So...is the Ranged Role gone? Are we in a Reverse HW?

[Lastelli]

I mean, compared to melee having one opener, a fixed rotation, etc. you should know ranged are harder to optimize?

You talk as if it wasn't the same for ranged dps. MCH in particular has a pretty fixed rotation with some slight possible deviations because their resources can be used flexibly. But this flexibility makes the job easier and more convenient, not harder. You can even let drill and anchor drift as long as you don't miss uses and nothing changes in terms of potency per second. FFlogs data also tell us that compared to other jobs, the difference between the median dps and higher percentiles is much lower for MCH. With a few reasonable assumptions, this tells us that the role of optimization is smaller (=good play is less rewarded).

How would that be easier than simply increasing the Range's damage? Take what they have now and throw 500-800 more rDPS on them. Bam, you're pretty much done. There is nothing interesting about mechanics that force downtime for melee or tanks. Lemme tell you, Hello, World 2 without uptime strats was not fun. I got to sit on a marker and do absolutely nothing—to the point I was legit happy whenever we wiped on those pulls.

If you just buff potencies, you raise dps across the board and you're not giving anything to reward good play. You're rewarding mediocre players as well, which defeats the whole purpose.