So about Musketeer whose symbol still is in Marauders what happened too it?

[Cetek14]

"MCH has so little gameplay with the gun, no mechanics about the gun and no gauge related to gunner but adding gunner would be a waste."

I disagree there.
MCH got flipping abilities in Stormblood and the gadgets around Flamethrower and heat gauge. SQEX finally choose path towards the use of Machines and I don't doubt we'll see no Gun related abilities anymore.
The rework split the community, on one side there is those who wants more Gunplay and on the other those who wants Machines for Machinist.

Current MCH has nothing to do with Gunner jobs in past FF beyond a gun. And it was never meant to be a gunner, but a "Gadgeteer" which did not worked at all.
Unless you want a community complaning about MCH not being a gun job, a true Gunner job is a good choice. You even explicitly say
Let's not forget that Samurai, Paladin and Dark knight uses a sword but their gameplay are widely different mainly because they use different weapons, that would be the same for Gunner and Machinist.
And if we follow your logic, there is no other ranged that could fit, Puppeteer is far too close to MCH, Ranger far too close to BRD. At most you could see a whip based job but that would be a unique one.

More than that, a 4th ranged might be the best timing to balance the ranged role overall.

I'd personally would welcome Gunner, might try it but not making it a main job, my love relies in Machines. But 5.4 might be a bit early to tease a new job? Alisaie teased Red Mage in 3.4 but that wasn't as advanced as Merlwyb's animations.

The problem with Gunner is that Machinist is a Gunner lorewise, but devs in 4.0 turned MCH into autistic acrobat with spicy blaster, and instead of remaking it they just kick dead body in 5.0. MCH needs reworked main combo animations and basically more gun actions before we think about separate Gunner job. It would have to be something different, like dual wield gunner, or cannon gunner, etc.

[Jirah]

The problem with Gunner is that Machinist is a Gunner lorewise, but devs in 4.0 turned MCH into autistic acrobat with spicy blaster, and instead of remaking it they just kick dead body in 5.0. MCH needs reworked main combo animations and basically more gun actions before we think about separate Gunner job. It would have to be something different, like dual wield gunner, or cannon gunner, etc.

It’s more on the lines of Gadgeteer, but as you said all of it’s gunner exclusive elements are removed and 5.0 is nothing but a ff6 homage so tacked on I doubt MCH would lose anything if it’s main 4 gadgets were removed (Air Anchor, Bio blaster, Drill, and Auto Cross) which speaks volumes to their shabby design as flashy as they look.

Wish for MCH to be better don’t freaking ask for a All new job all together, if SMN lost its Egi or Bahamut, wish for it to be better not for a Invoker job. Which is the whole interest behind this is due to MCH loosing its gunner appeal.

[Payadopa]

They can't, because both: the Marauder guild and the Musketeer guild share the same building (check its basement).
It'd be weird/out of place if they removed its sign.

Reminds me of the shepherd job you could see the plaque of in Coerthas in 1.0.
Still wonder what it would have been. Haha

[dinnertime]

It’s more on the lines of Gadgeteer, but as you said all of it’s gunner exclusive elements are removed and 5.0 is nothing but a ff6 homage so tacked on I doubt MCH would lose anything if it’s main 4 gadgets were removed (Air Anchor, Bio blaster, Drill, and Auto Cross) which speaks volumes to their shabby design as flashy as they look.

Wish for MCH to be better don’t freaking ask for a All new job all together, if SMN lost its Egi or Bahamut, wish for it to be better not for a Invoker job. Which is the whole interest behind this is due to MCH loosing its gunner appeal.

To each their own, but I hope they keep at it. Machinist and Gadgeteer are both interchangeable words. It makes sense for the job to focus more on the gadgets and it's certainly not tacked on when that's the literally point of the job. This is more like if SMN pursued the Demi approach more than it did lose it.
Also to be honest Machinist in the past was boring as hell aesthetic-wise. Nothing was impressive-looking about it with the stiff animations in HW. I like the more exaggerated approach with the animations.

