Physical ranged strike!

[Post]

I think HW BRD was a bowmage mostly because MCH was designed around Gauss Barrel adding cast times and damage and they thought BRD would be imbalanced comparatively. It worked better on MCH, as it was given more buttons that allowed it to move freely and even buttons to guarantee it could move freely, while BRD had to rely on a proc that it could not overcap or control, and limited movement even further with an oGCD weapon skill with a cast time (Empyreal Arrow, which specifically actually felt great because it was so much stronger and chonkier than the rest of BRD's actions at that point, comboing with Barrage, too, but I digress).

This was removed wholesale from BRD but not from MCH until ShB, as MCH relied on Flamethrower to control its central heat gauge mechanic in StB which required planting its feet for a bit like Ten Chi Jin. Very little reason for Flamethrower to exist now.

I'm just pointing it out to bring up that having some cast times or mobility constraints shouldn't be completely tossed. Playing BRD and MCH in PvP, they do actually feel like they hit much harder and the cast while moving actions are satisfying to use. Give em a try at least at the wolves den if you never have. Not saying they all need it, but it's a potential solution to making the three pranged feel more diverse in how they play in between burst phases.

I remember older fights definitely had more for pranged to do as they tended to have more mechanics centered on a single player that the team could control with movement which allowed them to excel at as they had no movement constraints. T7 was already brought up as one that happened often enough that you couldn't just tank cheese, but there was also t8 guided missile tether (even Brainjack could be solved by pranged if you wanted to solo tank it), Ramuh Extreme always targeting the furthest player +1 not aggro target with Chaos Strike, things to interrupt and heavy, even bind in some places (though that was basically never necessary even in t7).

I'd say give pranged more unique support to the party. MP, TP and enmity are basically gone, and everyone and their mother buffs damage of the group now (and even heals and mitigates it), so also give em like... I dunno, group wide True North, Arm's Length or steal Expedience from SCH. Let them support the party in whatever way they can, and let em do it in ways they are different from each other. Maybe DNC also shares role actions with its partner and whoever temporarily gets Espirit. Let MCH toss out turrets that pulse the effects like Bishop did. BRD's songs could be given more freedom to cycle (they're rigid now) and just carry additional benefits, or they could be given unique songs with those effects. Go nuts.

[Raikai]

I would personally just nuke group-based utility from every other DPSer BUT the aiming niche. Well, not deleting, but reworking them: everything that affected the whole group now affects just the player (eg. Mantra, Magick Barrier), essentially becoming individual utility.

Addle and Feint are also moved to the aiming role actions with shared recast times.

I feel the support aspect could be further enhanced with a move like this.

[Bonoki]

Yoshi-P specifically blamed North America for the existence of the 2-minute meta. He mentioned that NA players requested this change because they did not want to hold their buffs for later alignment in raids. Since some individuals would use their buffs on cooldown, it led to a loss in raid DPS. Their data showed that players, especially veterans, would frequently hold and synchronize their buffs during fights. Therefore, even if the 2-minute meta hadn't been implemented, the player base would likely have developed it subconsciously.

[Rueby]

For the love of god, don't add casts to phys range.

I play phys range for this exact reason, I don't worry about casting or tunnel vision on positionals and to me that was comfy. I had a bad experience tanking so I decided I'd never tank/heal in savage. I was able to dip my toes into savage thanks to it, I don't enjoy savage but the comfort of freedom of movement is nice, I can focus on mechanics and myself. My smooth brain enjoys it. Thanks.

[Hanzz96]

For the love of god, don't add casts to phys range.

I play phys range for this exact reason, I don't worry about casting or tunnel vision on positionals and to me that was comfy. I had a bad experience tanking so I decided I'd never tank/heal in savage. I was able to dip my toes into savage thanks to it, I don't enjoy savage but the comfort of freedom of movement is nice, I can focus on mechanics and myself. My smooth brain enjoys it. Thanks.

They're talking about casts where you can move while casting without interrupting the cast like in PVP so that the ability takes longer to use and should therefore hit harder

[Asari5]

they should just bring uptime management back to melees. then phys ranged can keep their low dmg

[Hanzz96]

they should just bring uptime management back to melees. then phys ranged can keep their low dmg

That's not true either, like at all. Right now there's the question of whether or not it's worth ditching the 1% and bringing double Caster over phys because damage is so low. So even making melees fight for uptime (which they won't do) isn't a complete fix

[Asari5]

you dont have to bring double melee though

[Hanzz96]

you dont have to bring double melee though

But they will for more damage and leave out phys ranged all together

[Oizen]

I feel like MCH should be doing selfish DPS numbers up there with SAM, VPR and BLM.

Instead of just being the potd job