Patch 6.1 - Machinist Changes Feedback

[Serenaya]

Yeah, I never planned on posting on the forums but once again we've been let down.

I want to premise this with positives in that I love playing the job, I enjoy consistency being rewarded and I prefer strict rotation jobs myself. I like having agency over my performance and MCH does a good job of that. This concept doesn't have to change. However, there are issues. Lots of them. Some of this is born of passion for the job (and the role), but some of it is also core design problems that the game suffers from.

1 - Pure dps status?
Put simply in my opinion, MCH does not deserve pure dps status. Phys-ranged + pure dps is an oxymoron in and of itself, and time and time again it's proven that it feels like the job has no direction or reason to exist. Its counterparts provide ample party benefit, their personal damage suffers but that makes perfect sense. It's a basic concept of balancing. A simple solution would be to give MCH a personal buff back, or give it back Dismantle (but change its function to not be another Tactician/Samba/Troubador), even its own TA or something that provides benefit. Let Phys-ranged be a support role where any choice is desirable. Give it identity back in some way other than visual. MCH however feels like an outcast right now.

2 - Purpose
Phys-ranged used to serve a purpose of being a role that could perform mechanics and allow those that would be punished for that, to keep uptime and perform better. A perfect example of this would be O11S back in Stormblood with the tether + cover shenanigans and Pantrokrator AoE baits. It was useful. Now, casters especially are only gaining more mobility which results in Phys-ranged primary benefit being erased, as well as larger boss hitboxes etc. So there's that benefit gone. Fight design does not present a need for the entire role, let alone a pure dps variant of it. As mentioned however, at least BRD and DNC provide benefits and support, giving them a better argument to exist.

As mentioned, for MCH specifically, it provides nothing of extra benefit except a 10% mitigation every 90s which lo-and-behold, both other Phys-ranged also have. There's nothing unique it can bring except a good burst and good pooling that will hopefully continue to outdo that of BRD+DNC, and therefore its output is reliable in a prog environment, and in Party Finder where regardless of peoples performance, you'd always be able to provide a bare minimum (that's still lower than it should be). As an example, it was alright for TEA because burst mattered especially in Phase 3 (Formations), despite its shortcomings on 2+ targets which are... marginally better now. In fact it's now less so due to the Drill buff so never mind. Bioblaster is still nigh on pointless in those scenarios since it wasn't buffed alongside Drill.

3 - Individual ability issues
Flamethrower is counter to the function of the job. Standing still, inevitably having an AoE appear under you and having to cancel the channeling isn't fun. Why bother when it's such a small gain over Scattershot which at least lets you move.

Bioblaster could have been incorporated as a single-target DoT but instead it's for AoE and shares a recast with Drill. It's a tiny gain for something that's only applicable every 20s and needs full duration to be worth it.

AoE in general is a mess. The priority system is jank, conal AoE is annoying to use and the scattershort upgrade is tiny. Auto-Crossbow doesn't refresh Ricochet. Why? Such a simple change that'd make a lot of sense, surely. Why do we not have a use for our battery in AoE still? Why was that taken away? Dungeons might not be that important in terms of playing optimally, but it still doesn't make any sense. PB+CC could at least have some AoE drop off on neighbouring targets. That'd also be fine.

Drill/AA/Chainsaw are 3 peas in the same pod. They function the same and act as part of what gives MCH a strict rotation. This is fine as a concept, but it's very boring when you have 3 abilities of equal potency, yes 2 of them give battery but with very little flexibility with battery usage when wanting to perform optimally to remain in buffs, and fight design not requiring much thought in it, it all blends in too much. I could mention their animation delay causing ghosting at certain points but that's nitpicking. I don't mind these abilities on the whole, they feel impactful but such similar functions take away from their appeal.

Wildfire - I appreciate the sizable buff it's been given. However, once every 2 minutes is still underwhelming. At least let it crit, though I realise that's counter to this direction of gauranteed crit+dh abilities that's sadly getting more and more prominent. I like re-assemble though so in the context of MCH, I'm fine with it. That said, it also does not synergise with any crit-related buffs so that's a problem too (thanks to forum posters for reminding me to mention that).

