I raided this whole expansion as a machinist. The job performs just fine and *can* be more consistent than bard given bard’s core kit relies on its dots critting. Nothing feels better than getting a lot of Pitch procs in your opener and nothing feels worse when you barely get one. At least with mch, I know I messed up (or got a little lag spike) when I don’t max a wildfire. I’ll follow that up by saying don’t worry about your ping. The dps difference comes down to player consistency more often than the potency of a 5 or 6 gcd overheat.

The jobs perform similarly in personal dps, though raid dps tends to favor bard. Hypercharge just isn’t on par with a constant crit rate buff and Foe’s Requiem, even when SE randomly bumped Hypercharge to 6%. However, Dismantle is an under appreciated skill, in my opinion. 10% damage debuff every minute is very flexible and strong enough to take a tank buster. Great in prog, not so useful when your team has the fight on farm.

Is it worth taking a mch over a bard? Eh, I’d take someone who was more comfortable with their job than a specific one. If you’re trying to gear up before Shadowbringers, play what makes you happy. Both ranged dps can hold their own in a raid.