Please don't change Machinist core gameplay

[Greedalox]

What's the point of the heat gauge if the ONLY gameplay of the job is to stay between 50-100.

It's not the only point of the heat gauge. If you're staying between 50-95 the whole fight then you're ignoring half of the mechanic. You overheat during burst windows.

but if we're going to have a "risk/reward"-based kit, then it needs to actually be rewarding. And currently, it is not.

I don't believe FF14 carries any risk/reward capabilities unless we're talking cards. There's hitting the wrong buttons- but that's not risky, that's just hitting the wrong buttons. An encounter doesn't change because a MCH was brought that actively goes against you unless sometimes.

As for if MCH is currently rewarding? Of course not- but that's because our numbers are lower than they should be, not because of our core gameplay. You could remove all heat gameplay with the current iteration of MCH and it still wouldn't be rewarding in that sense because the numbers are too low. The current system would prove to be very rewarding if the output was there to back it up.

[Kyuubee]

For what burst? To push wildfire into a 500 potency attack? That's laughable when you consider the minute long cooldown. The overheat also isn't worth going into considering the MASSIVE potency damage loss. If it were, maybe we would see more than 100 parses that include machinist. The heat gauge as is, is literally a punishment device that does not reward good play but instead gates you from dealing normal damage. The incentive currently is that you either do it perfectly or your damage is going into the garbage.

[Greedalox]

For what burst? To push wildfire into a 500 potency attack? That's laughable when you consider the minute long cooldown. The overheat also isn't worth going into considering the MASSIVE potency damage loss. If it were, maybe we would see more than 100 parses that include machinist. The heat gauge as is, is literally a punishment device that does not reward good play but instead gates you from dealing normal damage. The incentive currently is that you either do it perfectly or your damage is going into the garbage.

You're contradicting yourself. You're saying that the damage gain from doing it perfectly isn't worth it but if you aren't doing perfectly then you're doing garbage.

(You should be doing your darndest to maximize your damage to your capabilities anyways)