MCH, still as bad?

[Deurge]

Hello everyone! I've just come back to the game and I want to lvl something different. I've always played melee DPS and Tank classes, so now I wanna focus on ranged. I've always liked BLM and MCH, slightly leaning towards the latter, but when I stopped playing it was considered the worst class in the game. Is it still so or have things changed? Thank you all for your attention.

[m3eansean]

MCH relies heavily on player skill. In order to do appropriate numbers you have to be on the ball almost all the time. The complaint is that with all this effort, you still do dps equivalent or just below a BRD, who does not need to contribute as much effort.

Disclaimer - I have not played lvl 60 of either class and am just referencing what in game friends describe to me and what I have read about the classes.

[SoloKing]

Much like what m3eansean said, it's only a bad job if you play it badly.

MCH, imho is like MNK, more effort is required to rival other jobs of the same type. However, the difference is, with MNK the extra effort and know how of the job can put you above the other melees. With MCH, all the extra effort and know how will only put you on par or worse than a BRD who knows what he's doing but with less extra work.

So, in short; the MCH is fine right now, but you need to keep in mind that you'll be working your butt off to remain that way.

Plus, seeing your Wildfire hit ridiculous numbers like 13k in Void Ark is enough to make you a career Machinist.

[Aeliott]

I don't know how popular my opinion will be but...

After using MCH for quite a while now (not even maining), it's...really not that hard. There's a learning curve for sure, but once the right button / cd presses for when ammo is up become second nature it's not a difficult transition to prepping cds the right way for when Wildfire is due back up.

Now that we've had 6 months to spend with this new job, I really don't feel like I agree with the "same results for a lot more work" analogies. When I first used MCH I hated it and often got flustered with CD timings while dealing with mechanics, but like any other job I just kept rolling with it. The only time I feel I really need to pay significant attention is when ammo's down for random procs. It's harder to *learn* than Bard initially perhaps, but I strongly disagree that it's a lot more effort when comfortable with both.

As for it being the worst job....not really. It does about the same numbers as bard, shines when you have mostly physical DPS, and generally comes down to playstyle preference between it and Bard. In the current state of the game it doesn't seem right to label any single dps as the worst. The only real point of note against it is Foe Requiem being better than Hypercharge if you have at least one caster.

tl;dr: MCH is good.

[PFM]

More effort, less reward as BRD. Shines in nonstandard 3 melee DPS comps where its raid damage contribution is equivalent to a BRDs. Hypercharge is too weak for it to work in metagame setups, job requires babysitting in heavy raid damage situations due to no way to mitigate incoming damage. All around a huge liability and you don't even pull better numbers for twice the effort. Bad for progression weeks. Bad for 1 month out. Only decent when content reaches months behind status.

[Empty-handed]

what? lol the bards that are pulling higher than machinists are cheesing and padding their dps with extra buffed dots on targets that they should not be hitting in the first place -.- . like dotting the big doll in A4s (which is going to explode anyway) or leg3 while you are dpsing leg2 :/.... etc. dotting everything that moves.

on a single target machinist is not only equal to bard but might beat him.the only advantage that bard really has over machinist (not counting foe since the standard is 2 melee setup anyway.). is Rod = allow healers to dps more. otherwise machinists brings more utility, bind, heavy, stun, silence, hypercharge, instant tp/mp regen activation.

play style:

- the most complete job of the new ones. its even more complete than magebow under WM. the rotation is very fluent. skills and offgcds fall into place perfectly.
- waves of bursts in the form of Wildfire. W1 big, w2 small, w3 big again... etc. (w3 is about 3.30 mins into the encounter).
- freedom of movement under a cast-time stance in the form of ammo procs. quickrelaod is a godsend.

wait i thought world second had machinists as part of their team lol... was it lucrezia?

no machinist is not bad -.-

[TomShane]

All ur answers r going to be a lil one sided, a lot more bards out there
I agree that mch is terrible for progression its very unforgiving, if u don't know a fight 100% u risk losing a lot of ur dps due to mechanics.
Bard mage buff is way better than mch hands down. 95% of the time ur only gonna use ur physical vul when w.f. is up. And only time ud use magic vul is if u were forced to because of multiple mage dps or u r aoe'ing.
With that being said outside of hardcover progression I would go mch over bard all day, not only is it way more fun to play (in my opinion) but when u know whatever it is ur doing 100% u can take advantage of windows to squeeze out super hi deeps. Any class can do this obviously, but due to the mch skillsset mch wins
About the skill required to play mch. It is very easy to be a mch, but it requires a lot of time and skill to truely optimize the role. (U will spend far too long on a striking dummy trying to see how hi u can get ur w.f.)

[Caitlyn]

Machinist is not bad at the moment. It have still some minor flaws (like no piercing damage buff), but I prefer Machinists over Bards, because:

1. The Burst-Phase is extremely high, only DRG and BLM can compete with this
2. Physical Damage reduce/increase + MP/TP-Regenaration (tell that those Bards)
3. Need 100% focus on buffs, procs, mechanics and movement
4. Playstile is not fixed on a specific rotation, but depends on situations
5. If played right, it can compete with other DPS classes
6. AoEs are pretty nice in dungeons, too


Playstyle:
- Your overall DPS depends on your burst phases. You have to time your burst phases with the raid mechanics. If done right, you can shine.
- Movement during Gauss-Barell (Wanderers Minuett for MCH) is possible without getting too low on DPS. You got tons of OGCD and Quickreload is the key.
- This class need your attention! Never lose your Buffs and DoTs. Keep an eye on your procs and when you re able to start your burst phase. Never went brain-afk!


I m main Machinist and I totally love that class. I never regret to play it as my Main. Especially when it comes on Thordan Ex, Ravana Ex and Alexander 1 Savage. I think most people still underestimate this class. But it have some great potenial, especially for the other physical DPS classes (fuck those Mages XD).

The problem is, that leveling MCH till 60 is absolutely pain and boring. Low Level Dungeons gives you a feeling of doing no damage and slow playstyle. But when it comes to Endgame Content including ilvl 200+ gear, it will reward you when you put some extra effort in your playstyle.

Speaking of numbers: As a normal MCH-Raider (ilvl 209, but not really progress or hardcore) I can easily keep 950+ DPS (Dragoon-Buff and Bufffood including) during the entire Thordan Ex Fight. 2.400+ DPS in the first Burst-Phase, 1.300+ DPS until the transition into Phase 2.

[Astral145]

you mean mch is heavily depended on Good RNG... nothing like hitting the same skill over and over and over and over till the proc buff or Ogcd finally come off cool down.....

[Caitlyn]

you mean mch is heavily depended on Good RNG... nothing like hitting the same skill over and over and over and over till the proc buff or Ogcd finally come off cool down.....

Everything is RNG. BLM Procs are RNG, Krit is RNG, Parry is RNG, DRG 4th Hit is RNG and the list goes on... . If you really hit the same skill all over the place, you re doing it wrong ; )

But MCH is not that much RNG as many people thought. Just play it a while and you will get a kind of 6th sense for MCH procs xD