I can't be the only one excited for machinist?!

[Zophar]

I'm very excited, getting and gearing a machinist is the first thing I'll do once my DRG hits 60. Will be interesting to see what'll make you want one over bards and vice versa.

Just for the sake of endgame, it'll be that weapon break and mind shot. As far as more casual gameplay... I honestly couldn't say. Excited to find out though.

[Tharian]

Just for the sake of endgame, it'll be that weapon break and mind shot. As far as more casual gameplay... I honestly couldn't say. Excited to find out though.

There are a lot of reasons to take the Machinist over the Bard other than just those two things. While the MP and TP Regen of the Machinist is notably weaker than that of the Bard there are other benefits to it. The Machinist features a ranged Hard Stun, a Slow, Heavy, Bind, Knockback, and Silence. Where as the Bard only has a Silence, Jumpback, and Bind (Bard also gets a slow if you use Feint as a Cross-Class skill). This means that the Machinist's debuffs (as opposed to DoT's) are vastly more versatile than those available to the Bard. The main reason someone will be wanting the bard in end game content from now on will be for the songs, not for the debuffs that the bard can provide as the Debuff king will end up being the Machinist.

[Zophar]

There are a lot of reasons to take the Machinist over the Bard other than just those two things. While the MP and TP Regen of the Machinist is notably weaker than that of the Bard there are other benefits to it. The Machinist features a ranged Hard Stun, a Slow, Heavy, Bind, Knockback, and Silence.

Assuming we're still talking about endgame, I genuinely can't think of any endgame in which any of that is useful, other than Silence in T2,4, and 9, and heavy in t7. These are moves that bosses in endgame are generally always immune to. I don't see those abilities having much of any merit in even future endgame. Especially considering all of these things in theory share a timer. Not saying it's impossible. Just hugely unlikely.