How RDM, got me to appreciate MCH again.

[s3ystic]

(A wall of text, TL;DR: I played RDM had fun, went back to MCH and I like it more in the long run.)

I was suffering a little MCH depression for a while so I gave it a break and decided to try the dirty red-headed hype train that was RDM. After playing it a while I began to notice a few things that made me want to go back to MCH and appreciate it for what it is.

First let me start off saying that I like MCH, and it is fun to play, the devs could leave its mechanics alone and boost potencies and I would have no problem with that at all. MCH has a solid base. Oddly RDM taught me this. Playing RDM for a while made me realize a few things on my MCH, things I hope the devs are looking at for 4.1. (Lastly to put the disclaimer, this isn’t one of those, CHANGE THIS, threads just some observations about how MCH and RDM share some similarities, but also some glaring differences.)

RDM and MCH are both very bursty, RDM more so. Red mage has a tendency to be bursty for longer periods of time, while MCHs burst windows can be horribly short when your ping is in the pooper.

Both rely on procs to get more damage in, RDM is a bit more rng than MCH atm, simply because ammo can be maintained easier than your one button push that is Acceleration.

Where RDM greatly differs is the ability to DECIDE when and where they burn their gauge. MCH, while they can do so with proper management, they cannot sit on that gauge like a RDM can. RDM also has better control over this gauge, and rather than having a very fine window to do your damage in, you have tools like Manafication that allows a RDM to draw out their DPS for longer periods of time. If a MCH overheats on accident then they have to scramble to try to salvage some small DPS from it before they go on cooldown. That heat gauge laughs at you the moment you fat finger the wrong attack.

MCH has much better mobility than RDM, period. Sure RDM is hoppy and jumpy, but casting is casting and one wrong twitch mean dps loss. I don’t have to worry about fudging a cast on MCH, or cursing when I blow a dual cast on something I didn’t want to. Nope! Running and gunning things down is as reliable as you can get.

I also have say I have come to LOVE my turrets now. RDM has no DoTs, and dare I say turrets are BETTER than most dots because they are not on a timer and as long as in the same room for extended periods of time, I don’t have to keep reapplying them (An advantage over BRDs as well.) These sturdy little bugger’s health meter to make sure it stays in play, I have come to LOVE my turrets. I never want to lose them!

I appreciate RDM’s “alpha strikes” a bit more than MCHs. Fleche (potency 420, 25s cd) has more oomph than Gauss round (Potency 200, 15s cooldown) but Gauss is “faster” than Fleche. I never really count on Gauss round alone to kill things in one hit unless its pure trash, it typically has to be boosted by something to shut down mid-to-tough trash. On the opposite end Contre Sixte (potency 300, 45s cd) is “faster” than Ricochet (potency 300, 60s cd.) Just something that’s always in the back of my mind.

There is but one thing, one thing that I really miss on RDM that makes me wish MCH had some sort of equivalency Vercure and Verraise. These two abilities mean a lot in parties at times. They allow for a certain amount of hand holding and carrying that MCH doesn’t get to do. Sure MP & TP up are nice and that little speed boost to running comes in handy, but the ability to heal raw numbers is priceless. I get that probably lore wise MAGIC is supposed to be able to do that and it is something out of the reach of Magictech itself, however this is the one thing that makes me grab RDM as a backup if I feel the party can’t handle me being a MCH. The one thing I would change for MCH is to add a small, damage mitigation field that degrades over time; something similar to AST noct shields, only smaller. These proposed shields wouldn’t even have to have a heal tag on them. MCHs can still be forbidden from using healing magic of any kind, but that force field could go a long way.

That’s it. Thank you RDM for getting me to appreciate MCH again, and while MCH needs a few bolts tightened, it really isn’t as bad off as I once thought. I’ll always have RDM as a backup for hand holding when need be, but I still love the feel of gunsmoke and magitech in the morning.

[M1551NGN0]

Glad you're having fun with MCH.

[Raikai]

Yeah...

