Machinist's future is, at best, concering right now. Here's why.

[Ppj_Ninek]

So, in the 29th the embargo from the media tour dropped and we got to see tooltips and gameplay of all jobs.

I'll tell you this, Machinist visually looks amazing. Big mech that punches stuff? I love it. However, after analysing several videos of gameplay, looking at tooltips, theorycrafting myself and looking at other theorycrafts, the common feeling about Machinist is... confusion and concern.

DISCLAIMER: I do know that the Media Tour build is still in development. However, this is focused on the gameplay itself, not values, and assuming the gameplay we saw is the gameplay we are getting. Of course, all of that could change by June.

First off, this rework was with the goal of fixing the issues Machinist had, while making a new experience for it. Those issues were several, but the two big ones were:

1. Flamethrower was reliant on server ticks and made the timing of when you would Overheat kinda random.
2. Rapid Fire, alongside the need of weaving Off Global Cooldowns, made the job unfriendly and punishing for players with a higher latency.

The first issue is fixed in 5.0, with Hypercharge. However, the second issue was not adressed, just hidden.

RF still exists, but not in your hotbar. Now, when you Overheat, you get access to two exclusive skills: Heat Blast and Auto Crossbow. Both of these have a 1.50s recast time, and if you look at RF right now, that's the exact same that skills get when it's under effect. However, it becomes even worse when you realize that it now lasts, according to calculations, for 5/6 GCD's. Rapid Fire lasts for 3.

Now, that on it's own, would be fine. However, you still have Gauss Round and Ricochet to weave in between your GCD's, specially now that HB reduces the cooldown of these two skills by 15 seconds. That makes it that you need perfect timing in order to not clip your GCD and that you will constantly weave in your 1.50s recasts.

That is pretty insane, and players with a latency higher than desired (which should be around 90 MS?) will struggle to keep the GCD going while using their Off Global Cooldowns while in Overheat. This is something, in my opinion, needs to be reconsidered. I thought of a simple way to fix this.

First off, HB and AC would be oGCD weaponskills. However, their cooldown would still be 1.50s. Think of Empyreal Arrow. A weaponskill that you would be able to use once in between every GCD. HB would keep it's cooldown reducing effect for GR and RC, making it so that you would always have to double weave oGCD's in your Overheat.

Although you go from single weaving into double weaving, I do feel that this is a better option, since double weaving is more forgiving on higher latency than the 1.50s recast time.

There's more, but I can't type it all. Also, feel free to add more things you find off about the new Machinist.

Then again, this is just my opinion.

[Kabooa]

Just pointing this out, Gauss Round and Richochet are still abilities. Hypercharge so far hasn't been show to increase all damage dealt, merely activating two Rapid Fire skills.

Wildfire is boosted by weapon skills.

Your Wildfire window is going to look like

Dump Gauss / Richochet
Summoner Robot
Finish Shot Combo
use Wildfire and Hypercharge
Heat Blast
Drill
Heat Blast
Air Anchor
Heat Blast
Gauss
Heat Blast
Richochet
Heat Blast
Heat Blast

Whether Flamethrower counts as 'weapon skill' for Wildfire remains to be seen, though some information shows the Queen counts as well.

You use a Guass or Richochet so you don't waste recharge timer from Heat Blast.

Obviously this is just spitballing. One of the machinist pros was working out a potential spread sheet for a perfect opener.

[ProfessorCoffee]

Golly, Kabooa that would be cool if Drill and Air Anchor were oGCD's, but they're on the GCD. Just like everything else including Flamethrower now.

Gauss and Rico are basically all we have for oGCD attacks, as insane as that is.

[Kabooa]

Golly, Kabooa that would be cool if Drill and Air Anchor were oGCD's, but they're on the GCD. Just like everything else including Flamethrower now.

Gauss and Rico are basically all we have for oGCD attacks, as insane as that is.

Tooltips indicated they had the same tagline that Empyreal arrow does.

But lets say I'm wrong.

Then you don't have to weave anything and the OP's fears are allayed. Not a bad trade.

[ProfessorCoffee]

Watch videos of those abilities being used. You'll see they're all on the GCD. EA is now an "Ability", to boot. So I think they're just removing the idea of an oGCD weaponskill from the game.

You -do- however, have to weave. Heat Blast reduces the cooldown of Rico and Gauss by 15 seconds each cast. And if you don't weave them between HB's during your Overheats, you will overcap the charges and lose casts.


But yeah, this is real life. Air Anchor, Drill, etc are actually GCD's that have a 40 second cooldown. This is the world we're gonna live in.

[Kabooa]

Watch videos of those abilities being used. You'll see they're all on the GCD. EA is now an "Ability", to boot. So I think they're just removing the idea of an oGCD weaponskill from the game.

You -do- however, have to weave. Heat Blast reduces the cooldown of Rico and Gauss by 15 seconds each cast. And if you don't weave them between HB's during your Overheats, you will overcap the charges and lose casts.

Ah yeah. That's a shame.

[PangTong]

It does seem that you will still have to weave between 1.5s GCDs as Machinist to be perfectly optimal, which is a shame for people with higher ping. But it doesn't seem to be as punishing as it currently is if you don't. I would like it if they reduced the amount of refresh that Heat Blast gives to Gauss Round and Ricochet, so there isn't as much need to weave them during Overheat.

But what I REALLY wish is that they would update the game's coding so that ability to weave oGCD abilities isn't so determined by latency.