Song Mechanic and Heat Mechanic {Theory}

So with the change to Bard's and Machinist's Wanderer's Minuet and Guess Barrel there also comes with a complete change in Gameplay style.

Let us discuss what we think how the New Mechanics for Bard and Machinist may work.

So how do you all think the new Mechanic may work?

For me I think....

Bard's Song Mechanic

So far we know Songs have been completely changed for Bard into something completely new. We see a Music Bar when a Song is active and it continues to fill until it reach the end then the Bard plays a new Song before the Music reach the end.

This is just a guess from how it works but maybe now Bards are required to maintain their Songs by cycling through them each time to keep up the Music bar. The reduce damage may have been removed from Paeon and Ballad along with all MP cost for Songs due to now having a timelimit on each song being the Music Bar. Wanderer's Minuet is now a Song as well that seems to be best for starting up their Song Bar.

If bard want to access their stronger skills and gain a 30% Damage buff they must always keep up the Music or else they will be their old weak 2.0 version.

Bard may now have their mobility back but if they want to keep that 30% damage boost that WB originally gave they must always keep up the music


Machinist's Heat mechanic and Ammo revamp

As we see in the video Gauss Barrel is still there but changed to be the MCH main mechanic involving a Heat Meter.

It is a simple classic mechanic of building up heat to use stronger skills while also avoiding Overheating thus risking the MCH in a certain way.

Ammo system has also been completely revamped into something new. From what we see old skill and new skills may require Ammo in order to use their strongest skills. This would put into question how did they change the 1,2,3 skill for Machinist since original ammo was used to give 100% combo chance.

There seems to be a certain sweet spot for the Heat meter where the Machinist seems to always want to be at so i am guessing that is how MCH now maintains their 30% damage boost.

I forgot these theory threads are still a thing.

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Originally Posted by JisKing98

I forgot these theory threads are still a thing.

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many voice how glad charge bar is removed but few wonder where did that 30% damage boost went.

As I said in my theory the 30% may still be there but now part of the new Job Mechanic for Bard and Machinist which may require the player to play their Bard and Machinist as intended to keep up their 30% Damage boost.

It is a means to punsh Bards who do not use their Songs and Machinist for being too reckless with their skill spams by not managing their heat.

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Originally Posted by JisKing98

I forgot these theory threads are still a thing.

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I forgot that these things are still a thing replies are still a thing...

still waiting for the post counter to cool off, so....

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Originally Posted by Skyrior

I forgot that these things that are still a thing replies are still a thing replies are still a thing

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It's just a thing.

From the skill trailer it seems that the skill the BRD is using is somehow tied to the song and the stacks right below the song HUD

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Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

I forgot that these things are still a thing replies are still a thing...

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I forgot that these things that are still a thing replies are still a thing replies are still a thing

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Originally Posted by EdwinLi

many voice how glad charge bar is removed but few wonder where did that 30% damage boost went.

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auto-attacks? and it may not get the entire 30% back, all the other jobs lost Raging Strikes right? does Archer still have it?

Bard is a bit easy to know
But mch...it's probably about balance. Like keeping the meter balanced gets you the highest damage, anything higher/lower will lower your damage. This makes it easier for mch to make decisions instead of relying on procs :D But yeah it looks as simple as that to me, keep the heat gauge balanced and your damage will be good.

I just don't see any of the mechanics being enough to compensate the fact that they can now ignore boss mechanics and keep 100% damage up time compared to melee classes. They are bound to lose direct damage as a result to balance it out.

instead of avoiding overheat, i bet MCH skills get stronger once the gauge enters overheat area, but then MCH probly gets silenced/unable to use any skills for 10 secs or so

so the strategy is to use overheat skills right before boss invincible phase and have the gauge cools down while the boss is invincible

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Originally Posted by SendohJin

auto-attacks? and it may not get the entire 30% back, all the other jobs lost Raging Strikes right? does Archer still have it?

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even back in 2.0 Bard was still lacking with Auto-attacks. As the developers said they revamped each Job based around their new Mechanic thus by my theory keeping up the Song bar may be required if bards wish to perform at their highest DPS to keep up their 30% damage boost or else they're stuck with 2.0 DPS rate.

It is maybe a revamp measure to make players always play Bard the way it is intended thus avoiding the continue issue we have now where Bard players completely ignore the Songs because they see no person gain from it.

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Originally Posted by Greven

From the skill trailer it seems that the skill the BRD is using is somehow tied to the song and the stacks right below the song HUD

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If I have to guess it is mostly likely a build up to the Song's effects. The closer to the end of the Song Bar the more marks obtained thus increasing the effects of each Song but once the Bar reach the end the Song end thus requiring Bards to switch to a new song to keep up their music for party buff and their own damage buff.

It is like classical music where the beginning is weaker then at the end the Song gets their strongest effect to the audience listening to the music for the Grand Finale.

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Originally Posted by MomoOG

I just don't see any of the mechanics being enough to compensate the fact that they can now ignore boss mechanics and keep 100% damage up time compared to melee classes. They are bound to lose direct damage as a result to balance it out.

