PROPOSE Machinist Buffs/Changes HERE

[Cascadi]

Here's what I think are viable buffs to Machinist to bring it up to par:

The CD change of Quick Reload to 15s would be a welcome addition, as well as changing Reload's CD to 45s so it can line up with Rapid Fire + Wildfire + Hawk's Eye.

An increase to potency for weaponskills in general, and increasing the debuff % of Rend Mind/Dismantle would make these skills more viable while keeping the concept of a shared CD.

Gauss Barrel definitely needs a buff, but if there could be any buff to Gauss Barrel other than increasing its effect, it could be that Lead Shot ticks resetting the CD on Gauss Round like the Bard's DoTs resetting Bloodletter CD.

And Wildfire shouldn't calculate defenses on effect potency.

[HairyRoger]

I agree with the fact that machinist needs an improvement, but I disagree with a lot of what you post here.

BRD is a better supportive class than we are and I disagree completely with the mindset of making machinist more supportive to match this. I feel machinist should be offensive where BRD is defensive to not make it a copy of BRD.

Aoe is what it is and is no less spammy than most other jobs.

The main issue as far as I experience on level 60 is reload/ proc rates. The proc rate on the combo vs the cd on the reload abilities gives us huge gaps of doing nothing else than hoping for a proc on split shot. This right here is the most glaring issue I experienced so far. Shorten cd on reloads, buff % somehow and add something extra to the reload abilities/ abilities spending bullets.

Wildfire definately needs to not get hit twice by defences.

I don't think we need Recall and Salve is, in my opinion, confusing what the job is about. Promote is fine.

[RhynAzullo]

I think for one thing, the potencies of the main combo weaponskills could be slightly increased. Give split shot a 65 or 70% chance to proc slug shot. Give slug shot a 30% base chance to proc clean shot, but a 65% or so chance when it's an enhanced slug shot. This would increase the chance of a combo while making sure people wouldn't just spam slug hoping for a clean proc without the rest of the combo.
Lead shot crit ticks either resetting quick reload or taking a few seconds off the CD each time would be nice too.

[Cascadi]

The main issue as far as I experience on level 60 is reload/ proc rates. The proc rate on the combo vs the cd on the reload abilities gives us huge gaps of doing nothing else than hoping for a proc on split shot. This right here is the most glaring issue I experiencd so far. Shorten cd on reloads, buff % somehow and add something extra to the reload abilities/ abilities spending bullets..

What would make sense and help a lot with the general feel of this class is if a Split Shot/Slug Shot fails to proc, then you get a stack of ammo. That way, if you fail to hit the 50%, instead of relying on an increase % leaving it to RNG, it's 100%.

[HairyRoger]

RNG is part of the job I feel.

If they lower the cooldown on reload and quick reload, and increase the % of the split to slug, it would make a worlds difference. Quick reload could be used more frequently to proc clean shots instead of using it in desperation after landing the 7th-8th split shot without a proc. Clean shot might need an increase in potency and maybe even a little less % proc chance. It would make reloading slug into clean shot more impactful and more rewarding, while at the same time making it interesting.

I also think the way lead shot / hot shot and clean shot consume ammo, while not really gaining anything more than 20 potency, is dumb. They could easily add something extra to this mechanic without breaking anything(dismantle/rend?). Gauss barrel is another story. If they want us to swap in and out of this mode, they need to make it possible without rapid fire. If they want it to be a flat out increase in dps on expense of mobility, make it an actual increase.

[Ryaz]

The biggest problem with increasing clean shots potency would be that split shot would become useless. As it is right now, split shot and enhanced slug = 320 potency while slug shot and cleaner shot = 300 potency. You increase clean shot too much without buffing split and slug, then there's no point to using split at all.

My biggest problem with the class right now (besides cast times) is the fact that once your opening salvo is over, you spend the next 30 seconds just pressing 1 and hoping for a proc until Quick Reload comes back up. Then you use that and have to wait until your buffs finish cooling down before using Reload again because they don't match up. It just seems a bit boring, especially after coming from Ninja who pretty much always has something going on, whether it's reapplying mutilate, dancing edge, shadow fang or weaving ninjutsu. True, MCH has gauss round on 20 second cooldown, but again, it requires gauss barrel which isn't super viable in movement heavy fights.

