MCH and Monk - Why is underplayed?

[Mhaeric]

I think MCH is rather underpowered, which is one contributing factor to it being underused.

Two things I think they should do for MCH is bring back Lead Shot, their DoT that was removed with Stormblood, and give them a version of Warden's Paean. I think that might put them around the levels of BRD.

I disagree that MCH is objectively underpowered. An equally highly skilled MCH and BRD will be comparable in terms of effectiveness with the MCH outputting slightly more personal dps and the BRD increasing party dps slightly more.

I would say instead that they're situationally underpowered based on player skill. The difference between the two becomes apparent with less player skill since the MCH has a much higher skill gap than BRD. There's a reason a "button mashing bard" is a meme in this game after all. As the player's relative skill drops, each job's output drops at different rate. I.e. a moderately skilled bard will be more effective than a moderately skilled MCH, and at the extreme end a player with questionable skill on BRD will be much more effective than a MCH with equally questionable skill.

So if we're talking about the average of players overall, then yes, MCH can seem underpowered, but the closer you get to the high end of player skill the more they hold their ground. Since most players tend towards average skill, this would defintely contribute to the impression that MCH is underpowered relative to bard, though.