How would you fix Gadgeteer?
In TA/A2, the humble moogle is often hoisted with the gimmick classes. Chocobo knight, flintlock, and of course, the Gadgeteer/Tinker. Characterized as being clever little machinists, Mooglefolk seem to find the gaps in clans and slot themselves in. I can handle that rifle, kupo. Let me at that chocobo, kupopo! But outside of direct weapons of war, there's a bit of a gap when it comes to tinkering. One filled, poorly, by Gadgeteers.. And it's not like there's no examples the devs could have cribbed from.
Indeed, FFT has Mustadio, a human just as fond of tinkering and firearms. Though you could certainly make the argument that the Archer of FFTA has all the good parts of Mustadio's skill set and more, it's odd that the game's answer to the class concept (if not execution) itself is in the Gadgeteer. Flip a coin; heads, you've won the engagement, tails, you're screwed (unless you've outfitted the clan with anti-debuff equipment, when using the debuff gadgets). When that slot could instead be filled by a gunner moogle who can dominate the battlefield with charmshots and whatever the mog knight's ultima is called, or a juggler/time mage made to consistently play with action economy, there's no point in dealing with the nonsense of a Gadgeteer.
It's a shame. Target-all skills can be really potent; Ezel's Azoth / Blue Mage's Night, a properly outfitted Illusionist rocking a +element buff and Geomancy, and of course Totema skills are completely overtuned. So why would anyone ever choose a Gadgeteer?
I don't know. Liking their silly little hats?
Maybe if Gadgeteer had a charge mechanic, like some of the more impressive FFT spells, and guaranteed positive effects. Maybe it could have an aggro draw effect and could be knocked out of charge. Or maybe they'd focus on gadgets having things beside target-all utility; maybe guaranteed positive effects, but with a side effect. Quick'd allies all get hit with Demi, or Doom, etc. I know Machinist is a class in 14, but frankly MMOs frighten me besides my lost love (Secret World... my sweet...) and a glance at the wiki page just suggests that they're a ranged DPS and little more.
I've seen a lot of movement in FFTA hacks recently; it's very exciting. But I don't think either of the ones I've played have really gotten it right. One makes Gadgeteer a knockoff White Monk, and another that tips the buffing odds towards you (fine, but you can still get screwed) or just hits everyone (which... is alright, I don't mind that so much).
I'unno. What do you all think?