[MCH] Why does Gauss Barrel exist?

As I come to learn and explore MCH more after recently getting it to 70, something is dawning upon me.
What is the point of Gauss Barrel in it's current form?
Here's the thing:
As it is now, there is literally no reason to ever, EVER take Gauss Barrel off the very second you hit 62 and get Cooldown, which is your de-facto heat dump. Before that, the only time you take off Gauss Barrel is to reset heat in case you want to line something up for a future enemy or whatever.
So since there is no reason to ever take it off, why is it even a button?
Why is it not just a trait?
It could be done in a simple way as well. Simply bump up all of MCH's potencies, then apply a 5% damage debuff in the 10s window after overheat.
Then you could just replace the Gauss Barrel button with a 100 heat dump and be done with things.

Having Gauss Barrel still be a skill at this point just seems really pointless. Does anyone else feel this way?

Not me, I don't view it at a problem or pointless thing.

I've wondered the same thing.

If nothing else, it would be nice if it automatically reattached itself after the 10 second post-overheat penalty...

I'd be fine if it didn't fall off after overheat and was just reset back to 0 instead, would also be nice if turret reset just disabled your turret for 30 seconds rather than outright killing it, so when the 30 seconds is over it would just go back to attacking without you needing to resummon it.

Both the above are my biggest pet peeves with MCH atm.....Turret and Barrel not being automatic for reapplication.

I like the clicky clacky of reloading and attaching my barrel. I was hoping for more attachments, like a chains saw bayonet, or a grenade launcher, but that's just me.

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Originally Posted by s3ystic

I like the clicky clacky of reloading and attaching my barrel. I was hoping for more attachments, like a chains saw bayonet, or a grenade launcher, but that's just me.

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Hello no. That was what was advertised of mch when it was unveiled : multiple attachment for different purposes.

However in never made it to live...

For me, MCH would be perfect if:

1) HC is buffed from 5 to 8%, to match BRD's raid-wide DPS;

2) Gauss Barrel didn't deactivate after the 10s off. It is just a chore to equip it back;

3) Overload didn't destroy the turret, making you have to put it back up. Just make it go Out of Action for 30s.

So, yeah, just two QoL changes and one DPS buff to catch up with BRD and we're good to go.

At this point gauss barrel should just be a ogcd and 100% agree current reset needs to just cancel auto attacks without killing it. Or give us a better indicator for when it's ready again. Ie: like monks 5 chakra audio que

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Originally Posted by maskeXD

For me, MCH would be perfect if:

1) HC is buffed from 5 to 8%, to match BRD's raid-wide DPS;

2) Gauss Barrel didn't deactivate after the 10s off. It is just a chore to equip it back;

3) Overload didn't destroy the turret, making you have to put it back up. Just make it go Out of Action for 30s.

So, yeah, just two QoL changes and one DPS buff to catch up with BRD and we're good to go.

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4) Hell please, bring back shot heat generation to 10 !

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Originally Posted by Darian

At this point gauss barrel should just be a ogcd and 100% agree current reset needs to just cancel auto attacks without killing it. Or give us a better indicator for when it's ready again. Ie: like monks 5 chakra audio que

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But GB is oGCD...

*hits Blunt Arrow*

Man, why do any of us even exist?

Conceptually Gauss barrel doesn't even make sense anymore. How'd we take something associated with magnetic acceleration and turn it into heat?

Well, electricity, heat, and magnetism are closely linked after all, it's not too big of a stretch from a narrative standpoint that the more you fire with the gauss barrel the more it heats up. Heat dissipation is a big problem for real life railguns as well.

It does seem a shame though that as it is now it's pretty much just a buff with a cosmetic effect on your character, it no longer meaningfully alters your playstyle like it did in HW.

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Originally Posted by RiceisNice

Conceptually Gauss barrel doesn't even make sense anymore. How'd we take something associated with magnetic acceleration and turn it into heat?

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Seriously. They should have gone with a electric theme, call it Overcharge. Stick with the whole lightning aether being converted in the aetheroconverter thing and it would make sense for Gauss Barrel.

Bullets swinging throught a canon still generate friction and heat, hence high fire rate weapons use multiple canons to avoid heat smoldering the canons.

But the gauss overheat is quite ambiguous, does the gauss only overheat ? Why ? why doesn"t the heat decay over time ? Where are the physical laws of heat dissipation ? So much question.

Btw how many coffees to get a red or white hot gauss canon during overheat instead of a DRK aura ? :(

I'd like to see Gauss Round have some more interactivity with Gauss Barrel. Like, Gauss Barrel launches the Gauss Barrel, while also removing the barrel. It does more damage with more heat, and, if you hit it before Overheat runs out, you don't get the overheat "prevent the equip of Gauss Barrel for a while" penalty. Of course, the damage might need to be toned back a bit since the Overheat penalty will go away. This can help with making Gauss Barrel mesh better with the pre-62 kit.

Don't gauss barrels generate a lot of heat to generate the magnetic fields strong enough to levitate the bullets? I guess thematically it'd make more sense if heat gradually decayed or grew...

We could have different kinds of ammo instead of a barrel attachment. Replace Cooldown, Gauss Barrel, & Barrel Stabilizer with maybe 1-3 rounds of explosive, hollow point, etc. each. That could be a lot of fun if the recast timers worked out so you could always have ammo available and more interesting if there was always at least two kinds of ammo to choose from.

