Question, why does Bard and Machinist share the same core mechanic?

[Voltyblast]

As punishment for moving. From a balance perspective Bard had instants so compared to BLM they didn't get punished for moving. To compensate in HW SE made base bard damage lower so for them to be competitive they now have to use WM. The downside is that moving is now bad - like BLM. The same principle applies to MCH,

Simple really.

If I have to get punished for moving, why not just play the BLM at this point? BRD was supposed to be a high mobile dps that had support songs, but right now they're just a weaker version of BLM...so why not play a BLM instead? Infact they get punished for moving too: it's called Ley Lines. However, while Ley Lines was implemented as a High Risk/High Reward mechanic, especially for using Fire and blizzard 4, BLM weren't a mobile class to begin with and so their new mechanic is much better implemented: you either stick for a longer time and do huge dmg, or move and risk to lose your buff and etc. It's a pretty good trade off.

But with BRD and MCH? I mean I honestly wonder why did they have to make them casters to begin with, as they have no real mechanic around their casting times and it only increases their damage: did they REALLY have to completely change BRD this way JUST to make them more balanced? Couldn't they, I don't know, actually improve their damage without this gimmick of having WM? Sure you can only use some skills in GB and WM but that's not a mechanic: that's a lock out. MCH is still better since most of their skills are instant while in GB but again, where are the mechanics? I can use pretty much every skills without them if I wanted except for 2 or 3: the only downside is my damage falling but there's nothing stopping me to use my BRD and MCH without the buffs.

I really loved BRD in ARR and it was my second most played class/job/whatever for the longest time, but right now I just went BLM instead since...well at least I'm an actual caster.