They practically also gave Machinist a second gun that can change around depending on the skill you use, which is clever design to me.

[Jandor]

Can't say as I mind how Machinist has panned out in theory, although aesthetically I think I would prefer it if the shooting animations were a little more grounded and some of the more outlandish gadget stuff was deployed by robo-pets or something.

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

Well, I didn't see it mentioned yet, so it's time for a bit of history lesson I guess.

Back in the days of 1.0, Limsa Lominsa having the musketeer guild made perfect sense. It all dates back to Final Fantasy XI, the predecessor of XIV. In that game there was a job called Corsair, which was basically what bard is today; a ranged physical damage dealer with supportive abilities. Considering Limsa Lominsa is the home of pirate descendants, corsair seems like a perfect fit here. Corsair used a pistol as primary weapon and used dice and the power of gambling to provide buffs.

Considering how heavily influenced 1.0 was by Final Fantasy XI, my guess is that Archer was supposed to be the Ranger equivalent and Musketeer the Corsair equivalent. Instead they merged together and formed what Bard is today.

[ItMe]

It would have to be something different, like dual wield gunner, or cannon gunner, etc.

Cannoneer??
Be still my heart~~♡

[Cetek14]

Can't say as I mind how Machinist has panned out in theory, although aesthetically I think I would prefer it if the shooting animations were a little more grounded and some of the more outlandish gadget stuff was deployed by robo-pets or something.

It keeps me "alive" knowing that there are some people left who understand that heated animations are a problem. I know that basic animations are pretty stiff, but for the love of Halone, making MCH do a backflip on each GCD is not the answer. All the gunshots removed and replaced by "whoosh" sound. At this point it's a magician acrobat that shoots fire orbs out of his rod. Might be as well moved to ranged magical jobs. Rework MCH to bring back Gunner, or give us new Gunner job. Imo its easier to do the first option.

[Rymi64]

It keeps me "alive" knowing that there are some people left who understand that heated animations are a problem. I know that basic animations are pretty stiff, but for the love of Halone, making MCH do a backflip on each GCD is not the answer. All the gunshots removed and replaced by "whoosh" sound. At this point it's a magician acrobat that shoots fire orbs out of his rod. Might be as well moved to ranged magical jobs. Rework MCH to bring back Gunner, or give us new Gunner job. Imo its easier to do the first option.

I actually think the heated animations make sense....All except heated split shot because of its flip. Heated slug shot matches their aoe attack of shooting multiple bullets and Heated cleanshot matches the machinist aesthetic with how it uses two drones that shoot right after you attack kinda like you shot a tracker for them to shoot the enemy with. It's as flippy as BRD to me imo

[Cetek14]

I actually think the heated animations make sense....All except heated split shot because of its flip. Heated slug shot matches their aoe attack of shooting multiple bullets and Heated cleanshot matches the machinist aesthetic with how it uses two drones that shoot right after you attack kinda like you shot a tracker for them to shoot the enemy with. It's as flippy as BRD to me imo

Objectively not as flippy as BRD. It's like comparing night and day. Burst Shot, Refulgent Arrow, Bloodletter, Sidewinder all are "pull the string and shoot arrow", 0 flips, just standing on the ground as regular archer. Caustic Bite and Stormbite are more of a trickshots, Pitch Perfect is "so powerful that it pushes you back", the only weird flip is Empyreal Arrow, you see it every 15 seconds, it's just oGCD, nothing that you use all the time.

For MCH all your 3 GCDs are weird jumps and flips. Your character does it all the damn time. It objectively does not suit the job. I don't know who came up with this idea, i don't know who accepted it, and it's beyond me why so money people don't consider it a problem at all.
From lore perspective in order to join Ishgardian military you have to become master acrobat, because their guns won't fire if you feet touch the ground. It's easier to become Knight or Dragoon at this point (you just need to learn how to jump really high).