[HairyRoger]

I agree with the slug spam, but that is also why I would suggest lowering the proc rate of the clean shot bonus.

Split into slug on a much more regular basis would make the dps better already. If you then lower the cd on quick reload it would make it more natural to use it for clean shot bonuses, which again would be worth it if clean shot had a higher potency.

It need to be balanced so that split into slug is better than just spamming slug shot, outside of reload. If you drop the split shot during reload, which I feel can stay on a 1min cd, it could make it flow a little better and would not be a massive problem unless the clean shot potency was too high.

These are of course just ideas and would need proper balancing. Main idea is that clean should be rewarding and split worth using.

[Zyrusticae]

RNG is part of the job I feel.

RNG is fine, as long as you don't get completely screwed over by it when it works against you.

I'd personally keep it really, really simple:

Increase Split Shot potency to 175, Enhanced Slug Shot potency to 190, and Cleaner Shot potency to 205. This will dramatically reduce the negative effect of bad RNG while still rewarding the player for getting off those Clean Shots, as well as increasing our damage and getting it closer to par. Improving the power of Split Shot also conveniently makes MCH much less agonizing to play at lower levels.

I also kind of like the idea of a failed split shot proc (and maybe even a failed slug shot proc) giving a stack of ammo. In fact, this idea alone could probably be used in place of the potency changes I mentioned above, since it automatically increases our damage output while also mitigating the horrible nature of the RNG.

I would also implement the cd changes to Quick Reload and Reload (15s and 45s, respectively, are indeed good numbers, I feel), not just for the increased damage but also just for the increase in QoL for MCH players in general.

Wildfire, of course, shouldn't be subject to double defense subtraction, as a matter of course.

All of these changes above (aside from the potency changes and failed proc ammo stack, which I would only pick one of) would easily put our damage on par while making the class less of a frustrating slog to play as.

Gauss Barrel (and Wanderer's Minuet) have their own set of problems and I don't really feel like addressing those because I'm not at all a fan of those stances. I would say that, if they were really serious about these increasing our damage output to BLM-levels, they would definitely need a minimum of a 40% damage buff to be worthwhile. However, if the other changes increase our damage output sufficiently enough, then a 30% buff would probably suffice (giving it enough damage to offset auto attacks AND failed casts and still be at least a marginal increase in damage overall).

Also note that increasing our overall damage output will likely decrease the proportion of damage that both turrets and auto attacks make up, meaning losing auto attacks or losing turret damage become less detrimental. Whether or not this is a good thing depends on their intent and how well the change reaches their goals.

[Whyabadi]

Maybe give Clean Shot a 50% chance to proc itself. Reassemble could possibly immediately enable the use of a buffed Clean Shot with a 100% chance to crit and maybe reduce Reassemble cooldown to 30 seconds or so.

[Azostar]

Something i've found with with Rapid Fire is that with excess SS or a SS Buff you will use Slug or Clean shot faster than the a proc is given.

The turret getting knocked back is annoying, and doesn't even happen when it would be beneficial, like bismark knockback.

I wasn't expecting anything great from gauss barrel and find it interesting people use it for burst /w wildfire and turn it off, currently working this concept into my rotation/pulls. People heavily complain about GB saying 'it's not good because AA gives you more DPS overall', but it was intentionally created as a situational increase in AoE and Burst DPS to raise the jobs skill cap, it's why you can get more DPS weaving it in to your rotation then having it permantly on/off. So in that sense, the implemantion and balance of GB is amazing. The one thing I would change about this skill?: Remove the cast time to change your stance.

Last and most importantly. Give the damn pack on our waist different models. I don't like the fact it doesn't change with my character, I have to glamour around that pack now so it doesn't clash with my gear.

At the end of the day, people's problems are coming down to tunnel vision. They don't know the class and they are given multiple abilities to play with in a short amount of time. As a normal class, you're given a puzzle piece one at a time and at an easy pace so you can fit it in the right place. With this class however, you're given 12 pieces of a puzzle and then slowly fed more pieces and expected to keep up. Give us a few tweaks to the damage numbers, a reduction of TP consumation on split shot (multiple procless uses can seriously drain TP in prolonged fights) wouldn't hurt the class. The MCH class is really interesting and i'm absolutely loving it, tunnel vision is starting to ease up for me as I get used to the class, hopefully the class stigma will dissipate soon.