So, there's still a lot of problems with Machinist, and going into this expansion, I was thinking that it'd be able to actually become a job that can be big damage like its brother and sister BLM and SAM, since they've been left in the dust since Shadowbringers.
While BLM and SAM feel satisfying to play, just looking at MCH on paper feels...bad. While we consider Mobility to be a tax for Ranged, I feel like after they changed the job in Endwalker, they were missing something important - or should we say, a lot of things.
- Auto Crossbow is garbage. The fact that you also now have both Double Check and Checkmate with the SAME POTENCY AS AUTO CROSSBOW and now AoE fall-off makes this attack rather underwhelming. It requires 4+ enemies to even be a gain potency-wise compared to the Resets that Blazing Shot does. An AoE should not do that when we already have AoE abilities on jobs that do not go above 3+; also, can we please allow Auto Crossbow to reset Double Check and Checkmate even a little bit? It's jarring when you're so used to single target and on Auto Crossbow you don't get resets for your burst...
- Flamethrower is still extremely lackluster. 80 Potency for a channel that doesn't even generate Heat anymore for us since they scrapped that idea after Stormblood. 80p/s is ok, but you'd rather do anything else - like Scattergun in AoE. Flamethrower's only use now? AoE, and even in that department it sucks. For one, being a channel that doesn't even deliver on damage and gets outclassed by your basic AoE ability(that also generates HEAT!) shows that this should not have survived to the next expansion without a serious rework - even just a return to old Flamethrower with Heat generation would've been great.
- The one I will really drive home is Damage. MCH, in hindsight, has no buffs of any kind to allow the party to deal more damage. What MCH brings in terms of utility is the 15% DR and a 10% Damage Reduction. That's it. How is it not allowed to deal a large amount of damage when you have jobs like BRD/DNC that run a support niche with their constant suite of buffs and utilities? MCH has none of that. I can easily look at VPR and tell you how much utility it has: None, bar Feint. While Dismantle is essentially a good mitigation tool, it does not help MCH play into what its job is supposed to FEEL like. It's supposed to be selfish because it has very little raid utility compared to its betters, BRD/DNC, which provide more damage overall for their team; why is it not allowed to be selfish when this is an expac that could definitely have allowed it to be?
If anything, I wish that the developers could put some sense into MCH as a job because right now? Along with the rest of the Physical Ranged, MCH is truly bottom of the barrel when it comes to picking which flavor of "1% All Stats Buff" you want.
Continue reading...
While BLM and SAM feel satisfying to play, just looking at MCH on paper feels...bad. While we consider Mobility to be a tax for Ranged, I feel like after they changed the job in Endwalker, they were missing something important - or should we say, a lot of things.
- Auto Crossbow is garbage. The fact that you also now have both Double Check and Checkmate with the SAME POTENCY AS AUTO CROSSBOW and now AoE fall-off makes this attack rather underwhelming. It requires 4+ enemies to even be a gain potency-wise compared to the Resets that Blazing Shot does. An AoE should not do that when we already have AoE abilities on jobs that do not go above 3+; also, can we please allow Auto Crossbow to reset Double Check and Checkmate even a little bit? It's jarring when you're so used to single target and on Auto Crossbow you don't get resets for your burst...
- Flamethrower is still extremely lackluster. 80 Potency for a channel that doesn't even generate Heat anymore for us since they scrapped that idea after Stormblood. 80p/s is ok, but you'd rather do anything else - like Scattergun in AoE. Flamethrower's only use now? AoE, and even in that department it sucks. For one, being a channel that doesn't even deliver on damage and gets outclassed by your basic AoE ability(that also generates HEAT!) shows that this should not have survived to the next expansion without a serious rework - even just a return to old Flamethrower with Heat generation would've been great.
- The one I will really drive home is Damage. MCH, in hindsight, has no buffs of any kind to allow the party to deal more damage. What MCH brings in terms of utility is the 15% DR and a 10% Damage Reduction. That's it. How is it not allowed to deal a large amount of damage when you have jobs like BRD/DNC that run a support niche with their constant suite of buffs and utilities? MCH has none of that. I can easily look at VPR and tell you how much utility it has: None, bar Feint. While Dismantle is essentially a good mitigation tool, it does not help MCH play into what its job is supposed to FEEL like. It's supposed to be selfish because it has very little raid utility compared to its betters, BRD/DNC, which provide more damage overall for their team; why is it not allowed to be selfish when this is an expac that could definitely have allowed it to be?
If anything, I wish that the developers could put some sense into MCH as a job because right now? Along with the rest of the Physical Ranged, MCH is truly bottom of the barrel when it comes to picking which flavor of "1% All Stats Buff" you want.
Continue reading...