Would you like a single target Flamethrower for Machinist?

[Raikai]

They need to fix FT first. Have it generate heat and have it explode Bioblaster's dot for more damage.

[CaptainLagbeard]

I'd just want it to actually be DPS positive like...anywhere, mostly.

I'm not sure that's even the case in AoE situations presently and it's felt like a weird artifact of the pre-ShB MCH days.

It's DPS positive to Scattergun spam... As it's a 80 potency hit every second, compared to 150 every about 2.5 from Scattergun. It's main (and only) use is to throw Bioblaster and it on an AoE pull.

[Deceptus]

They need to fix FT first. Have it generate heat and have it explode Bioblaster's dot for more damage.

Or, have it disperse heat for a one time 30s AoE Dot.

That way you rotate heat between Autocrossbow and FT.

[Solakor]

So let me get this straight. You want a skill where you don't have to do anything for 10 seconds? I'm starting to feel my brain coming out of my ears

[VictorSpoils]

A niche conal AoE that doesn't interact at all with your kit and is virtually never a damage gain and even then only by a pittance of potency and for about a few seconds total? Surely there's a Lv 90 Machinist lurking somewhere on here that could defend its vast usefulness.

[CNitsah]

This is not gonna bring anything to the topic, but the expression "single target flamethrower" made me laugh. It's like saying a "tactical nuclear strike". It's so antinomic.

[Limecat]

A niche conal AoE that doesn't interact at all with your kit and is virtually never a damage gain and even then only by a pittance of potency and for about a few seconds total? Surely there's a Lv 90 Machinist lurking somewhere on here that could defend its vast usefulness.

Nah, that's really all there is to it. It's a DPS increase over the basic AoE attack. If you have 50+ heat or any of your OGCDs available at all, it's a loss. So, pretty much the only time it'll be beneficial is during the second pull of each dungeon segment, once you're out of gas. Outside that its best hope for use is if you want to start stocking your other resources and can afford to be lazy with a pull. Thinking about it, I wouldn't be shocked if they built it around the notion that we'd only pull one group of mobs at a time. That'd effectively double the number of times we could use it, even if it's impractical. The other side of that coin is maybe they don't really know what to do with it because even if it were better, the times when MCH has no tools to burn vs multiple targets are rather sparse. It'd basically be tripping over its own feet. A better choice might be to get rid of its current function and turn it into the AoE version of Air Anchor that everyone wants, i.e. +20 battery and a fire DoT.

[LynxDubh]

It would be cool if it ramped up in damage as it channeled. If it did something cool like that and they fix flamethrower to be worth it, I'd be on board.

[DiaDeem]

No.

But I'd love a second gardening system specifically to beautify one's home rather than just harvest crops.

[ForsakenRoe]

They need to fix FT first. Have it generate heat and have it explode Bioblaster's dot for more damage.

This would be the thing I'd look into doing to it. As it stands, we use Chainsaw every 60s, AA every 40, Drill every 20s. But, with a change along these lines, we could vary this up such that every 3rd drill (on the 1min mark, alongside Chainsaw) is actually replaced by a Bio+FT combo, akin to NIN swapping every 3rd Ninjutsu from a Raiton to a Suiton for Trick Attack. Something like:

FT: 60s CD, Ability (no longer channelled, just a regular OGCD)
Deals 150 potency to all enemies in a cone in front of you. Potency increased to 450 against targets affected by Bioblaster.

This would mean Bio+FT combined would be a total potency of 750, compared to Drill's 600 (and your two Reassembles in raidbuffs can go on CS/AA since Bio's DOT portion isn't affected by Reassemble). If people really want to keep it channelled for whatever reason, it can be made to be 150/450 as above, and then 50 per second of channelling after, so Scattergun is a gain but channelling exists for the sake of being a pseudo-emote or whatever