Bard Nerfs Offically Confirmed

[Aleph_One]

Letter from the Producer LIVE Part IX just confirmed they intend to nerf BRD damage along side the Warrior buffs in 2.1

So to put it simple congratulations, the endless tears of players that can't clear Titan have swayed the Devs into nerfing a class that consistently pulls 2nd to bottom DPS on high level coil parses with competent players. You may have perhaps caused a massive unneeded damage nerf to a useful role in raids.

Discuss why people don't know what they are talking about and why I'm wrong.

They are probably just going to nerf your ability to completely ignore fight mechanics, which is completely reasonable. i wouldn't automatically assume that whatever they do will hurt your damage.

[Woodberry]

They are probably just going to nerf your ability to completely ignore fight mechanics, which is completely reasonable. i wouldn't automatically assume that whatever they do will hurt your damage.

Tell me how bards are ignoring fight mechanics?

[Aleph_One]

Tell me how bards are ignoring fight mechanics?

Is this a statement, or a rhetorical question? Your ability to DPS with impunity is pretty blatant and has been discussed to death; I'm not sure why you're asking me this.

[Woodberry]

Is this a statement, or a rhetorical question? Your ability to DPS with impunity is pretty blatant and has been discussed to death; I'm not sure why you're asking me this.

It is to illustrate bards do not ignore fight mechanics, they still have to move like everyone else. If you are going to make a statement, make the correct one. Bards can do damage while avoiding aoe. This is how they are designed and why they are the current lowest dps class. The only fight they are competing at the top is Titan HM, all other fights they are behind.

There is nothing reasonable about a bard damage nerf. A support nerf, sure. Bards however need a damage buff.

[Aleph_One]

It is to illustrate bards do not ignore fight mechanics, they still have to move like everyone else. If you are going to make a statement, make the correct one. Bards can do damage while avoiding aoe. This is how they are designed and why they are the current lowest dps class. The only fight they are competing at the top is Titan HM, all other fights they are behind.

There is nothing reasonable about a bard damage nerf. A support nerf, sure. Bards however need a damage buff.

Mechanic: Having to stop DPS to avoid damage from a boss; make the player decide to either use an ability, or move out of the way.
Mechanic avoidance: Not having to stop DPS in order to avoid damage.

I also didn't state that a damage nerf is warranted/appropriate for BRDs, nor do we even know if that's going to happen.

[Amas]

It is to illustrate bards do not ignore fight mechanics, they still have to move like everyone else. If you are going to make a statement, make the correct one. Bards can do damage while avoiding aoe. This is how they are designed and why they are the current lowest dps class. The only fight they are competing at the top is Titan HM, all other fights they are behind.

There is nothing reasonable about a bard damage nerf. A support nerf, sure. Bards however need a damage buff.

The one thing I would hope any reasonable BRD would agree is that the "complete package" is too strong at the moment. The combination of current single target DPS, AoE DPS, utility, mobility, and ease of use simply eclipses what any other DPS class can bring to the table. Not by such a great margin that every other DPS class is trivialized, but it's the only DPS class that is a near-certainty to find in any 8-man content and the most likely to be over-represented before Coil (and even in Coil to an extent).

I don't think a DPS nerf is the right thing to do, but even if it happens, nearly every group will still bring a BRD and look for other strategy/line-up optimizations to ensure passing DPS checks. It certainly won't make BRD a red-headed stepchild by any means, though I do agree that adjusting support abilities or reducing mobility would be preferable to straight-up nerfing DPS. Any negative adjustment to utility or mobility should be accompanied by a slight DPS increase for balance's sake.