Please, MCH needs some help

[Wayfinder3]

Ok, im sorry for the clickbait title but this needs to be said so that the devs are aware. PLEASE REDUCE MACHINIST VULNERABILITY TO PING. it is very disappointing being unable to perform well on a job do to the circumstances of ones own relation to the servers location. Rapid Fire is a clipping nightmare, Wildfire is too short and requires too many abilities within in it. Overheat is too short and requires too many abilities to be used in it. Flamethrower, while versatile is far too clunky in design. In eureka, mch is pretty useless since if it can't get on the aggro table, neither Flamethrower or Barrel Stabilizer function properly.

"Possible" Solutions include the following;
1. changing Overheat to a buff window of 20secs but also falls off after 6 heated GCDs. (5 of which should go into wildfire, but 6 in the actual overheat phase itself)

2. Mch should be given a 60sec CD that instantly applies the effect of Overheat that will be able to replace flamethrower.

3. Flamethrower is fine if we're talking AoE damage, otherwise remove it from being too closely connected to the core kit. requiring dps to use channeling abilities is way too susceptible to the effects of server ticks to gain the effect.

4. Gauss Barrel should not fall off, it's a waste to reapply this skill when a debuff could be applied that prevents the accumulation of Heat do to using weapon skills and reduces damage dealt by 5% for 10sec. this is a low priority change but, we shouldn't be promoting button bloat abilities

5. Please place a debuff timer for Rook/Bishop Overload on the job U.I, it's arguably one of the most important management mechanics and it's a shame that is not displayed

6. The AoE rotation feels completely disconnected from the rest of the job, aside from Bishop Autoturret/Overload, Flamethrower being tied to the Wildfire rotation prevents it from being used for arguably the very situation a flamethrower would be useful in. Mowing down mobs in the most practical use of a flamethrower, not trying to clip it 75% into your gcd so that you can potential get 5 heated shots into an already strict midfire rotation.

I know these types of threads have been done to death, but please come patch 4.4 some of these QoL changes would allow mch to receive more attention. I feel as if Bard eclipses the job in almost every regard and thats unfortunate. There are some players of MCH that are waiting for these little changes. Please DON'T buff hypercharge or any other utility as compensation for these changes, MCH utility/damage is fine as is. It just needs a little extra love and care so that it may be more enjoyable to play.

Another resource: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ow-to-fix-them

[Kabooa]

I'd move Flamethrower to being a Turret ability. It just makes more sense there.

Double Tap: Causes the next two Weaponskills to deal their damage twice.

Overheat and Wildfire both becomes 'The Next X Weaponskills' with a duration (between 10 and 12)

Wildfire: Unaffected by Abilities. Weaponskill contribution increases.

This maintains the same end-game (Wildfire while under Overheat) while removing the reliance on good ping to pull it off. (Overheat either from GCD or Flamethrower, double weave, run through every ability while alternating shots).

Double Tap provides the same benefit of Rapid Fire (More GCD for the time frame) while still allowing double weaving without much issue.

Ideally these changes are paired with an additional Weaponskill and a change to an existing one.

[Wayfinder3]

My only issue with remove abilities contribution from wildfire is that, you'd want these abilities in overheat do to the damage increase as well as with other 60/120sec raid buffs. so you'd be lining them up regardless

[Darkpaw]

It's nice to see that you linked Matthew Fox's post on this subject and I completely agree with you but at this point. Unless by some grace of god these QoL changes do happen in 4.4 I think we machinists had best just resign ourselves to our fate of waiting until 5.0. Which is really sad to think about given that Yoshi P issued an apology to a few upset legacy players over a pair of glamour earrings in a seasonal event that was taken as a way to honor the base game while we machinists have been asking for these changes for months so that the community at large can actually pick up and play the machinist class again without these ping concerns. If we don't get them in this patch the likelihood we ever get them before 5.0 (if we even get them then.) is slim to none. I love this game and I love this class but it's in desperate need of help. I truly hope the dev team is paying attention to these threads.