gauss barrel

[Gamer3427]

So to put this simply, the pc goes from being exceptionally skilled in their respective job to something that every Tom, Dick and Harry can do just a well... Seems like a rather large step down if you ask me.

It could've been something along the lines of Cid being an exceptional engineer, but nope SE actually wrote into the job quest "You are now plain"...

I'm sorry but this is just another letdown imo.

First of all, while from a lore standpoint, the class WAS designed to be useable by anyone, you as the player character are considered to be the best there is at it. YOU are given the experimental prototype turrets and gauss barrel. YOU are taught skills that only a master marksman pirate knew before. The other MCH that you see are in comparison to you as the random Wood Wailer Lancers you see are in comparison to a Dragoon PC. Just because the weapon itself was designed for ease of access, doesn't mean that a master MCH, (which you most certainly are considered to be at the end of the story), has any less skill or renown than a master Paladin or a master Monk. In fact, compared to the other classes, you're even more special since the soulstone you have was blank before you got it. YOU are engraving the skills and memories onto it that MCH of future generations will use, rather than simply learning from the memories already engraved onto the soulstone as all the other Jobs do.......

Gauss Barrell or:

Electromagnetic speed modifier for a bullet. Aside the point that putting a magnetic enhancer in front of a gun when the bullet is shot initially by a gunpowder blast does not make sense at all (since a gauss barrell is usually a type of gun for itself) it may look strange but if it was put directly on the gun the whole barrel would get magnetized :x

Not disputing the point you made here, just adding a bit of information. From my interpretation of how the Aetherconverter works, you're not actually using a bullet fired by gunpowder. It's actually compressing minute traces of aether found within the air to create the projectiles you fire. This is why you don't "have" to reload or carry ammo, why your shots can vary so greatly in function without having to change guns constantly, why there are no shell casings, and why the gauss barrel works to begin with. It should be noted that while it's called a gauss barrel, it may not function exactly the same as the ones found within the real world, but rather function on the same principle, IE: charging the round to propel it at higher speeds to inflict more damage than a traditional shot would. Back on the function of the Aetherconverter, as for how the "ammo" skills work, I interpret this as simply you choosing to active more aether on the next few shots, with this extra aether being stored up slowly over time, (hence the cooldown on the skills). These ideas are supplemented a little bit by the fact that you are told that the turrets work in relation to the Aetherconverter, which allows them to function and the energy seen when they attack, (small electrical ring around Rook, and electrical burst from Bishop), is likely aether being dispersed. This is likely also why turrets never run out of ammo or energy, despite being able to attack indefinitely. The Aetherconverter is once again drawing minute traces of aether from the environment, or possibly even the player themselves, to turn it into both energy and projectiles. From a lore standpoint, this also makes sense when you consider that "promoting" the turrets, (TP/MP regen mode), your personal aether(MP), levels begin to drain while they are putting out a great deal of energy to aid those around you. This is, again, likely done by the Aetherconverter transforming latent aetherial energy into a form useable by non mages, (which as stated above, is the case with your average citizen who the class is made for)......

Frankly, I can only see two flaws with this theory, both of which can easily be explained from a "gameplay balancing" standpoint......

First is the fact that we use TP rather than MP in our attacks. It would be problematic to use MP however, due to the fact that we need that to passively buff everyone with our turret's promoted mode. That could be changed by switching it to TP, but due to TPs low regeneration rate, the fact that our TP remains constant regardless of level, and the fact that we would instantly drop it the event that we used Sprint, means that this would drastically reduce the effectiveness of promoting our turrets, because we couldn't maintain that mode for nearly as long. So, making the resource for basic attacks TP on the class is a necessity for balancing issues in regards to this skill, and likely why the choice was made....

Second is the fact that our attacks count as physical damage. This can be explained by the fact that having TP as our primary resource put us into the DoW category, and as such we would be classified as physical damage to prevent confusion among players. This CAN also be explained due to lore in that the shots we fire may no longer have purely aetheric properties once they are compressed into a solid state, and as such are merely inflicting damage with their impact in the same way that propelling water at high speeds causes it to essentially change from a liquid to a solid, (water saws IRL). It returns to aether once the impact is over, but the damage done is purely from the impact itself, rather than the properties of the engergy......

Anyhow, this is all purely my interpretation of how the MCH class works, and why some of the things about it are as they are. I could be completely wrong, but I thought I'd at least share my viewpoint on it.......


Back On Topic

I personally like the design of the Gauss Barrel. I enjoy the fact that it isn't just "add a length of barrel" to the gun, but rather fits in with the "sci-fi meets magic meets reality" aspect of the class, due to it's floating nature. As another poster said, it also is meant to resemble the same type of technology that the turrets utilize. That's why it would be the same for every gun, since it's a standard tool that you can utilize at all times, rather than you carrying around a different custom-made version for each and every possible gun you can use. As for it floating too far beyond the barrel of the gun, I'm also fine with that as well. I like that it's a noticeable and constantly moving attachment. I've been fine with it on 90% of the guns I've used, with very few exceptions, and those not due to the size of the space, but rather the barrel of the gun itself felt puny beside the GB. Even then, I still liked the way GB itself looked.......