In my opinion, MCH need 1 more utility to be on par with BRD as a supporter. It's vuln debuff is pretty strong because of its huge uptime and it can reduce boss damage on spot... So, maybe a party buff focused utility. I wouldn't mind a 3min recast time Healing Turret that would moderately heal people for about 15s, or hypercharge for a bursty mass heal.

This would give MCHs nice on-demand save for when your healers are short on mana. You wouldn't get that big save every 3min because that would mean sacrificing your dps turrets hypercharges

[Kacho_Nacho]

You wrote a nice observation post. I enjoyed reading it.

Isn't funny how we often go in full circles? For me, I started as a white mage but itched to try different things. So, I tried just about all the jobs and came to the conclusion that white mage is my favorite.

Now, don't get me wrong. I still enjoy monks, dragoons, red mages, paladins, etc... I just enjoy healing more and the healer I most like is white mage with scholar a close second.

[GavynG]

I came back to try out RDM and really love that we finally have a hybrid class in the game, and I'm definitely enjoying MCH in SB, I'm probably going to main it this time around after being disappointed in HW.

I'd like to see more hybrid abilities in this game. RDM is exactly what this game needed. Too many people are quick to cry "OP!" when something is useful, which is ridiculous. I guess everyone playing DPS should just be happy with their 1-2-3 and 1-2-4 combos. :P

Also I love my turrets so damn much. I hope we get another at some point, even as a temporary cooldown like the healing or barrier bot someone mentioned. I'd always play jobs that could push DPS as high as possible, but I'd gladly trade topping meters for some more fun skills any day. Thank you for MCH (and RDM), Square!

[ShaolinMike]

After leveling MCH to 60 and taking a look at the opener/rotation back in HW, I avoided it like the plague until recently. Had nothing else to do, so I started leveling it and actually took the time to try and learn how the job works. It's actually lot of fun IMO, and I don't understand why it gets so much hate for the way it plays mechanically. Also, the heated shot animations are some of the coolest job animations in the game, and they're not gated behind 1-2 minutes of buildup.

[Kurando]

Yeah although BRD has more utility, I've always preferred MCH and feeling like a badass while getting all Rambo on the battlefield. I do like the idea of having some kind of damage mitigation on the form of a new turret. Honestly I'm not that big on the self-destruction (forget the name), yeah you get to do some big damage but the amount of time you have to go without the turret barely makes it worth it. Perhaps this ability could be changed back to Promotion, allowing it to actually upgrade the turret to act in a defensive manor as a means of utility to complete with BRD. It'd be nice to see some kind of emitting field that could maybe increase DET temporary (seeing as BRD can already effect CRIT and DH).

[Acidblood]

Isn't funny how we often go in full circles? For me, I started as a white mage but itched to try different things. So, I tried just about all the jobs and came to the conclusion that white mage is my favorite.

Now, don't get me wrong. I still enjoy monks, dragoons, red mages, paladins, etc... I just enjoy healing more and the healer I most like is white mage with scholar a close second.

Maybe I just haven't come full circle yet (hoping for some positive changes in 4.1), but in 3.X I had BLM / PLD / WHM as my mains. Now however...
- After levelling BLM, it just doesn't feel good for me anymore (far too frequently punishing); but I'm loving SAM (kinda the melee version of BLM, but with none of the punishment).
- Similarly with WHM, I enjoyed it's style in 3.X, but always felt bad that it didn't have any utility when raw healing power wasn't require; now leveling AST 60-70, and thanks to the card changes and Earthly Start, I'm loving it as well.
- PLD is still good, but feels a bit bloated with all too similar, but slightly different, attack abilities, and the guage is nothing but tacked on. Wondering if DRK is going to get anything in 4.1 to make it more appealing.

As for the OP, good to hear there is some enjoyment to be found in MCH. Always loved the idea, but I just couldn't get into the 3.X version and I haven't really heard anyone say much good about it since; so thanks, I'll have to give it try.