Thoughts on Bloodfest, 3 Cartrides and Gunbreaker Going Forward

[Shurrikhan]

You didn't factor in No Mercy ALSO having 2 charges alongside Sonic Break and Bow Shock also having 2 charges, which is what everyone that tries to cherry pick my suggestions/arguments seems to forget I even mentioned but they are pretending I didn't even mention No Mercy having 2 charges to try and win an argument that they know have no chance of winning unless I don't mention.

If applying the first Sonic Break late in the server tick, you'd be able without losing any ticks to Sonic Break under your 2nd charge of NM and Searing Light, both.

Normally, this would encourage using the second ~29.5 seconds after the first if not for needing to recharge Cartridges, but because you've also given the GNB two charges of Bloodfest, you'd be able to replace the Solid Barrel combo at the end of your first No Mercy instead to better exploit 20+ second raidbuffs and Tincture while still getting in your second Blasting Zone, Gnashing Fang combo, and Sonic Thrust under NM.

Which, again, means that you'd end up having activity only for 40s of every 120s, based around the 2-minute cycle. Your suggested changes would make GNB even more polarized towards extremes of crowdedness and boredom.

Tl;dr: I'm not sure why Novel didn't assume a ~40s double-NM duration here, but the fact that you've put two charges on literally every offensive action greater than a 30s and less than a 120s CD is precisely why Sonic Break would end up being part of an extended 2-minute burst cycle, rather than still seeing use in separate mini-bursts. Yes, you could still get significant value out of Sonic even with reduced ticks, but you do not even have to sacrifice any ticks, because Sonic lasts only 30s while your double-NM would last 40s or faintly longer (due to again popping it only just before the GCD, since you can't be penalized for holding a non-initial charge anyways).