4 - Ping issues
Oh boy, this again. Still no sign of addressing this whatsoever. I remember the Q&A where we were bluntly told that there isn't enough feedback regarding ping issues with combat design in general, not just MCH. This was a major kick in the teeth and I kindly ask that the devs look into this more. It's been a problem for years and countless threads have been created here, and MCH has been a job that suffers terribly from it. Heat Blast stacks would be nice. It'd be a good start at least. Its ping reliance has only gotten worse from SB to EW. Evidence of this has been provided and ignored and I'm not sure what else I'm meant to say on it, other than it's a glaring problem that's once again being ignored while other classes have it addressed just fine.

I realise this is a lot of complaining, but I think it's warranted after years of threads being made having provided plentiful solutions to these issues. It really feels like MCH has been ignored and left to rot. Of course not everyones opinions are going to align with the devs outlook on what the game should be, but these problems have been there for so long and show no signs of getting better. I'm not hopeful but OF feedback is the only real tool we have.

[Kitfox]

3 - Individual ability issues
Flamethrower is counter to the function of the job. Standing still, inevitably having an AoE appear under you and having to cancel the channeling isn't fun. Why bother when it's such a small gain over Scattershot which at least lets you move.

Flamethrower is actually so forgettable now with Scattergun. It's actually really hard to tell if using Flamethrower is worth it or not when we get flooded with heat so easily.

[Roflcopter]

Flamethrower is actually so forgettable now with Scattergun. It's actually really hard to tell if using Flamethrower is worth it or not when we get flooded with heat so easily.

I only use flamethrower when I’m sandbagging on the last pack before a boss so I have at least 50 heat for the boss. Otherwise, I never use it.

[IdowhatIwant]

1 - Pure dps status?
Put simply in my opinion, MCH does not deserve pure dps status. Phys-ranged + pure dps is an oxymoron in and of itself, and time and time again it's proven that it feels like the job has no direction or reason to exist. Snipped.

Why? It could easily be a pure DPS if they would allow it. I think it would actually fit well as you have more support oriented DPS in every role and more selfish DPS in every role. Why can't the physical ranged have a selfish role?

3 - Individual ability issues
Flamethrower is counter to the function of the job. Standing still, inevitably having an AoE appear under you and having to cancel the channeling isn't fun.

Bioblaster -snip

Drill/AA/Chainsaw are 3 peas in the same pod.-snip

Wildfire - I appreciate the sizable buff it's been given. However, once every 2 minutes is still underwhelming. At least let it crit, though I realise that's counter to this direction of gauranteed crit+dh abilities that's sadly getting more and more prominent. I like re-assemble though so in the context of MCH, I'm fine with it. That said, it also does not synergise with any crit-related buffs so that's a problem too (thanks to forum posters for reminding me to mention that).

Wild fire should be an aoe, that does x damage to the target and y dmg to everything else. It should also deal a % of the damage dealt to the target like it used to. It would synergize well with re-assemble and give us more options are far as holding onto / using re-assemble. Most of this I can agree with though.

Flame thrower has no purpose, if anything, I think flame thrower should have been a single target dot, and bioblaster its upgrades AOE dot or vice versa.

I like the robot, but I almost feel like battery would be used for something more interesting. At the rate we are going every expansion they are just going to add stuff to the robot, which could be fun if it were more engaging and we have more control over it vs Pile bunker and die.

4 - Ping issues
Oh boy, this again. Still no sign of addressing this whatsoever. I remember the Q&A where we were bluntly told that there isn't enough feedback regarding ping issues with combat design in general, not just MCH. This was a major kick in the teeth and I kindly ask that the devs look into this more. It's been a problem for years and countless threads have been created here, and MCH has been a job that suffers terribly from it. Heat Blast stacks would be nice. It'd be a good start at least. -snip

I would rather do away with heat blast, and have the gauge work as it did before. It's not a fun mechanic even if it was addressed to have stacks ping would be a problem still when weaving DPS differences would still come from that. Heal blast limits our capability to utilize SKS, it just over all causes nothing but problems for what it is. I think any class that has abilities that limit it's stat customization is a major issue and concern.

