[Autumn]

I don't think Elite Engine should be a straight upgrade personally, just a different way to use it as it was originally intended, so aiming to make it a sidegrade is actually fairly ideal. In it's current state it's definitely weaker than regular excel charges and is a straight downgrade, yes.

If it's going to remain the way it is then it should be evened out entirely, doing 50% damage instead of 35%, that way it's more appealing to builds that would rather unleash multiple strong attacks in a round (such as with AoEs like Sidecut) than banking it all on one big ol' EI. (I could forsee some troubles though in maintaining your excel charge stacks but this was always an issue Elite Engine faced)

I was under the impression that it was doing 35% per stack and thought it would eventually beat regular Excel (eventually), but it seems I completely forgot about the elite engine change. Though I also agree with Kunai, a straight up revert could just be better cause eventually it would beat regular excel weapon in an extended fight anyway.