Dear Bioblaster

[ReiganCross]

And like sure, Scattergun exists but that seems more of an emergency 'get away from me' skill which fits the class, but Bioblaster invites you to get within the danger zone of other enemies to dump a very underwhelming DoT onto them ontop of wasting a charge to get onto the actual useful skills of the rotation, plus the 75% heavy generally isn't worth the charge of Analysis either. It feels like unnecessary bloat.

Exactly! It's a total of 16k damage but spread out over 9 seconds. It feels like: "You go there and get under the range of their 3 Dragoons or I'm keeping all those skills to myself!" And for what? A DoT they can easily heal away? No way I'm spending Analysis on this garbage, either, especially if all that does is add a pathetic slow they won't even need to remove because I'm now well within range of most things they'll want to throw at me anyways.

Maybe it would be worth if I could hit the entire party with it, but getting close to an entire 5-man team?! Are you insane?! How do you think I'll make it out alive from that move? No ammount of Guard in the World will save my squishy behind.

[Gserpent]

Exactly! It's a total of 16k damage but spread out over 9 seconds. It feels like: "You go there and get under the range of their 3 Dragoons or I'm keeping all those skills to myself!" And for what? A DoT they can easily heal away? No way I'm spending Analysis on this garbage, either, especially if all that does is add a pathetic slow they won't even need to remove because I'm now well within range of most things they'll want to throw at me anyways.

Maybe it would be worth if I could hit the entire party with it, but getting close to an entire 5-man team?! Are you insane?! How do you think I'll make it out alive from that move? No ammount of Guard in the World will save my squishy behind.

16k damage over 9 sec is pretty good. The issue is the short range. I don't think it needs a range extension, but it should just not be part of the core rotation. I feel like the MCH class fantasy is picking the right tool for the job, meaning you'd separate all of the Cid-tools and retune things from there. Bioblaster could be your close range, high damage weapon (this would normally be the flamer, but a channeled cast is not going to function in the fast pace of the PvP revamp.)

People keep discounting dots and I think it's because they don't realize how important attrition is, especially at high skill. Players above a certain threshold of skill are *not* going to die to burst or CC chains with any regularity, because they know better than to put themselves in positions where that's likely to happen. They'll Guard it, their teammates will protect them, etc. You'll sometimes be able to pop someone, but it's not common. Instead, at higher levels of play, attrition is the primary goal. Your targets are prioritized based on their remaining mana (and whether or not they have Purify or, especially, Guard available.) Forcing someone to pop one of their four potions to recover from a dot is significant. Better still if you can apply that to multiple targets (which is why SCH is so strong.)

Heavy is also pretty useful. It's the weakest of the various CC effects, but it also lasts the longest and is very problematic for healers, casters, and pretty much anyone else without a readily available dash. Being stuck in the open is a death sentence (higher skill players avoid being burst down primarily by hugging corners and pillars to quickly LOS if they are targeted, after all.)

I think Bioblaster is completely fine as-is. The only issue is that you are forced to use it in order to access other tools. I think that entire design is against the concept of MCH as a whole. Instead of needing "Bioblaster Ready" or whatever, they should just handle it like NIN mudras - all of your tools share the same 2 charges, and you cannot use the same tool twice in a row. Maybe they could add optional combo bonuses for using specific tools in a chain, but I feel like Analysis already kind of covers that idea.

[ReiganCross]

I think Bioblaster is completely fine as-is. The only issue is that you are forced to use it in order to access other tools. I think that entire design is against the concept of MCH as a whole. Instead of needing "Bioblaster Ready" or whatever, they should just handle it like NIN mudras - all of your tools share the same 2 charges, and you cannot use the same tool twice in a row. Maybe they could add optional combo bonuses for using specific tools in a chain, but I feel like Analysis already kind of covers that idea.

Yeah, I'm less discounting Bioblaster as a good skill on it's own and more complaining about the problem of HAVING to use it. And that is an expert example, imagine if Ninja had to use every single one of their Ninjutsus in a row. Imagine if you had to Raiju, then Huton, then Suiton, THEN you're allowed to Hyosho and THEN you're allowed to Gokka, and that's not even the best order because you kind of want your stuns to follow a DoT and then your big hit to hit them while they're low. But if you're forced into an order than you're not exactly expressing any skills aside from where to DUMP your skills away.

Hell, I can easily see myself using Air Anchor - Drill and keep swapping between them for poking harassment, and then closing in with Bioblaster - Chain Saw for finishers. That would indeed be an infinitely less restrictive system and wouldn't FORCE me to find a situation to use Bioblaster in just so I can move on with the rest of my machinery.
I can already see the mapping: New button - Reassemble (Same Icon and Animation), press it to select a multitool (Like you would Ninjutsu), then Blast Charge turns into Drill, Bishop Autoturret turns into Air Anchor, Reassemble turns into Chain Saw and Scatter Gun turns into Bioblaster. (You keep Analysis unchanged so you can decide if you want to Analysis or not after you press the Machinery button.)

Bioblaster isn't bad. The slow is, you're literally shoving a slow on a momment where the guy needs to move the least to hit you. Heavy isn't bad, but when you're getting closer to them is the worst time to slow them. But the damage itself and the damage of the DoT is perfect, especially because it keeps ticking on Guard (Which would be REALLY useful if Drill wasn't shoe-horned to work BEFORE Bioblaster...) It was EVEN BETTER when they allowed Wildfire to explode on Bioblaster ticks, but I'm guessing it was too hard to make it so it didn't count as an extra 4th stack of Wildfire if it ticked together with a last shot, or they just wanted to make Bioblaster the worst it could be.

But the way the skill is layed out, I'd really rather have it be a poison grenade that you just put on a 25y distance, 5y radius instead of the cone. It would literally be less area, but at least I wouldn't be shoved into Melee to be allowed to reach for my Air Anchor. Or just make it rotate with Scatter Gun, which would'nt be the best since you kind of want your Scatter Gun ready at all times for Wildfire (Not for the knockback, though, that thing NEVER works in the right direction). Or in any other way that I get to use my other multitool gadgetry without being Bioblaster blocked.