Bard or Machanist?

[Aldin]

What difference is there between these 2 jobs? Which is more easier to play? It seems Mch have a lot of utility in their kit like rend mind/dismantle and hypercharge with their turret. While Bard only has foe requiem. Does that make mch preferred over bard in a raid setting? I know Bard has that warden's paeon or something but from what I heard that song is pretty crap? Are they even in term of dps?

[Sleigh]

Personal DPS: roughly the same, edge to BRD probably due to how they put out damage (BRD converts better with bad phase change timers, and lots of Misery's) in real fights. AoE MCH wins but that's only dungeons and A2S, and BRD AoE is no slouch (plus Foe's is godly for AoE in general)

Raid DPS: Foe's >>>>>> Hypercharge if your healers are good, pretty close even if your healers barely DPS if at all. Rain of Death gives even further healer DPS if they're not ACC capped. That said, Hypercharge is much more consistent, as it will usually come out like clockwork, while Foe's is more susceptible to MP/TP needs or mechanics like the A4S MP drain (hopefully not a recurring element in HW raids ...)

Mobility and such: MCH is way more mobile, can stance dance and save procs much more effectively. BRD can move in spurts infrequently but no long-term mobility options that don't destroy your DPS, but luckily A1-4S never requires constant movement.

Utility: MCH is way better, always can give TP/MP with only the turret loss and using MP that goes towards nothing but resource regenration, while BRD has to have MP for it (sometimes Foe's will drain BRD and then an accident happens) and loses further Foe's by singing resources. This is more important in progression than anything else.

The difference isn't huge. The main thing is that Foe's and Rain of Death are better in good groups, at the cost of quite a few nice little advantages MCH has. You can really just pick the one you enjoy more without worrying too much.

[Ercapote]

was JUST about to make this threat because I want to level up my RANGE dps and I didn't know which one to pick, hopefully we get feedback soon, but ultimately I'm leaning forward to MCH if it helps, I look at their rotation and checked those HOW TO threat and It gave me a clear vision of each play style and rotation, I find MCH more fun because apparently seems to work much better than BRD when it comes to GB/WM plus the adition of turrets and ammo seem far more interesting mechanics and fun to manage than BRD (imo) the only thing bard has that can draw me back is the BOW I find them pretty sexy tbh.

[VitalSuit]

Utility: MCH is way better, always can give TP/MP with only the turret loss, while BRD has to have MP for it and loses further Foe's by singing. This is more important in progression than anything else.

MCHs have to use MP too for promotion, we also lose around 15% of our dps from the turrets.

[Warlyx]

for ranged dps ...the only answer is SMN ....

[Ercapote]

for ranged dps ...the only answer is SMN ....

that's a caster buddy

[Sleigh]

MCHs have to use MP too for promotion, we also lose around 15% of our dps from the turrets.

Yes of course, I didn't mean to imply otherwise. What I meant is that because a BRD has to sing Foe's, there may be times when a healer dies or goes overboard and a BRD will not have enough MP to rectify the mistake. MCH's MP is only tied to resources, so unless the MCH's MP is otherwise drained (Straf explode or deaths come to mind), it's a non-issue, and even then MP regeneration is so dang cheap.

Will make that clearer I guess.

[Aldin]

Thank you for the quick information between the two jobs, sleigh. I guess I will choose to play the bard rather than mch. I loved the bow and triple emperyral arrows!

[AniCelestine]

I'm not sure about the math of physical def down with hyper charge with the normal 1mch 2 melee 2 tanks vs Foe's and 1 healer 1 caster(cause brd doesn't benefit from it and generally one of the 2 healer is normally healing. But I'd say the mentality with brd vs mch comes from what party set up you run with. Is your group in the bleeding edge of content going for world first. Does your healer not have accuracy melded accessories.

Personally think that for WF groups with healer(s) with melded accessories and the 2x melee set ups mch would be better with their dmg reductions whereas brd is there to compensate for accuracy problems with healers (rain of death).

As for which one is easier to play. Personally bard is easier to play cause of the simpler rotation and since I'm used to casters so that 1,5sec casting isn't issue with me. Mch is harder to maximise imo, you could compare smn and blm in 2.x to mch and brd. Mch harder maximizing and easier to dps + move (procs) whereas brd is easier but allows less movement to get max dps.

TL;DR Brd is utility, dps vs movement and difficulty of rotation vice more like blm was in 2.x and mch is more like smn was with same points. If healer(s) have accuracy accessories (no need for RoD) and 2x melee in party I'd say mch is better choise. Else go with bard (RoD is really OP if healers dps and don't have accuracy accessories) and if there's 2 casters 1 melee.

Just my point of view.

[Aiurily]

MCHs have to use MP too for promotion, we also lose around 15% of our dps from the turrets.

closer to 12%/13%. gets cut down to 7%-8% if you repeatedly toggle promote on the turret