Machinist needs help.

[Chalcon]

I've finished the tier as MCH and I can safely say that it simply is not doing anywhere near enough damage right now.

The Wildfire buff mentioned in the OP is a good start but it will probably take more than that to fix things.

The reality is MCH is currently doing about 10% less dps than Reaper -- now while it can be argued there can be some difference there 10% is just way way too much.

I would say the safest way to buff MCH is significantly increase the potency of their 123 combo and Wildfire. (Burst DPS is already ok so that probably does not need to be buffed and it may be difficult to manage interactions with other classes if they did that).

[CKNovel]

They will probably buff heatblast/1 2 3.

That savage tier is definitely a mercy for MCH.
No Queen during add phase, no bothersome delay due to downtime.

Hopefully next Ultimate stays with that formula or 6.1 comes with big QoL about AQ.

[Nostik]

Hi everyone, I’m pretty new to FFXIV and it’s balancing but my understanding so far is that jobs that bring extra utility do a little less than the “selfish” jobs like BLM and such. Then ranged classes that can move and complete their rotation are taxed again.

So my question is this… why is MCH taxed for utility? We have one slight defensive buff

I feel like MCH should be more middle of the pack for this reason. Is my logic flawed here?

[Chalcon]

That has been their general philosophy for a while. Its another discussion but I think the "ranged tax" is outdated personally and as you say MCH doesn't bring any utility or raid buff.

The problem right now is that even within the ranged tax + utility tax philosophy MCH damage should be maybe a few percent lower, not 10% lower.

[_Shadowsong_]

It does need a fix, it feels like all ranged were changed for the worse this expansion.

[Dyvid]

That has been their general philosophy for a while. Its another discussion but I think the "ranged tax" is outdated personally and as you say MCH doesn't bring any utility or raid buff.

The problem right now is that even within the ranged tax + utility tax philosophy MCH damage should be maybe a few percent lower, not 10% lower.

It's not so much as a ranged tax but rather mobility tax. Think of it in terms of Casters. Without it's utilities a BLM has to stand still for 2.5s to 3s to cast a powerful attacks. If they need to move for any reason, that is a DPS lose for the job. In turn if say a melee has to leave the target's bubble, that is a DPS loss. Physical Ranged can dodge and DPS at the same time so they don't suffer the same DPS lose. Now if the jobs where balance correctly, the BLM, SAM, and MCH would be doing the same damage averages even though the MCH would have the lowest Potency per skills.

You are correct that the old Role penalties are outdated. BRD and MCH would provide rDPS from 3.0 thru 4.0 but ShB changed the roles and SE screwed the pooch. DNC and BRD still provide rDPS and suffer the cost yet MCH no longer buffs yet still carries the rDPS penalty.

[CKNovel]

I'll sound like a broken recorder but E5S to E8S were the most mobile savage of Shadowbringers.
Physical ranged stayed at the bottom and casters were at the top, RDM was above most melees and flirting with SAM from 5.2 to end of 5.3.

It's a mobility tax when it should be a ranged tax. Ranged also lost 10% damage on piercing debuff brought by DRG and I don't think they ever balanced that difference.

Then the layer added by EW... I mean that trait for Tactician(s) to 90s CD while other jobs gets upgrade for free, Reassemble should also be a free upgrade from the start like triplecast.
BRD gets a 3rd charge when Mage's Ballad is nerfed and only restores 15s on Bloodletter.
DNC lost its melee damage during Flourish.

Physical ranged often gets the short end of the stick, even role action wise.

[Jandor]

Wildfire:
Covers target's body in a slow-burning pitch. Action is changed to Detonator for the duration of the effect.
Deals damage when time expires or upon executing Detonator.
Potency is increased by 150 for each of your own weaponskills land prior to the end of the effect.
Potency is increased by 150 for each weaponskill landed by yourself and party members prior to the end of the effect.
Duration: 10s

[gumas]

Wildfire:
Covers target's body in a slow-burning pitch. Action is changed to Detonator for the duration of the effect.
Deals damage when time expires or upon executing Detonator.
Potency is increased by 150 for each of your own weaponskills land prior to the end of the effect.
Potency is increased by 150 for each weaponskill landed by yourself and party members prior to the end of the effect.
Duration: 10s

let say you pull 5 heatblast + 1 extra weaponskill, that alone is already 900 potency for 10 seconds...

now the other dps pull 3 weaponskill because they dont have 1.5 gcd during our heatblast moment... and the tank manage pull the same amount too...

thats a whooping 1800 potency not counting crit or any debuff like TA from nin... thats not a wildfire anymore, thats a nuke lmao

[CKNovel]

Wildfire being affected by teammates would need a hardcap.
Otherwise you would have synergy with high skillspeed job and anti synergy with DRG (The irony).
Then, what about spells? You would have to be careful with RDM and PLD magic rotation would not affect Wildfire.
DRK AoE wouldn't trigger the effects.

And if you want to make it so the Queen affect Wildfire... Don't.
I can picture thousands of nightmare scenario where the Queen don't punch the same target or where the boot-up/animation/jankyness of the queen will miss 2 or 3 Weaponskills.