Bard or Machinist?

[Azerhan]

Also don't forget: to be a good MCH is rewarding. You have a good dps, good utilities, and if you can play your job well, it's fun (I find the job fun when my ping is good for exemple x) )

[Dualgunner]

Personally, I prefer MCH to BRD. That said, neither character has BRD to 70 while both have MCH at 70 so I'm biased. There's some comfort in not having your damage tied so intricately to RNG (don't get me wrong, MCH has RNG but it's not nearly so bad as "needs crits to get its real damage out" bad, and can be heavily mitigated). That said, the terrible thing about both is how gimped they are sans DRG.

[Azerhan]

Personally, I prefer MCH to BRD. That said, neither character has BRD to 70 while both have MCH at 70 so I'm biased. There's some comfort in not having your damage tied so intricately to RNG (don't get me wrong, MCH has RNG but it's not nearly so bad as "needs crits to get its real damage out" bad, and can be heavily mitigated). That said, the terrible thing about both is how gimped they are sans DRG.

The RNG in MCH is more tick server or latency Or clipping, and I know from people of my FC that if they don't play MCH, it's mostly because of that.
I don't understand why SE don't throw the DRG's buff for MCH and BRD, is just horrible to know how many you lose without a DRG.

[Dualgunner]

The RNG in MCH is more tick server or latency Or clipping, and I know from people of my FC that if they don't play MCH, it's mostly because of that.
I don't understand why SE don't throw the DRG's buff for MCH and BRD, is just horrible to know how many you lose without a DRG.

Being so dependent on the server's performance and my connection to it does suck, yeah xwx There are high-latency rotations for the job, but end of the day you still need to fit a good number of attacks into a 10 second window that makes or breaks you for that minute lol.

Also being a DRGless MCH in my group makes me frequently cry.

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

Yeah, I feel you on the no DRG thing.

While I never particularly cared about my parses in my static, I care even less knowing that it's naturally going to be lower than it could be due to lack of a DRG. Besides, most times I readily prioritize the party over my own numbers as need be.

[Capn_Goggles]

MCH is a terribly designed job in my opinion, whereas Bard's toolkit actually feels like it makes sense. BRD can be a bit overwhelming because you have a LOT of things to keep track of at once, but it's not severely punishing if you mess up, there's always something going on and something to keep track of without feeling like you're being pigeonholed. MCH has a toolkit that revolves entirely around doing nothing until you hit your burst window and everything goes to hell, its DPS can be pretty significantly influenced by factors beyond your control like server latency, and honestly just feels like a total mess to play.

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

MCH has a toolkit that revolves entirely around doing nothing until you hit your burst window

Nothing: Prepping for your burst by building heat while DPSing, then at the threshold, properly using your tools to set up procs in order to give yourself the best arrangement for a strong burst.

[Gr1mwolf]

Nothing: Prepping for your burst by building heat while DPSing, then at the threshold, properly using your tools to set up procs in order to give yourself the best arrangement for a strong burst.

Heat builds automatically while using 123, and "prepping procs" is technically part of the once-per-minute Wildfire rotation, which involves using like 2-3 abilities before blowing cooldowns.
Your opinion that MCH is fine is definitely a minority one, and I don't think you're helping anyone by saying they'll enjoy playing it.

[Dualgunner]

Heat builds automatically while using 123, and "prepping procs" is technically part of the once-per-minute Wildfire rotation, which involves using like 2-3 abilities before blowing cooldowns.
Your opinion that MCH is fine is definitely a minority one, and I don't think you're helping anyone by saying they'll enjoy playing it.

Heat builds up naturally, yes, but there's nuance. When you're finally to the point where you're ready to wildfire, do you immediately flamethrower to get into it, or use Cooldown to hold it off for a GCD? Do you want to push it back to better line up with an off-cycle TA that is liable to happen in 7s and 8s?

That 50 seconds between wildfires is frought with strategy and choice in how and when you're going to wildfire, and gives plenty of time to activate resources like mana song, tp song, palisade, and dismantle. I personally never feel the downtime, because I use the downtime to plan what I'll be doing in coming mechanics, where to stand, how many ticks of flamethrower I'll need, and how best to line up with the next trick. Not to mention supporting the party however I can.

Could the job be designed better? Sure, it definitely could. I'd love if I had a method of firing bullets without using ammo to preserve my bullet could for a burst and keep the reload CDs cycling. It'd also be nice if DRG wasn't mandatory. But the job is very rewarding when played correctly, seeing a 20k+ wildfire pop off in the middle of the fight feels amazing because it feels earned.

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

Heat builds automatically while using 123, and "prepping procs" is technically part of the once-per-minute Wildfire rotation, which involves using like 2-3 abilities before blowing cooldowns.
Your opinion that MCH is fine is definitely a minority one, and I don't think you're helping anyone by saying they'll enjoy playing it.

Not only did I not say that, I actually use my Reload twice per minute. Helps with the timing of the clockwork. But go ahead and generalize it. Surely that's a more effective answer to the question than the more detailed descriptions I've given.

Could be if you're "doing nothing until your burst window" or just building heat automatically via 123, maybe that's why it doesn't seem so enjoyable?