After playing MCH more in casual as well as hard content I'm starting to understand some of the gripes. Especially with AOE. The numbers feel okay now but it just feels jank to play in AoE scenarios.

>using your single target overheat rotation is better than auto-crossbow if the mobs are small enough for double check and checkpoint aoe to hit them all
>flamethrower is more DPS than either overheat option on paper but does nothing to increase either gauge and is only worth using when everything else is on cooldown
>Battery gauge does NOTHING for aoe, the queen doesn't have a single attack that does cleave or aoe damage

My suggestion would be one of these:

>add a different bot that is purely for aoe

It can be a fixed 50 battery gauge ability that sets off a small drone explosion or something it doesn't have to be a whole ass second queen with a rotation that consumes the entire battery bar. Alternatively, just add a 30-50% damage falloff for Pile Bunker and Crowned Collider.

>Auto-crossbow has the same effect as blazing shot

Maybe it could be 10 seconds instead of 15.

>flamethrower increases heat gauge at a rate of 5 per second

Even though it's technically better aoe damage than either overheat option, this would make it feel rewarding to use rather than awkward to use. You use an overheat rotation, then flamethrower and get a free 50 heat gauge for channeling a full 10 seconds to do an overheat rotation again. Although... with this it would probably also be viable to channel flamethrower single target just for the fast heat gauge buildup so maybe this wouldn't work unless the heat buildup only applied if hitting 2 or more targets.

>flamethrower consumes heat gauge to increase its potency
+5 potency per 10 heat gauge so... 170 potency per second at max heat?

What do y'all think? Or is MCH going to the cuck shed next expansion due to the next DPS job likely being phys range as well so abandon all hope ye who play machinist?