Strongest Job Lorewise?

[EdwinLi]

This, ironically and paradoxically, translates to players as:
"The only way you can play MCH is by first leveling another class to 50, and saving the world by beating the Garleans, several primals, and an Allagan weapon that was tampered with by creatures that want to destroy the planet. But anyone can totally do it, you're just lowering yourself here."

MCH story is dumb.

lowering yourself isn't what the WoL does when he or she becomes a MCH. When the WoL becomes a MCH he or she is the original user of the Machinist Soulstone setting the memories and skills for the successor of that Machinist Job Soulstone.

Currently MCH Soulstone used by the WoL is a clean slate which has no memories to pass on MCH skills. It is up to the WoL to build up those memories so the successor can obtain those talents while other Job Soulstones the WoL has is just the WoL obtaining memories of the Job Soulstone to obtain the power from the past users.

The reason why anyone can become a Machinist is due to originally being a crafter Job where both poor and rich would take on for crafting weapons and airships for Ishgard until the current Guild Master decided to introduce combat for the MCH job. The primary use for MCH, lore wise, is still to serve as crafters mostly for magitek industries such as the Garlond Ironworks, Airship industry, and ishgard's weapon industry.

[CosmicKirby]

lowering yourself isn't what the WoL does when he or she becomes a MCH. When the WoL becomes a MCH he or she is the original user of the Machinist Soulstone setting the memories and skills for the successor of that Machinist Job Soulstone.

The main theme and take-away from the MCH story line, is a very Kalashnikovian approach that anyone can be useful. You literally take a doorguard off the street and make him into a machinist. The 2nd best machinist before the WoL shows up is a random peasant girl.

Currently MCH Soulstone used by the WoL is a clean slate which has no memories to pass on MCH skills. It is up to the WoL to build up those memories so the successor can obtain those talents while other Job Soulstones the WoL has is just the WoL obtaining memories of the Job Soulstone to obtain the power from the past users.

It's their unique job here, for no real reason. The entire point of soul-stones is to draw upon the souls of the people inside of them. The MCH soulstone is blank, it should, by the lore, be doing absolutely nothing. For some odd-reason, square thought it was compelling to make the WoL be one of the originators of a new job, but not the actual originator, just an underling of the person who is actually the originator.

The reason why anyone can become a Machinist is due to originally being a crafter Job where both poor and rich would take on for crafting weapons and airships for Ishgard until the current Guild Master decided to introduce combat for the MCH job. The primary use for MCH, lore wise, is still to serve as crafters mostly for magitek industries such as the Garlond Ironworks, Airship industry, and ishgard's weapon industry.

And yet the mechanics of the MCH for the player are focused solely on combat. It's a discipline of war, not of the hand. It's a pretty major dissonant factor to their story.

When you play MCH, you're not the genius technician making new weapons to solve problems. You're not the hotshot gunslinger delivering justice at the end of your gun barrel. You're the new kid who's learning how to operate some new inventions that someone else made. You're Speed Racer. If Speed Racer was test driving the new Prius so that everyone could drive it after him.

On topic: Very clearly, MCH is designed to be one of the weakest jobs in-lore. Yet for odd reasons requires that the WoL first be a more powerful job/class...

Edit:

That the reason why I enjoy the MCH story. The MCH story is self aware of itself it is almost scary it a minor level.

heck even in the Job storyline all the Job story characters were fully aware of the "issues" in the Job storyline that players hated such as the Guild Master being way too over his head the entire time, which annoyed a lot of players going through the Job storyline, to the point that even the Job NPCs state what players think about him to his face.

Yeah, it's lampshading a very real problem with the story, for no pay-off.

Also, unlike the other jobs where you're becoming a member of an ancient, often long forgotten, group of warriors, you're instead helping to create the beginning of such a legacy. As "EdwinLi" points out above, the soulstone you receive as a MCH is blank. You're not relying on the knowledge of others who came before you to preform as well as you do in battle. Instead YOU are the one infusing the soulstone with the knowledge that future Warriors of Light will use to guide them in your footsteps......

I'm of the opinion, that any cool or redeeming aspects to the novelty of this idea is subverted by two things.
1.) They're not your inventions. Nothing you do for this entirely new profession is actually your invention.
2.) Anyone is supposed to be able to do what you're doing.

You're the first guy to drive the automobile, not the one who invented it. People remember Henry Ford, noone remembers who first drove the vehicle.