Quality of Life Ammunition MCH Change

[RiceisNice]

Reload has been originally designed as a 30 second duration, 30 second cooldown skill, and going into a fight with 5 ammo pre-loaded doesn't seem to be the intended use initially. Compared to aetherflow for SMN that's only used for select abilities, ammo is a straight potency buff for every weaponskill and has a much more reoccuring use than aetherflow does. On the other end (lolPvP), a MCH would be going into a fight with 11 ammounition in tow, which is not only a straight potency increase but instant casts without having to spend the oGCd for the initial reload.

Ammunition in general could have been better designed; having it be a straight potency buff and consumed on any weaponskill isn't very innovative toward the job, and quick reload becomes another oGCD rather than a job mechanic because of it. I'm at the point that I don't care enough for it to be changed as even a QoL thing because 5-ammo openers tend to throw my cooldowns out of sync for most boss fights, and it's objectively a buff that I don't really we really need in lolPvP in the form of even more burst damage.

if smn had to use stacks regardless of the skill they used AND lost stacks after a few seconds, no one would play it.

You mean something like aethertrail? Though it's not a fair comparison because of how they acquire aethertrial, but it's nonetheless a mechanic that they need to pay attention to utilize properly. To SMNs right now, aetherflow is not something you use up immediately for dps and it's not necessarily something you refresh on cooldown without a thought, but something that you need to time your usage with if you want to make the most of out of it. Most SMNs can attest to having 2flow/2trail as literally the worst feeling in the world (next to dying with aetherflow on cooldown) That's not the case with ammo because the later does not have a very big role into the job in regards to the timing of it's usage.

[Duelle]

Ammunition in general could have been better designed; having it be a straight potency buff and consumed on any weaponskill isn't very innovative toward the job, and quick reload becomes another oGCD rather than a job mechanic because of it.

While I also complain about ammo's implementation, I can think of only two applications that would work in the current game. One would be designing MCH's shots around having additional effects that have to be manually tapped into by loading ammo before a shot (basically, what we know as Dark Arts). Have ammo replenish over time without you having to press anything, with maybe procs that increase the speed at which you recover ammo or a proc that generates 1 ammo. I'd probably make each ammo unit recover within 15 seconds of being spent, with the max you can have save up being 5.

The other application would involve designing MCH around normal-power abilities that consume no ammo and strong abilities that consume ammo. Have ammo also be 5 units that replenish over time and forcing the MCH to pace their ammo use, with maybe a cooldown that replenishes all 5 units but on something like a 2-3 minute cooldown.

[RiceisNice]

While I also complain about ammo's implementation, I can think of only two applications ...

They could just keep the ammo procs, and make ammunition be used for something ASIDE from the procs itself. As it stands now, MCH is lacking things like self heals (hot shot with ammo can do just that) and abilties that add depth to the job (gauss round and ricochet for example, you practically use these off cooldown). They showcased some very interesting ideas in regards to multiple attachments and ammunition use, and what we have now is the fat with the meat trimmed.

[Duelle]

They could just keep the ammo procs, and make ammunition be used for something ASIDE from the procs itself. As it stands now, MCH is lacking things like self heals (hot shot with ammo can do just that) and abilties that add depth to the job (gauss round and ricochet for example, you practically use these off cooldown). They showcased some very interesting ideas in regards to multiple attachments and ammunition use, and what we have now is the fat with the meat trimmed.

I was mulling on the attachments and one thing I'd suggest would be removing Granado Shot and Spread Shot and replace them with a Spreader Module that reduced damage dealt by a percentage but increased TP cost of all shots and made the direct damage part of the attacks AoE (this is so that you would in theory affect multiple enemies with Lead Shot without wasting GCDs). Something else was making your turret combine with your firearm for a set duration and using that as a DPS cooldown.

Assuming we were to make cast times baseline for MCH, Gauss Barrel could then become an attachment that elongates cast times (from 1.5s to 2.5s) but increases damage from shots and allows you to move while casting.