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Well that is basically the issue Yoshi-p said the development team was facing when balancing Bard and Machinist. Bard and Machinist are the easiest Job to keep that their 100% damage without any consequences which is why Bard are very popular for players who want easy DPS Job to play as due to havine almost zero risk to their gameplay style.

Certain amount of players voice they wanted Bard to perform at the same Damage rate of Black Mage and Melee Jobs with their DPS while maintaining their Mobility and lack of consequence but Yoshi-P said that would make them too OP so dvelopers gave use what we have in 3.0 where we got higher DPS that we wanted but had to sacrifice mobility. Now people got their Mobility back due to high demand of players wanting to maintain their High DPS while having their high mobility but now it is most likely adjusted so that bard and Machinist still have their high mobility and DPS but they must always maintain their Job mechanic to maintain it.

Machinist still has more risk than Bard in 4.0 as they are getting some close/mid-range skills as part of their weaving skill gameplay style. Ya most players hate the Weaving Focus gameplay style on Machinist but it is how Machinist plays being the Burst Damage Mobile range Job while Bard is the Sustain Condition damage/Support Job.

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Originally Posted by MomoOG

I just don't see any of the mechanics being enough to compensate the fact that they can now ignore boss mechanics and keep 100% damage up time compared to melee classes. They are bound to lose direct damage as a result to balance it out.

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Bard: Making music keeps you in place. Side effect is you spend time not doing damage
Mch: Being close to boss keeps you in the same danger melee is in. Side effect is you spend time getting to the enemy or moving away from enemy and might lose damage.

So it balances.

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Originally Posted by Ghastly

Bard: Making music keeps you in place. Side effect is you spend time not doing damage
Mch: Being close to boss keeps you in the same danger melee is in. Side effect is you spend time getting to the enemy or moving away from enemy and might lose damage.

So it balances.

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Seems like wishful thinking to me.

I didn't see any close range abilities to MCH. He was standing pretty far back on the flamethrower easily out of range of most close range boss mechanics.
We don't have any proof the bard has to stand still for the songs. If he does have to stand still for the songs and casting of them is frequent enough than how is that different from previous implementation of them being immobile with WM? It is the exact same thing and no new mobility has been gained. So why would people be overjoyed than?

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Originally Posted by EdwinLi

even back in 2.0 Bard was still lacking with Auto-attacks. As the developers said they revamped each Job based around their new Mechanic thus by my theory keeping up the Song bar may be required if bards wish to perform at their highest DPS to keep up their 30% damage boost or else they're stuck with 2.0 DPS rate.

It is maybe a revamp measure to make players always play Bard the way it is intended thus avoiding the continue issue we have now where Bard players completely ignore the Songs because they see no person gain from it.

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Auto attacks are a SIGNIFICANT portion of your dps. In fact back on release when WM was only a 20% increase, it was actually a dps loss in all situations.

As others have said, the 30% loss will be compensated by the return of auto-attacks just as the loss of auto-attacks in HW was compensated by the stance boosting your damage while active. Add to the fact that autos can be done while facing any direction now and that's more than enough.

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Originally Posted by basketofseals

Auto attacks are a SIGNIFICANT portion of your dps. In fact back on release when WM was only a 20% increase, it was actually a dps loss in all situations.

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Originally Posted by FeliAiko

As others have said, the 30% loss will be compensated by the return of auto-attacks just as the loss of auto-attacks in HW was compensated by the stance boosting your damage while active. Add to the fact that autos can be done while facing any direction now and that's more than enough.

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Well this is all just theory due to the readjustment to WM and introduction to the Song Mechanic.

That aside it is most noticable that Bards will be required to always be playing a Song now due to the Song Mechanic to access their strongest skill thus they can't ignore the songs if they want access to majority 3.0 and higher skills.

Unless they enjoy spamming only the Bard's 2.0 rotation for the entire time plus that one new poison condition skill but that would be a great dps loss due to not using Empyreal Arrow, Sidewinder, and the new Magic Arrow skill.

not to mention that Iron Jaw is instant cast now so ignoring the Song mechanic is not ideal for players who want to always keep up their condition damage.

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Originally Posted by MomoOG

Seems like wishful thinking to me.

I didn't see any close range abilities to MCH. He was standing pretty far back on the flamethrower easily out of range of most close range boss mechanics.
We don't have any proof the bard has to stand still for the songs. If he does have to stand still for the songs and casting of them is frequent enough than how is that different from previous implementation of them being immobile with WM? It is the exact same thing and no new mobility has been gained. So why would people be overjoyed than?

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It noticeable that the Machinist appears to be standing at a medium range area to the target dummy compared to the Bard which is at a longer range zone. They may be going for the Medium range type combat style.

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Originally Posted by EdwinLi

Well this is all just theory due to the readjustment to WM and introduction to the Song Mechanic.

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If you think BRDs will be retaining the +30% damage, on top of autos and the ability to still move whilst doing said damage then you're naive about SE's aims when it comes to Job design.