Is it just me, or does ninja feel like...

[Gemina]

Fun fact: That's exactly how it used to be before patch 5.2: A dot you had to maintain. And boy do I miss that dot maintenance in my down time.

I was a bit surprised by the change to Shadowfang. If it is going to be a DoT that is just used inside of trick windows, then I would much rather all that damage just be rolled into a single attack, and place it on the ogcd, even if just for consistency. Otherwise bring the upkeep back to give NIN a little more to do between burst windows. The time inside this window is pretty braindead. Getting NIN to refresh both their Huton and their DoT in this window would be fantastic.

Bunshin didn't exist before Shadowbringers. Instead, we had a shittier skill called Duality. All it did was double your single target weapon skills for 10s, and only your single target weaponskills. No stacks either. Just a flat 10s window to double your single target 1-2-3 combo. It doesn't double your aoe weaponskills, it doesn't increase the amount of ninki you get per weaponskill. Heck, it doesn't even have a clone animation to give you that "shadow clone fantasy" that the icon promises you. It was usually used in the Trick Attack window, which is already a full clip city of mudras and other non-weaponskills ogcd. So, that didn't help it either...

...Oh, you mean DRK's lvl 80 skill, MCH's Queen, SMN Bahamut/Pheonix, and SCH Seraph? But much worse and pretty much useless? Hard pass.

It's funny. With Duality I thought we would get what Bunshin currently is (a shadow clone delivering an additional blow). With Bunshin I thought we would get legit shadow clones that do everything from mimic our attacks, do their own, and tank damage for us. Maybe in 6.0 they we will finally get our true Naruto-type shadow clones. I definitely don't want them to function like Living Shadow and Queen. I would love it if Bunshin became a core mechanic for NIN, but this is highly unlikely. However, I am still looking forward to Bunshin updates in 6.0

Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but I don't view the time between trick attack burst windows as a problem that needs to be solved there are several other DPS classes if you don't like that cadence. I personally enjoy it—going HAM in burst windows and more bandwidth for mechanics outside of them (though you still have 1-2-3 combo, possible ninki abilities, possible ninjustu depending on the fight).

You do get ninki abilities and 1-2 ninjitsu between trick windows. It helps, but still kind of 'meh'. I found this downtime welcome when I was learning NIN, but after getting things down this window is basically spent spamming your filler combo. If they tossed something else in there to give you fewer opportunities to refresh Huton, this time would be much more engaging for experienced NINs.

In terms of making ninja feel like it has better payoff, give hyosho ranryu a better graphic, because the current on is weak! Goka mekkyaku is one of my favorite animations, but hyosho is just such a letdown for our most powerful move.

Fire is more intense than ice, plus it's AoE. If you slow down Ranryu, it is actually a gorgeous animation and I LOVE that our character points at the target like it's a sic command. Something NIN has been missing since we don't get a dog (though I would hate NIN as a pet class), so I welcomed this ability with open arms. Different strokes I suppose.

This is probably going to be another unpopular opinion, but mudra signs should be greyed out once you press them once. Buttons should be fun to press, but there are no circumstances whatsoever when you want to press a mudra sign twice in a row—it's purely a trap option with a heavy punishment and no feels-good upside (since you're just using an ability). Being able to double mudra sign is purely a trap, and in my experience only really happens when I think that a sign queued when it didn't.

Agreed. An ongoing ping problem with the mudras that results in a DPS loss at no fault to the player. Whether you just toss out a fuma because you are not sure if the mudra registered, or you check the ninjitsu icon to make sure it has changed, you lose DPS. Bunny no Jutsu is still possible with your suggestion so I see no reason why not to implement it. This punishment is far too severe for something the player has no control over.