the basic one you get at lvl 1.

That being said i actually dont care that much about overheating right now. Using it on purpose before the big changes promised for 4.05 seems like a dps loss to me, so i dont overheat at each wildfire to gain almost nothing, i try to stay between 50-95 heat 95% of the time, the last 5% being for some cases like the last donjon boss life dropping at 3%.

Oh, and yes, barrel stabilizer should be usable outside of combat, like every pre fight preparation phase where you are placing your turret and the gauss barrel on, while other jobs are launching all their buffs. Or make the ft raise the heat even outside of combat, after all it is a bad ass flame thrower.

No thank you. Drop all support and rake up our DPS...