I think the over all direction with the tools was a fun little gimmick of ff6's Edgar. But after the summoner changes, Machinest really reminds me that we lost a lot of engagement for flair, but that flair can still be utilized if done correctly.

[Remarus]

I would rather do away with heat blast, and have the gauge work as it did before. It's not a fun mechanic even if it was addressed to have stacks ping would be a problem still when weaving DPS differences would still come from that. Heal blast limits our capability to utilize SKS, it just over all causes nothing but problems for what it is. I think any class that has abilities that limit it's stat customization is a major issue and concern.

Goodness no, unless you mean the heat mechanic at the very start of Stormblood (i.e. keep it between 50-95 for Heated Shots but don't let it overheat), but that existed for literally half a patch. Having to force overheating into specific windows and trying to manage that into Wildfire's window was a disaster for anyone with more than 150 ping. There are definitely some ways to add complexity and engagement back to the class, but let's not add the single most punishing one for folks living more than 200 miles from the Datacenter.

[Serenaya]

Why? It could easily be a pure DPS if they would allow it. I think it would actually fit well as you have more support oriented DPS in every role and more selfish DPS in every role. Why can't the physical ranged have a selfish role?

I agree Physical-ranged's mystical movement tax is no longer required in current fight design which'd perhaps mean that it can be buffed to just be a stronger job. However, MCH also remains as simply designed as it is, and is subsequently woefully lacking in any meaningful optimisation that'd give it a higher skill ceiling. Since jobs are now designed the way they are, there is no use trying to make MCH a pure dps if it's not going to be given the functionality to do so, or the complexity to warrant buffing beyond a certain point. It's quite clear by now that this isn't on the cards. Call it a compromise. If our entire point is to be the epitome of freedom, then surely we could provide use in other ways rather than being a burden to overall raid dps? People would moan if we were too strong since it is a simple job to learn (and master, honestly) and if we had that simplicity and yet statistically overtook jobs with higher optimisation ceilings, whether that's due to gauge management, movement optimisation, rotational adjustment or combinations of those... surely you see the problem.

I'd be all for a design overhaul, a rework or whatever, but it seems clear that this isn't something that's going to happen if jobs are only getting made simpler collectively.

Let's not forget that we're also anti-synergistic in that we have two charges of Reassemble that functionally have the same issue that SAM sadly got slapped with, and Wildfire can't crit. Everything works against this concept of being a pure DPS, unfortunately.

(Also how has Flamethrower still not been buffed?)

It should be removed or repurposed entirely, not buffed. There's no reason to have a skill that counters the entire point of the job, and channelled abilities are not fun to use.

[Pidgeon]

It should be removed or repurposed entirely, not buffed. There's no reason to have a skill that counters the entire point of the job, and channelled abilities are not fun to use.

I absolutely agree. It's not even a hard stretch of the class fantasy to instead turn it into a second piece of a Bioblaster combo or something and remove the channeling effect.

It was mostly just a tongue in cheek joke about how they're misers when it comes to our potency, but also our QOL with ping issues and Flamethrower being trash.

Also as a humorous side bit, but did you scream when you read the class changes in the patch notes again?

[Serenaya]

Also as a humorous side bit, but did you scream when you read the class changes in the patch notes again?

Haha, no. Worse. I started posting on the forums...

[TheSpooks]

Yeah, I never planned on posting on the forums but once again we've been let down.

I want to premise this with positives in that I love playing the job, I enjoy consistency being rewarded and I prefer strict rotation jobs myself. I like having agency over my performance and MCH does a good job of that. This concept doesn't have to change. However, there are issues. Lots of them. Some of this is born of passion for the job (and the role), but some of it is also core design problems that the game suffers from.

By far, this post is the best explanation summarizing the core issues MCH is dealing with.