MCH and leveling

Hello fellas o/

So I recently started to lvl MCH, since I like the way it looks and also how it's played. Aye, I'm only 42 and am still missing a looooot of skills and stuff, but I'm already disheartened about leveling any further.
The reasons are quite easy.

1. The dmg.
I know I'm still just started and I miss a lot of skills.. but I see my normal attacks hit around 60 dmg. At lvl 42. 160 with the additional blingbling button. I feel like a my alt's MNK did the 160 with autohit already... I don't know, I mean I literally push every button that isn't on cooldown already, but I've never ever seen so low dmg at that level.
So please, someone tell me that I actually do something reeaaaally reaallly wrong? Like missing a button or 3? Because I really can't figure it out:v

2. I've seen a lot of threads saying that MCH is good at endgame, but what about all the stuff before? Since I don't raid and usually do my casual stuff, how is MCH placed?
If we look at the dmg up there, I don't see how MCH is going to be somewhat working for lower stuff like roulettes, etc. Does it get better at 50? Or is this how MCH works till 70?

Greetings
Me

P.S. I'm really unmotivated rn and hope for a wonder T_T

MCH relies on a lot of things lining up just right in order to stack and maximise potency buffs.
You have ammo, heat, hypercharge and wildfire to keep track of and you want them all at the same time for high burst damage.
Besides that, you rely on your turrets to bolster your autoattack, which increases your overall damage output, even if it doesnt seem obvious.

Its definitely a tricky job to master and until you do, its underwhelming.
But if you ever wanna try out PvP, you'll absolutely love it.

It's hard to evaluate jobs in the middle of the leveling curve and I don't think they're really balanced with that in mind. That said, MCH has one of the worst leveling experiences in the game. It's safe to say it does not get better at 50. In fact it gets worse at 52 when you get an uncontrollable job mechanic, the heat gauge. You don't get any tools to interact with it until 62 Cooldown, 64 Heated Shots, 66 Barrel Stabilizer and 70 Flamethrower. The full rotational kit doesn't come together until level 70 and the last ability requires a good amount of practice to use properly because it requires timing that you have to get into muscle memory. Expect to spend a lot of time hitting the Striking Dummy to learn the rotation all over again when you finish leveling.

If you're already disheartened but like ranged dps classes, I would recommend looking to leveling BRD. It basically does everything better than MCH in endgame and the leveling experience is much more enjoyable. If you're dead set on MCH, you might find leveling through PvP more fun since you don't have to deal with the broken PvE skill set until you get to 70.

Outside of the lack of heat management options I thought MCH was fairly coherent to level up. As with most jobs the rotation changes a lot at 70 but you can still practice filing up wildfires as you have most the abilities for it by lv38.

That being said, MCH is a dumpster fire right now, the red-headed stepchild of BRD - which does a lot of things better and is more forgiving to play. (I guess, I'm too stubborn to learn2bard)