I feel the same way about Hot Shot, why is it even there still? it's such a boring ability.

I used to main MCH back in HW, loved it, but it's just a mess to me in stormblood. :(

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Originally Posted by MauvaisOeil

Hello no. That was what was advertised of mch when it was unveiled : multiple attachment for different purposes.

However in never made it to live...

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I really, really want different barrel attachments for MCH, even if it's just two or even three, one for AoE skills and one for single target, I'd fall in love with the system regardless.


I wish they'd give more attention to turrets tbh, they're still pretty set-and-forget.

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Originally Posted by Tropa

I used to main MCH back in HW, loved it, but it's just a mess to me in stormblood. :(


I wish they'd give more attention to turrets tbh, they're still pretty set-and-forget.

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Same. MCH was my main in HW. I guess technically I mained it in SB too. But now that its at 70, I don't like playing it anymore. Its just...not the same. I wish we'd get different turrets. I keep liking the idea of having one or two turrets that somehow help your entire party...increasing enemy vulnerability or increasing defense or something. I dunno. I feel like if you're going to be doing a ranged DPS right now, bard is the way to go since they have more group utility. :/

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Originally Posted by RadAvis

Its just...not the same.

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At the end of the day I think that was the point. BRD/MCH were borderline the same class in HW. They've forked them off from each other pretty heavily to which I say is a good thing. Naturally there will be people who appreciate or don't appreciate the end result, but nobody should have been wanting 3.0 MCH v.2.- even if it's just for the concept of differentiating Brd/Mch.

As for Gauss Barrels existence? No clue.

Barrels are a neat idea if there were more than one. I think there's a big missed opportunity to have different barrels apply different effects to the MCH's actions. And there needs to be more interplay with the turrets. I feel like there's a lot of great base ideas with MCH that just haven't been fleshed out yet.

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Originally Posted by Dianoia

Barrels are a neat idea if there were more than one. I think there's a big missed opportunity to have different barrels apply different effects to the MCH's actions. And there needs to be more interplay with the turrets. I feel like there's a lot of great base ideas with MCH that just haven't been fleshed out yet.

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It's not a great idea. No one will play a job where you OGCD to stance swap per skill.

What if we got more party support abilities through our turrets, but separate from Hypercharge? I never liked how increased vulnerability was linked to the turret's increased rate of fire, but Dismantle was a completely separate oGCD. Might be better if They were separated and Dismantle was incorporated into a turret ability.

And, other than stifling dps, I don't understand why we can't deploy our other turret while one is "being repaired" after an Overdrive. Maybe make the repair longer, but allow the other turret to be deployed?

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Originally Posted by Pence

It's not a great idea. No one will play a job where you OGCD to stance swap per skill.

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I mean, it'd be more exciting to look at the possibilities considering that's what they had showcased MCH to be initially in 3.0. Have a spread attachment increases tp cost and lowers damage to add aoe capability, an accelerator to overclock the TP costs to increase damage, or a scope that keeps you stationary (not casting here, full-out disable movement), and all can be used/mixed interchangeably.

My biggest issue with GB in 3.x was not only it was functionally exactly the same as wanderer's minuet (homogenizing the two jobs), but also having the proc effects circumvent the cast mechanic entirely. Like, why even bother?

• I wonder how accepted this idea will be for the gauss barrel:

- Make the gauss barrel something kinda similar to wildfire, having a charge meter, with each action or auto attack or whatever it charges a bit, then when it is full or whenever you want you can use..., dunno... either gauss round or another new skill, or even the same gauss barrel again to use all that stored energy in one shot, hell, maybe even making it so the ideal way to use it was pairing with wildfire.

- And/Or using some of that charged energy from gauss on your turret, using the overdrive skills, making them do stronger damage until they eventually overcharge and explode, again playing somewhat with wildfire: applying wildfire to the enemy then overcharging the turret, meanwhile using some combos to rebuild the lost energy and finish with the turret exploding and using that max energy shot as well.

- make it drain mp while the barrel is equipped maybe?

It would be kinda hard for me to do it with my latency but i can see this being interesting...



• Now to the different barrels idea... dunno, i still think it would be cool to have different guns to use with different effects, but this isnt ragnarok online, so different barrels would be the closest thing to that. having different styles of barrels for different situations maaaaybe? would be pretty niche but... could possibly work similarly to how brd currently works with their songs?

- gauss being one that already was mentioned;
- a spread barrel to maybe make the dh higher but the range only that of a melee skill and also conal aoe with heavy damage falloff;
- Sniper barrel that decreases skillspeed but heavily increases crit rate;
- Automatic barrel that is basically rapidfire with a longer duration but the inability to crit, but dh works.

- These barrels, having each their own cds like brd songs.

-Unlike the bard songs, that ideally you use them in succession in a way that the party buff is never down, the 3 barrels aside gauss *since i consider it a special barrel*, ideally you let them timeout, because when their duration expires, the mch can do a "finisher" move corresponding to those barrels, replacing all weaponskills with that finisher, and using that finisher will finally remove the barrel from the weapon, like it breaks after using. those finishers being:

- Anti-Material Shot - that is a skill that always crit and does huge damage.
- Blunderbuss Shot - deals a lot of damage in a cone and puts a dot.
- Chain Shot - a weaponskill that hits multiple times like barrage, but maybe more than 3 times.


Sadly I dont think this would ever happen :(