To FFXIV Team From a Concerned Machinist

[Darkpaw]

I would be interested to see that but it deals with bringing it back into competition with bard but not the playstyle revisions that need to be done.

[Dualgunner]

Honestly best thing they could do to stop mch competing for caster slot and let it be balanced solely to compete for sniper spot with bard would be to return lb rules to 2t/2h/2m/1r/1c.

[Raikai]

If they could only remove the clunkiness... I'll ask these questions:

1. Why Wildfire exists when it serves as the very same purpose of the Overheat moment when both have to be used together?

2. Why Gauss Barrel exists as a mechanic when it's just a button press for the sake of button pressing? There's nothing to think about when you press it after the downtime counter ends. It would "dumb down" the gameplay if it was permanent?

3. Shouldn't MCH have one additional party utility to make it on par with BRD?

4. Why Flamethrower snares you like it does, in a game where you simply won't be able to stand still for so long every 1 min? This way defeats its purpose as a dps contributor and it becomes just an overheat inducer, which is clearly not the purpose of a "tool of incineration" ability, right?

[LysLuc]

One change I want on MCH as well is an easier way of tracking Hypercharge. This would be so much more useful then a Hot Shot gauge. It's easier to look at my buff bar for Hot Shot then looking at my turrets buff to guess how long Hypercharge would last or look at my hotbar for it.

[whiskeybravo]

If they could only remove the clunkiness... I'll ask these questions:

Just my opinions, but

1) Wildfire and Overheat are 2 separate mechanics serving 2 different purpose. One is a damage ability we gain early on, and the other is a damage buff we can't manage until level cap. You generally want to use damage buffs in combination with damage abilities.. So of course they will line up together. As for changes to Wildfire, the one thing I'd like to see is for it be a bit more impactful, you spend a minute building up for this 10-sec burst window and it's barely even visible when it goes off. I'm not sure it's even capable of crit/DH which is kinda lame, it certainly doesn't have a huge !! whenever it goes off. So I'd like it to be more visually exciting and also carry a bit more weight, like you shouldn't need every buff in the game + 100% crit rate to see numbers other DPS (and even tanks) see all the time during their burst windows.

2) I guess I'm ambivalent to GB since the logic of it kind of makes sense. High-level MCH being able to modify his arsenal, this modification allows for increased damage and further ability enhancements, however like most machinery it has an operational cycle and can't be used continuously. That all sounds fine IMO. I mean, there is something appealing to it compared to a simple damage cooldown like Raging Strikes.

3) I don't think more abilities = better abilities. If the math balances out such that 6% hypercharge makes brd/mch party utility mostly equal I'm fine with that (or whatever that # is).

4) I always found it strange that it's a dps gain to not attack for 5 seconds in the opener, certainly not as intuitive as it could be. But other than the occasional misfire (breaking FT too soon or too late) I think it's a fairly forgiving ability. You don't have to be in range, you don't even have to be facing the enemy, and after the opener it's basically used like any other off-GCD.

[Raikai]

Just my opinions, but

1) Wildfire and Overheat are 2 separate mechanics serving 2 different purpose. One is a damage ability we gain early on, and the other is a damage buff we can't manage until level cap. You generally want to use damage buffs in combination with damage abilities.. So of course they will line up together. As for changes to Wildfire, the one thing I'd like to see is for it be a bit more impactful, you spend a minute building up for this 10-sec burst window and it's barely even visible when it goes off. I'm not sure it's even capable of crit/DH which is kinda lame, it certainly doesn't have a huge !! whenever it goes off. So I'd like it to be more visually exciting and also carry a bit more weight, like you shouldn't need every buff in the game + 100% crit rate to see numbers other DPS (and even tanks) see all the time during their burst windows.

2) I guess I'm ambivalent to GB since the logic of it kind of makes sense. High-level MCH being able to modify his arsenal, this modification allows for increased damage and further ability enhancements, however like most machinery it has an operational cycle and can't be used continuously. That all sounds fine IMO. I mean, there is something appealing to it compared to a simple damage cooldown like Raging Strikes.

3) I don't think more abilities = better abilities. If the math balances out such that 6% hypercharge makes brd/mch party utility mostly equal I'm fine with that (or whatever that # is).

4) I always found it strange that it's a dps gain to not attack for 5 seconds in the opener, certainly not as intuitive as it could be. But other than the occasional misfire (breaking FT too soon or too late) I think it's a fairly forgiving ability. You don't have to be in range, you don't even have to be facing the enemy, and after the opener it's basically used like any other off-GCD.

Well, endgame, both WF and OH are different abilities but serving the same purpose, which is a small timeframe that you need to shove in the most GCDs/OGCDs as possible. It's pretty clear that you'll want to shove WF into the overheat, but honestly if we look into the very design of both, they are way too similar. And I'm not even getting into the latency issues that many players have because of the way both work.

The GB logic makes sense on the creative point of view, but right now, mechanically it's just a button for the sake of it. At best, the overheated moment in which you can't actually equip the GB, already fulfill that fantasy of "machinery downtime".

No, but one more would put in par with BRD's diversity, which is something that MCH doesn't have right now.

regarding FT, it's forgiving, and when you get used to it, it works just fine, but I'm questioning the design of the ability again. Why a weapon that visually is clearly a dps/aoe cue with spraying fire is used just to achieve overheat? It's intended to have its dps component overlooked?

[whiskeybravo]

I think the problem with FT is that OH interrupts it's duration. The most sensible idea I've seen on this would lock you at 100% heat until a GCD action is used. That would allow FT to be used in AoE situations (I suppose) and alleviate many of the secondary issues associated with OH'ing consistently.

[Raikai]

I think the problem with FT is that OH interrupts it's duration. The most sensible idea I've seen on this would lock you at 100% heat until a GCD action is used. That would allow FT to be used in AoE situations (I suppose) and alleviate many of the secondary issues associated with OH'ing consistently.

That would be an awesome fix, the OH only happened after FT finishes or you cancel yourself. Now if they could just let us use on the move too...

[Kitfox]

snip

Wildfire is already one of the most powerful buff windows in the game, especially when paired up with Overheat. If anything it should be made weaker to balance the rotation around. Of course it doesn't crit/dh because that'd be double dipping: it already collects damage from crits/dhs made during the effect.

There's nothing appealing about Gauss Barrel. It's visually ugly and mechanically redundant. It should be a passive or removed altogether. Raging Strikes is a much more interesting and impactful ability. More abilities is not better, and this is especially true for Gauss Barrel.

Flamethrower is an attack, you DO need to be in range and you DO need to be facing the enemy. You normally don't say throwing 300 potency away is a good idea. There's nothing normal about the ability, the timing and positioning are very cut-throat: Not in range? Lose 60-120 potency, or 300 in the opener. Interrupted too soon? Lose 800+ potency. Interrupted too late? lose 170+ potency. Not in range or facing the enemy in the opener and interrupted too soon? You get the idea. The window to pull it off is 0.5s, less if you lag even a tiny bit. Forgiving, right.

[whiskeybravo]

Wouldn't know, I've never actually seen Flamethrower deal damage :3

(I'll concede the point since logs show it accounts for around 1% of your overall damage, but as far as activating the heat gauge goes you don't need to face or be in range of the target.)

Oh well, back to WAR I go