Some MCH Ideas for fun

[RiceisNice]

Disclaimer : This is meant to be a fun topic to vent/discuss ideas for Machinist. As we all know, they initially had planned for the job to utilize different attachments for different scenarios, but ultimately scrapped it and gave us GB (which sorta loses it's "attachment" novelty considering they gave BRD WM), and really their "utility" feels incredible under utilized when compared to BRD (having a weaker physical boost versus a magic boost) Balance is a whole nother can of worms, so the premise of most of the changes should only be kept in relation to their interaction with the game and other jobs (basically assume the numbers are balanced and ultimately, their performance is kept relatively the same, and in the case of number tuning that can easily be done with hot fixes anyway). And lastly, this topic is meant to be for a fun discussion of ideas of what it could have been. Perhaps even give ideas for 4.0 implementations.

Attachments
The job could have been designed around extensively using an attachment/stance system. Something you'd change depending on the circumstances, rather than keep on the entire time. Some ideas I had;

An AoE Attachment and a Burst Attachment
-AoE would convert all weaponskills to have an AoE effect, while reducing damage and increasing TP cost. This would be their "equivalent" of AoE damage, rather than getting a carbon copy of QN and WV.
-Burst Attachment would sacrifice TP efficiency for higher damage output. This would favor burn phases or otherwise where controlled burst damage is high desirable (such as add phases for wildfire), but the TP consumption is amped up to the point that it's not sustainable and ultimately a loss of dps if it's not utilized properly.

"Shotgun" attachment
Increases overall damage, but enforces a damage penalty when attacking from further from 5 yalms. Essentially makes you require a melee positioning when it comes to fight mechanics and party interaction. Being able to switch between the two on the fly, maximizing melee uptime and turning it off when otherwise would be important to maximize damage output.


Ammo/Charges

Clean Shot /w proc generates a charge when used with current GB
-The charge itself is used for GB-exclusive abilities such as gauss round and ricochet, or other abilities at varying costs. Stack management would become important when deciding on what is the most appropriate ability to use at the time, such as consistent single target, AoE, or single target burst

Ammo Effects to non-combo skill
Give a secondary effect to abilities like hotshot and lead shot. Effects could be a self heal, multi-dotting, or even resistance down (detailed later).

General

Hybrid Damage Type (have both piercing and blunt damage) and give Blunt resistance (with maybe +int down?)
The looks of MCH abilities themselves have spurred a separate discussion of whether or not it should be piercing or blunt. My perspective, you have the gun shooting so many different projectiles, its hard to consider it to be one or the other exclusively. So my proposal is that MCH has both piercing and blunt damage depending on what kind of ability it is (blanks and guass round would be blunt for example). They would also get a blunt-resistance down skill that will give them a partial boost to their dps, while synergizing with monks; it allows the latter to do bootshine every opo-opo instead of the weaker dragon kick (more so if you have a dork knight for delirium). Part of this would also address MNK's lack of direct synergy in any party composition since they are currently the only job with blunt damage.

Flank positional with turret positioning
This is still an afterthought for me, but allow turret interactions along with flank positional bonuses. Specific skills that do more damage when hit from the flank of the boss, but this is done based on the relative position of your turret rather than the player and boss. This could be either in the form of a turret ability, or a skillshot utilizing the turret (ricocheting in otherwords). Small idea I had, but it's not necessarily on the top of my list as the others.

Assuming the numbers are not an issue, what would your ideal MCH changes be? As mentioned in my disclaimer, this is meant to be a fun discussion on ideas on what they could have done for MCH, and possibly what they could implement in the future. Please also keep in mind with party interaction, as you don't necessarily want to make BRD useless or make 4 MCH raid the meta.

[Xenon_S]

I would be happy if i can take that damn mechanical jellyfish off, visually.
It doesn't even make much sense lorewise, the skill is supposedly a result of a modification to the aetherotransformer thing on the waist, personally I don't think adding something is quite the same as modification.
Just take that jellyfish off and rename it "Aetheric Burst Mode" or something and have the weapon emit a glow of some sort, I don't care just make that jellyfish go away, SE PLEASE.

[RiceisNice]

Having the option to hide gauss barrel would be nice. I'm at the point that the gun designs don't really matter much if it;s going to get ruined by gauss barrel, it doesn't match any of them, not even the eso gun.

[Warlyx]

Having the option to hide gauss barrel would be nice. I'm at the point that the gun designs don't really matter much if it;s going to get ruined by gauss barrel, it doesn't match any of them, not even the eso gun.

if they can do it with DRK im sure GB can be optional too....now MCH need to cry for months then ....maybe :P

your ideas are how MCH was supposed to work....they scrapped all of it to make a BRD copycat

[Jonnycbad]

Clean Shot /w proc generates a charge when used with current GB
-The charge itself is used for GB-exclusive abilities such as gauss round and ricochet, or other abilities at varying costs. Stack management would become important when deciding on what is the most appropriate ability to use at the time, such as consistent single target, AoE, or single target burst

They should give a proc'd Clean Shot a 50% chance to reset Gauss Round/Richochet Timer (irrespective of Ammunition or not, to prevent using ammo on just Clean Shot spam).

[Jonnycbad]

I want a "Dissipation" for MCH that kills the turret but makes your weaponskills AoE for 10 seconds but can't summon your turret for like 30 seconds (also fills up your ammo to 5). AoE Lead Shot and Clean Shot...mmmm.

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

I'd still like a self heal, lol.

On a related note, as I was trying out Lord of Verminion today, I thought "What if a Machinist could adapt a Mammet for combat?" Bam: The Knight Mammet/Turret. A true mechanical "pet" for the job! So many ways to go with that one, but rather than stationary turrets, we'd have something more akin to an egi summon.

I'd sacrifice Leg/Foot Graze for a linear, "Railgun" AoE. Like Doom Spike or Dark Passenger. Heh, yeah, why not give it a Blinding effect too? It'd be more useful than Bind.

As a trait to Wildfire: Arcfire - If an enemy dies before the Wildfire timer expires, it arcs to the nearest target with 5% less potency (So we still get our burst, even if a bit weaker. We just wouldn't completely lose what we built up.)

Change Suppressive Fire to Wrench Toss, no shared CD with Head Graze, no range limitation. . . What better way to stun an enemy than whiffing a wrench at it? (<--- SE if you do anything here, definitely do this.)

[myahele]

I'd be happy if Wildfire will also have a small aoe radius but with reduced potency damage to mobs surrounding the target with Wildfire.

[arctic]

Drop Foot Graze. Bind isn't very useful. I think Leg Graze with Heavy +40% is more practical, but then again that's a strong reflection of my play style preference.

Clump together Rend Mind and Dismantle. Increase the cast timer to balance it out. - they're on the same cd anyways.

Shrapnel shot - When used on a mob with Lead Shot has chance to spread Lead Shot to surrounding mobs.

[Cynric]

Are you sure Blank isn't just called Blank because you have to fire it "Point-blank" Aka in melee range?