Man & Machine: a MCH Thread

[EtherRose]

Personally, MCH is decent as it is. The rotations are simple. Everything weaves together seamlessly. Everyone seems to be asking for more complexity. If i were to give my 2 cents on the job it would be as follow~

1. Wildfire - Don't see the problem behind this skill other than reducing it to 90 second cool down from 120. And it does have a purpose beyond Hypercharge for those saying there's no interactivity, etc. You are supposed to use it with the Automaton Queen AND Hypercharge. The Queen's Roller Dash and Arm Punch count as weaponskills. So with 5 Heated Blasts, 1 Heated Split Shot, 1 Roller Dash and 2-3 Arm Punches - you are looking at a potency of 1800-2000. That's some big damage. It would be a nice touch if this skill could crit though.

2. Flamethrower - This skill is boring. Instead of a flamethrower they should have made a flame turret that does the job while you can still use other AOE's.

3. BioBlaster - Remove shared cooldown with Drill. This way MCH have an actual DoT they can place on bosses without sacrificing damage from Drill.

4. Battery OverCharge Mechanic or Heat Transfer - There should be something along the lines of overcharging your battery to 120. This would increase the damage of your Queen and atk speed. Or if you can transfer the heat gauge to your Queen to increase damage and atk speed.

[Tizzy_Tormentor]

You are supposed to use it with the Automaton Queen AND Hypercharge. The Queen's Roller Dash and Arm Punch count as weaponskills. So with 5 Heated Blasts, 1 Heated Split Shot, 1 Roller Dash and 2-3 Arm Punches - you are looking at a potency of 1800-2000. That's some big damage.

This is incorrect, it only works with weapon skills that come from the Machinist themselves, not the Queen, feel free to test it yourself, the Queen doesn't contribute to the Wildfire in any way, I did see a suggestion that it should be able to crit, or perhaps its like Reassemble so it always ends as a Direct/Crit, I can't really see them doing any meaningful rework to the skill other than that, it would be cool if the Queen did affect Wildfire, but alas, they really don't seem keen on making pets/turrets/robots anything more than fancy DoTs.

[EtherRose]

This is incorrect, it only works with weapon skills that come from the Machinist themselves, not the Queen, feel free to test it yourself, the Queen doesn't contribute to the Wildfire in any way, I did see a suggestion that it should be able to crit, or perhaps its like Reassemble so it always ends as a Direct/Crit, I can't really see them doing any meaningful rework to the skill other than that, it would be cool if the Queen did affect Wildfire, but alas, they really don't seem keen on making pets/turrets/robots anything more than fancy DoTs.

I stand corrected. Sorry about that. I completely forgot that i did run a test on this and it had no affect. Was a few months back and just started MCH again this week.

[CKNovel]

1. Wildfire

Queen doesn't impact Wildfire, it has been tested. You can also test it by throwing Wildfire to a dummy and summon the queen to do damage.
You'll be welcomed with a nice "0".

But the main problem with Wildfire is the lack of interactions.
For example during HW/SB, you have to prepare a wombo combo for Wildfire.
Today, Wildfire is a delayed 1200 potency skill, nothing else at it has no interaction, you only place it, press Hypercharge and continue your rotation.

2. Flamethrower

Summoning a fire-spitting turret/automaton would be an okay idea. I don't like it because we would still have no interaction over the flamethrower but it's better than current Flamethrower.

3. BioBlaster

Having one shared cooldown is not a problem. It's interesting on cooldowns.
The problem is that both are 20s cooldown and Bio Blaster isn't as impactful on a lone target. (60 + (60*5)) * Targets, on a lone target it's a weak 360 potency. On two targets, 720 potency, barely better than Drill.

4. Battery OverCharge Mechanic or Heat Transfer

The problem would remain the same, if not worse.
Battery gauge is designed to be flexible, at any battery spent you have the same damages overrall. Overcharging it to 120 would remove that flexibility. And you'd say goodbye to Queen during every Trick Attacks.
Plus, it wouldn't correct the Automaton that feels like a glorified dot.

With the heat gauge transfer, you worsen the state of the glorified dot. You make the queen a more glorified dot and your heat gauge is also a glorified dot!
I really don't like this idea as you loose more and more interactions. I don't want the job to play itself.

The main problem with MCH is that you're limited to 1 2 3, Drill, Air Anchor, DR/Ricochet, Summon Queen and Hypercharge (Including WF into Hypercharges) phases when it comes to damage.
Sam, for exemple has 3 different combo, Midare, Tsubamegaeshi, Sen'ei, Shôha, Shinten, Seigan and it's still one of the easiest Melee DPS.

Combo is uninteresting, there's too few cooldowns and little to no utility. It's the void compared to SB/HW utility.

[Yani-Madara]

Today, Wildfire is a delayed 1200 potency skill, nothing else at it has no interaction, you only place it, press Hypercharge and continue your rotation.

Having one shared cooldown is not a problem. It's interesting on cooldowns.
The problem is that both are 20s cooldown and Bio Blaster isn't as impactful on a lone target. (60 + (60*5)) * Targets, on a lone target it's a weak 360 potency. On two targets, 720 potency, barely better than Drill.

The problem would remain the same, if not worse.
Battery gauge is designed to be flexible, at any battery spent you have the same damages overrall. Overcharging it to 120 would remove that flexibility. And you'd say goodbye to Queen during every Trick Attacks.
Plus, it wouldn't correct the Automaton that feels like a glorified dot.

With the heat gauge transfer, you worsen the state of the glorified dot. You make the queen a more glorified dot and your heat gauge is also a glorified dot!
I really don't like this idea as you loose more and more interactions. I don't want the job to play itself.

The main problem with MCH is that you're limited to 1 2 3, Drill, Air Anchor, DR/Ricochet, Summon Queen and Hypercharge (Including WF into Hypercharges) phases when it comes to damage.
Sam, for exemple has 3 different combo, Midare, Tsubamegaeshi, Sen'ei, Shôha, Shinten, Seigan and it's still one of the easiest Melee DPS.

Combo is uninteresting, there's too few cooldowns and little to no utility. It's the void compared to SB/HW utility.

I agree with what you said except that Sam is actually the hardest (skill ceiling) melee dps. Because of Meikyo and Tsubame cooldown drifts.

I tried to main MCH after 5.1 ruined Nin for me but felt exactly like you say. It is too streamlined, drill and anchor feel tacked on and I absolutely hate Heat Charge having a time limit instead of 5 stacks.